Little Rustic Strawberry Tarts (Container Growing Strawberry Know-How)

I have three pints of strawberries in the fridge. I had five! It became necessary to um, get baking. During strawberry season, there is no such thing as too many strawberries around here. Every morning on my oatmeal plus I nibble on them throughout the day (well, when I don't feel the need for chocolate). I am convinced they hold some secret cure. Of what, I am not sure. 

This recipe involves basically very little in the way of cooking. Personally, the kitchen is not where I want to be when there is so much to be done outside. Today the temps are in the nineties so I lasted outside until about noon, then had to come in to cool off. 

I grow my own strawberries, but not in the way you might imagine. There are no fields. Mine are grown in a one container that is literally maintenance free. I do nothing to this plant. I don't feed, mulch or co-plant. It is in full sun throughout the summer. In the fall, I cover it with leaves which apparently provides it with enough protection to keep it in its dormant stage without it being killed by the cold. And we had a truly cold winter, so imagine my surprise when my strawberries showed up! The homegrown strawberry is not your grocery store strawberry. IT is much better! Smaller, yes, but they are simply divine. 

I decided this year I would be a "wiser" strawberry grower and protect my crop--what little there is of it--so I picked up some netting to keep critters and birds off. So far, so good. These are an everbearing cultivar. This is their third year of production. 

I think applying a layer of oak leaves in the fall helps mightily in the area of both feeding the plant and protecting it. But I still consider this a maintenance free plant given we are surrounded by tall oaks and the leaves sort of gather over them naturally.

 The other day I made enough pie dough for two double-crusted pies. Originally I was going to make a strawberry pie. But the question of space came into the equation and I opted for hand-held little rustic tarts, easily eaten by hand, easily stored in a plastic container in the fridge for future noshing. 

Fresh from the oven.

You'll need about four cups of strawberries to make six-eight tarts. Wash and stem them, then cut them into quarters.

Take half of them and mash them in a saucepan. Then add about 1/4 cup of sugar and a tablespoon of arrowroot or cornstarch and juice of half a lemon. I find strawberries sweet on their own, thus the small amount of sugar. Warm over medium heat and stir until the sugar and cornstarch is dissolved. Remove from heat. Place the rest of the prepared strawberries in a large bowl. Add the berries from the saucepan and toss them both together really well. 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

After I rolled my dough out (I used a four inch cutter for my tarts), I pinched the ends of the dough rounds to give me a bit more width--so I'd be able to fold up more dough around the strawberries. I used about two tablespoons of berries per tart.

Ready for baking. I baked mine for about 30-35 minutes--until the crusts began to turn gold around the edges. Remove from oven. Allow tarts to cool on pan. I served mine on a plate. These are delish on their own, and fit right in the palm of my hand. Store in a container in the fridge. Yum!