Love Heart Strawberry Tarts

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Gorgeous as a girly treat for high tea with your besties, or fabulous for a romantic ‘dessert à deux’ (leaving you half a dozen to choose from when you need a sweet midnight feast!)… These quick and sumptuous tarts are summery, impressive, yet so simple – You’ll be whipping them up in a flash whenever your heart desires…

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes + 15 minutes rest

Serves: 8

Ingredients

2 sheets sweet short crust pastry, defrosted
zest of 1 lemon
400g mascarpone
100g lemon curd
2tbsp icing sugar
500g strawberries, washed, hulled

Instructions

Grease 8 heart-shaped tart cases (or a 22-inch loose-bottomed flan tin).

Preheat your oven to 200C, or as advised on your pastry packet.

Lay your pastry sheets out on a floured bench. Using a fine grater, grate the zest over the surface of the pastry evenly, and gently pat it into the pastry then roll the pastry out to about 3mm thick, embedding the zest into it.

Using a cookie cutter just a little larger than your tart cases, cut into circles and line the tins – trimming off any overhang. Pop them into the fridge to rest for about 15 minutes.

Make your filling. In a large bowl combine the mascarpone, curd and icing sugar and mix well. Set aside in the fridge until ready to use.

Remove your tart cases from the fridge, prick the bases with a fork and line with pieces of baking paper. Fill with baking beans or ceramic weights. Place the tarts on a baking tray and bake blind for around 5-6 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven, discard the paper and set aside the beans or weights.

Pop the tart cases back in the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and smelling like afternoon tea at your gran’s house. Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool completely.

To assemble your tarts, remove the cooled cases from their tray and fill each case with a couple of spoonfuls of your creamy lemon mixture. Top with whole strawberries.