Strawberry Mascarpone Tart In The Kitchen

There was a big rainstorm on Saturday night and after going for a long invigorating walk through it, I got home around 11:30pm, toweled off and decided it was as good a time as any to bake something rich and delicious. This was the result of that night and it was a big hit at Easter dinner with the family the next day. (Excuse dark pictures because well, it was dark, it was almost midnight!)

My food processor has been broken for what feels like ages now and boy, do I miss the ease of making crust crumbs with that life saver. This was the result of about 45 minutes of crushing ginger snaps with the bottom of a drinking glass. Please come back to me processor, I'll never do wrong by you again!

My lovely assistant was in charge of pouring the delicious butter. Let's all take a moment to ooh and ahh at his fine craftsmanship shall we?

The ingredients are pretty straight forward and easy to find-FYI there's sugar hiding in that canister. Basically, if it's creamy and/or white it goes in the tart. That came across as filthy...... mind outta the gutter and let's move on!

You can imagine that at this stage, I was ready to scrap the whole silly tart thing and just beach myself on the couch with this creamy filling and strawberries. Being the trooper I am, I resisted temptation to go Godzilla on it and carried on..... the beaters however, were not so lucky.

I like a thick meaty crust so I typically crush more crumbs than recipes call for.

One of the best parts about this is that once the crust is baked it doesn't have to go back in the oven.

I don't think that homemade food needs to look "restaurant beautiful." Desserts like this are more charming with small imperfections like mismatched strawberries strewn about. It's a sweet reminder that it's made with love and/or by someone you love.

It was very trying, fending off midnight sweets cravings and not sneak a piece before Easter dinner. Imperfections are cute but half eaten leftovers served to family on holidays is not so cute.

I recommend making it easy on yourself by putting on your loosest fitting sweats and letting go of your traditional thoughts about healthy eating before succumbing to this heaven in a pan.

Ingredients:

Crust:
3 1/2 cups Crust Crumbs (I used gingersnaps which gave it a spicy kick but you can use graham or chocolate crumbs too.)
7 Tbsp Melted Unsalted Butter

Filling:
1 container (275 grams) Mascarpone Cheese
1/3 cup Sour Cream
3/4 cup Cream Cheese
1/3 cup Sugar
1/4 tsp Vanilla

Topping:
Sliced Fruit (I used 10 strawberries I had on hand but any fruit like raspberries, peaches etc would taste delicious.)
3 Tbsp Warmed Fruit Jam-of your preference; I used peach mango.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Add butter to your choice of crumbs and blend until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press crumb mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 12-inch-diameter tart pan, preferably with a removable bottom. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the crust has darkened in colour. Set aside and cool crust completely before coming back to it.

Beat all your filling ingredients until completely smooth. Spread your filling in the cooled, prepared crust. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours.

After it has thoroughly cooled, lay your choice of fruit over the filling as you wish. Brush the fruit with your warmed jam or you can drizzle it over the tart with a spoon. Serve immediately or refrigerate up to 6 hours.