Strawberry tartlets

Tamara West

Strawberries, warm from a roadside stall, are about as good as life gets. If any survive the trip home, put them to good use in these tartlets.

Ingredients

500 g	Mascarpone
1	Lemon, zest
4 Tbsp	Icing sugar
1	Vanilla bean, seeds scraped
500 ml	Cream, lightly whipped
12	Pastry tart cases, sweet, bought, or make using recipe below
4 punnets	Strawberries (Main)
4 Tbsp	Icing sugar, sifted for serving

Sweet short crust pastry cases

175 g	Unsalted butter, at room temperature (Main)
75 g	Icing sugar
250 g	Plain flour
2	Egg yolks
1 Tbsp	Water, cold

Directions

1. Place mascarpone, lemon zest, icing sugar and vanilla bean seeds into a bowl and mix together with a wooden spoon. Fold in lightly whipped cream until just combined.
2. Dip a dessertspoon in hot water and place 2 spoonfuls of mascarpone mix into each tartlet case.
3. Hull strawberries, slice strawberries in half lengthways then arrange around the edge of the tartlets, before filling the middle, cut side facing outwards.
4. Lightly dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
5. To make pastry cases:Mix all ingredients together until well combined.
6. Knead lightly, roll into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
7. Heat oven to 180C.
8. Unwrap pastry, slice thinly and press into 12 x 10cm fluted tart tins with removable bases. Ensure pastry is evenly and thinly spread, about 2mm thick. Remove excess pastry from around edges.
9. Refrigerate for 10 minutes before lining with a sheet of baking paper (scrunch up, then unscrunch baking paper before placing over tart cases to make it easier). Fill with baking beans and blind bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool before removing paper and beans.
10. Remove tart cases from tins when ready to use.