Saturday, May 31, 2008

Fresh Strawberry-Cream Cheese Tart


My poor hubby had foot surgery this past Thursday and has been basement-ridden since :( To cheer him up, tonight I made him this tart. He loved it, even though I had to sneak in the crystallized ginger (he can't stand ginger normally). This was my first attempt at substituting Earth Balance "buttery sticks" for butter or margarine in baking and it worked great! This is an easy recipe that is very pretty that even picky eaters will like. Just don't tell them about the ginger!

Fresh Strawberry-Cream Cheese Tart

1 1/2 c. AP flour
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. plus 3 T. confectioner's sugar
10 T. butter or margarine, chilled and cut into pieces
1 t. vanilla
3 T. ice water (I only needed 2, I think this was because of the Earth balance)
6 oz. reduced fat cream cheese, softened
1/3. c. vanilla yogurt (or 1/2 c. sour cream)
3 T. chopped crystallized ginger
1 1/2 lbs. strawberries cut lengthwise in half

1. In food processor combine flour, salt, and 1/3 c. sugar. Pulse until blended. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add vanilla, then ice water one tablespoon at a time, pulsing until moist clumps form. Gather dough into a ball; flatten into disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to roll, about one hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375. On large sheet of parchment paper, with floured rolling pin, roll dough into 12" round. Using 11" dinner plate as guide, use sharp knife to cut 11" round from dough; discard trimmings.
3. Transfer round, still on parchment to large cookie sheet. Using fingers or cookie cutter, create decorative edge. Refrigerate on cookie sheet about 10 minutes to firm dough slightly.
4. Bake dough 10-20 minutes or until golden. Cool crust completely on cookie sheet on wire rack.
5. When crust is cool, in medium bowl, with spoon, mix cream cheese, yogurt, crystallized ginger and remaining 3 T. of sugar until blended. Spread mixture onto crust. Arrange strawberries wide ends down in concentric circles in cream cheese mixture.

Reference: Good Housekeeping, April 2008

Nutritional Information:
Each serving- About 315 calories, 5 g protein, 30 g carbohydrate, 20g total fat (12 g saturated), 2 g fiber, 57 mg cholesterol, 285 mg sodium.

2 comments:

~Amber~ said...

This looks wonderful! I love strawberries.

What's Cookin Chicago said...

What a refreshing dessert! Thanks for sharing it! :)