Friday, May 9, 2014

Baking Friday - Pie # 5

Our last Mother's Day baking entry just two days before this annual tribute to mothers.  This is our pie...
Except it's really two pies...
...cause the line can come fast and furious and long!  This is just a portion of my willing taste testers!
What I love are the smiles!  People like Thursdays around our office now!
And THAT!  Makes me happy!

So what is our pie?  Just a little strawberry cheesecake tart "worthy skipping breakfast for!"  Just a little slice of wonderful "simply heaven" that elicits activities such as "I just licked my plate...twice."  Even those who are not cheesecake fans (are there really such people in the world???  Why yes, there are...myself included) enjoyed this light, creamy tart with slight citrus hints.  And making it look like a strawberry flower is way easier than it looks at first!  (I have Helen Fletcher on European Tarts to thank for teaching us this!  Although she used more strawberries, so hers is prettier...)

About the only weakness in this tart was the crust.  I still haven't found THE pie crust recipe that I love when baked blind and that doesn't shrink.  So I tried a "never fail" crust recipe in hopes this one might be it.  But alas, not so much, so the search continues.  And I figure it isn't needful to share that recipe.  It tasted fine, but it was a little on the tougher side for pie crusts.  And as you can see below...it still shrunk a bit.  Bummer.

At the same time, others said that they liked the crust.  So that just goes to show you that taste?  Is a matter of taste.

Profound, I know.  I will give you a moment to recover from such profundity.

But it really is true.  Taste is a matter of taste.  No matter the subject matter, we can never please everyone in every detail all of the time, and trying to do so will make us crazy.  And life is way too short for that!

Enough with the philosophy lesson for this post!  Maybe one of these days I will find THE pie crust recipe that satisfies me completely and my search will be over!  And if you stick around here long enough, I will share it with you when I find it!

Regardless of the crust, THIS.  IS. EASY.  Perhaps you think I say that every time, but this one really and truly is.  Not that I'm lying every other time I say it, but once the crusts are baked (and feel free to "cheat" and use a Pillsbury crust!), there is no other baking involved!  Come on!  What could be easier?!

In order to protect the crust (in case it wasn't as tough as it sorta turned out to be) I painted it with a bit of melted vanilla almond bark.  I could have used a pastry brush, but I used a spoon.  It worked just fine.

To finish off this tart, I filled it with this filling, essentially a non-orangy version of last week's Orange Cake Frosting.  All I did was substitute milk for the orange juice and zest.  (And keep in mind this was for two tarts, not just one.)

1 cup of heavy cream
Splash of vanilla and almond
1/4 cup powdered sugar
4oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup softened butter
Few grains of salt
Splash of vanilla and almond
2 cups powdered sugar
2 - 3 T. milk

I whipped the cream with the flavorings and powdered sugar in my trusty Kitchen Aid with the whisk until light and fluffy with a peak just under stiff.  I moved that to a separate bowl and began beating all of the remaining ingredients in my trusty Kitchen Aid with the whisk until fluffy and soft and then folded the whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

Is it a true "cheesecake"?  Nope, I would have to say "no" to that question.  But for us not such cheesecake lovers, it was a nice balance between real cheesecake and a pastry cream filling.  (It does taste luscious if I may say so myself!)

Fill the tart shells with this lusciousness!
And then?  Then do something crazy with that last little bit of orangy cream cheese frosting you have leftover from last week.  Pile that on top!
Smooth it out with an offset spatula...
...until almost to the edge.
And I could have stopped right there.  But what fun is that when there are strawberries around?!

Following Helen's instructions, I sliced each hulled strawberry from point to hull in about 4 - 6 pieces but kept them intact.  Look closely.  Can you see the cut lines?
I also tried to sort by size - largest to smallest - so I could use the larger slices for the outer rings and the smaller ones for the inner rings.
And I was ready to decorate!  (By the way - filling and decorating took me a total of about 20 minutes for both pies, including the slicing time, so it will actually take me a longer time to write about this and post the pics than it took me to do it in the first place!)

I made my first outer ring on both pies...I mean tarts...



...and this was how many berries I had left.
And then I started on the next inner ring.  (If I'd had more berries, I would have laid them closer together, but I didn't estimate so well!)
And kept going along, laying each next ring as closely to alternating points with the previous ring as possible.
And I kept watching my berry supply.
And building rings.
And wondering if my berries would hold out.  For two tarts...???
And guess what?  This pie got done...
...as did this one!
And every last berry slice was used!
My final garnish was intended to be a "white chocolate" glaze of simply hot cream and a bit of vanilla almond bark melted together...
This was the drizzle consistency that I ended up with...
...and even though I let it cool a while before drizzling on the berries, it was still a bit too warm, so it was barely visible on the berries.
What's a girl to do?  No worries!  Chocolate sauce ain't just for ice cream folks!
And sure enough.  Once the tarts were chilled again, the "white chocolate" glaze whitened up right nice!  Ready for a couple of mint leaves and serving!
Pretty, huh?  And tasty!

I've had fun with our Mother's Day treats!  I hope that you have as well!  Please accept my sincere wishes for a wonderful Mother's Day to you and yours!  And I hope you found something in our collection to inspire you to treat your mother extra special!
Thanks for stopping by!  

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