Strawberry Brown Sugar Tart

 Wow. Just Wow. This fresh strawberry tart is absolutely delicious!

 Look at all those shiny sweet strawberries.

 Lets not waste time. I just had to cut this bad boy up and dig in.

The crust on this tart is like a big yummy cookie. Slightly crisp and melt-in-your-mouth good. The filling is creamy and perfectly sweet and just heavenly with the layers of strawberries.

This is just a damn good tart. 'Nough said.

Strawberry Brown Sugar Tart

Ingredients

1 cup flour

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar, divided

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided

1/2 cup crème fraîche

1/2 cup whipping cream

12 ounces strawberries, hulled and sliced

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350°. In a food processor, whirl flour, 2 tbsp. sugar, the cornstarch, and salt until combined. Add butter and 1/2 tsp. vanilla and pulse until fine crumbs form and dough just begins to come together. Press evenly into bottom and up sides of a 9-in. round tart pan with a removable rim.

2. Bake until edges are golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cool on a rack, then gently push tart crust from pan rim; set on a plate.

3. In a bowl with a mixer on high speed, beat crème fraîche, cream, remaining 2 tbsp. sugar, and remaining 1/2 tsp. vanilla until thick. Spread in cooled crust. Arrange strawberries in circles on top, alternating cut sides down and up.

Make ahead: Chill, loosely covered, up to 4 hours.

I used the recipe below for the filling instead of the one called for in the recipe. I didn't have crème fraîche. Both are delicious, so use whichever one sounds best.

My Cream Filling (So Good!)

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, room temp.

1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Pinch of salt

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/8 tsp. almond and coconut extract (opt.)

3/4 cup heavy whipping cream*

Directions

In a small bowl beat whipping cream until stiff peaks form; set aside.

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, salt and extracts. Beat until smooth, then fold in whipped cream.

* I used stabilized whipping cream for a thicker filling. I found this at a baking supple store.

Southern-Style Strawberry Cake

Three layers of moist strawberry cake are slathered with delicious vanilla cream cheese frosting and topped with pink coconut and fresh strawberries. Yowzers!

I needed a dessert to take to a 'girls night in' and found this beautiful cake on joythebaker.com. As soon as I saw it, I knew I had to make it! Who cares if strawberries aren't in season and are hard to find at the grocery stores here? Not me. I wanted to make it anyway. The lovely and bright pink hue of this cake comes from a white cake mix and strawberry jello. Yes, this uses a cake mix. But, with the right add-ins you can't tell it's from a box and it has a wonderful strawberry flavor.

This cake was fun to make and assemble. I haven't made a layer cake in a while, so I had a good time in the kitchen putting this together.

Three layers of strawberry cake get filled with fluffy vanilla frosting. I added sliced strawberries in between each layer for a more pronounced strawberry flavor. I would recommend doing this to balance out some of the sweetness.

Layer #2

And more strawberries.

A glorious mound of frosting to coat the top and sides of the cake. Yum!

Coconut is tinted pink and sprinkled on top. This cake is bursting with pink! For a more neutral cake, leave the coconut white.

Fresh slices of strawberries are the finishing touch.

Here it is! I thought this cake turned out so beautiful.

This cake was really moist and bursting with strawberry flavor! The frosting was really tasty, but also really sweet. Maybe a tad less next time? The fresh strawberries, sweet coconut and vanilla frosting were a delicious combination of flavors. All the ladies at 'Girls Night' loved this cake and I will definitely put this recipe in my files and make it again!

Slice - Dig in - Enjoy

Inspired by: Joythebaker

Original Source: Patty Pinner, Sweets

Southern-Style Strawberry Cake

1 (18.5 ounce) box white cake mix (without pudding)*

1 (3 ounce) package strawberry jello

1 Tablespoon self rising flour

4 teaspoons granulated sugar

3/4 cup vegetable oil

4 eggs

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup fresh strawberries, finely diced.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the cake, combine to cake mix, Jello, flour and sugar in a large bowl.  Mix well.  Add the oil.  Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition  Add the water and strawberries and mix well.  Divide the batter evenly into three 8-inch round baking pans that have been oiled and floured.  Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until a tooth pick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean and the layers pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer the layers from the oven to wire racks.  Let them cool, still in their pans, for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, run a knife around the inside edge of each pan, then unmold each layer onto the racks to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 ounce) block cream cheese, softened

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened

2 (1 pound) boxes powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

pink food coloring

4 sliced strawberries

To make the frosting, in a bowl combine the cream cheese and butter.  Beat until soft and pliable and no lumps remain.  Add one box of the powdered sugar, salt and vanilla extract.  Beat until incorporated.  Add the second box of sugar and mix until incorporated.  If you would like a smoother consistency, and a slash of milk.  If you would like a thicker consistency, and a bit more powdered sugar until the desired consistency is achieved.

Put the coconut in a small bowl and sprinkle with two or three drops of pink die.  Mix with hands to distribute the color and wash hands immediately.  Once the cake is frosted, decorate the top of the cake with the shredded coconut and sliced strawberries.  

* I could only find cake mix with pudding in it, and it turned out fine.

Strawberry Kisses

Moist, fluffy strawberry cookies are topped with a yummy crowning of vanilla frosting.

These cookies are made with a strawberry cake mix and strawberry oil to really bring out the bright berry flavor. I'm sure they would be just as tasty without the strawberry oil though! To make them more interesting (and because I bake with my five year old) I made a simple vanilla frosting to go on top. You can substitute any flavor of cake mix for these and pair them with your favorite frosting. 

These are great plain, but a little frosting and maybe some sprinkles dress them up nicely and make for a more decadent treat.

Cake Mix Cookie
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, room temperature
1 (8 oz) block cream cheese, room temperature
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla (or extract to match your cake mix)
1 (18 oz) box cake mix

Beat butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extract. Stir in cake mix until moistened. Wrap dough in plastic and chill for two hours. Roll chilled dough into balls and roll balls into powdered sugar.  Preheat oven to 350.

Bake cookies, 2-inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will look slightly wet when they come out. Cool completely on a rack. Dust cookies with extra powdered sugar or frost with you favorite frosting.

* I used one strawberry cake mix and 1 teaspoon of strawberry essence that I picked up at a pastry shop for the above cookie.
* For the frosting, I beat one stick of butter with 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon almond extract and enough milk to make it a desired spreading consistency.

Brown Sugar Strawberry Tart

I came across this tasty photo and easy recipe on sunset.com and just had to share it!  Click Here for the recipe.

With strawberries coming into season, this is the perfect fruity/summer-ish dessert to make! And what's not to like about a brown sugar crust and an easy creamy vanilla filling?! Yum

Strawberry Pretzel Squares

Source

Judging by the name, you're probably thinking these sound strange.

We had a dinner party last night and one of our friends brought this for dessert. I think we were a bit skeptical, but then we tasted it. These are very good. The pretzel crust is amazing! It's sugary, buttery and salty all-in-one. All the flavors go very good together. This recipe comes from Kraft Foods, but I'm thinking it originated in Utah at an LDS potluck. :)

Strawberry Pretzel Squares

2 cups finely crushed pretzels

1/2 cup sugar, divided

2/3 cup butter or margarine, melted

1-1/2 pkg. (8 oz. each) Cream Cheese, softened

2 Tbsp. milk

1 cup thawed COOL WHIP Whipped Topping

2 cups boiling water

1 pkg. (6 oz.) Strawberry JELL-O

1-1/2 cups cold water1 qt. (4 cups)

strawberries, sliced

HEAT oven to 350°F.

MIX pretzel crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar and butter. Press onto bottom of 13x9-inch pan. Bake 10 min. Cool.BEAT cream cheese, remaining sugar and milk until blended. Stir in COOL WHIP; spread over crust. Refrigerate.

ADD boiling water to gelatin mix in large bowl; stir 2 min. until completely dissolved. Stir in cold water. Refrigerate 1-1/2 hours or until thickened (spoon drawn through leaves definite impression). Stir in strawberries; spoon over cream cheese layer. Refrigerate 3 hours or until firm.