“The Queen of Hearts, she made some tarts, all on a summer day: The Knave of Hearts, he stole those tarts and took them quite away!” – Lewis Carroll

This tart is definitely worth stealing; it is soooooo good! With a cream-cheese base, chocolate and fresh strawberries, who could resist it? On a recent trip to the grocery store, I saw this recipe on the cover of Taste of Home, and was lucky enough to find it online at: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Strawberry-Tart. I have changed a couple of things in the original recipe, such as using reduced fat cream cheese and more chocolate (and next time I make this I will actually double the chocolate I used.)

The tart is easy to assemble and sinfully good! If you volunteer to bring a dessert to your next gathering, consider making this – it is as wonderful as it looks, and it won’t last long! Yum, yum, yum. I will probably make this on July Fourth, and add blueberries along with the strawberries for a patriotic dessert.

Ingredients

• 1 sheet refrigerated pie pastry
• 4 oz. German sweet chocolate, melted (*Note – next time I will use 8 oz.)
• 2 packages (8 oz. each) reduced fat cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 ¾ cup confectioners’ sugar
• 3 tbls heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 ½ cups fresh strawberries, sliced
• ¼ cup red currant jelly, melted

Preparation

Preheat Oven to 450 degrees.

Press the pastry into an ungreased fluted tart/quiche pan with a removable bottom. Prick the dough with a fork in several places to keep it flat as it bakes. Place on a baking sheet and bake for approximately 10 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

Melt chocolate in microwave until it is smooth (the chocolate I used had microwave instructions on the label – 1 ½ minutes for 4 oz.) Smooth the chocolate on the pie crust. Cover and refrigerate for 10 minutes until set.

Mix room-temperature cream cheese with the whipping cream and vanilla extract until smooth. Add the confectioners’ sugar gradually, until blended. Pour into chocolate-lined pie shell.

Arrange strawberries over filling. Zap the red currant jelly in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, and brush over the strawberries.

Cover with foil and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (*Note – I would recommend putting this in the freezer first for 30 minutes, and then moving it to the refrigerator. It will set faster.)

Remove the sides of the pan and serve. If you want to get fancy, garnish with some fresh mint leaves.

Love fresh strawberries? Check out my blog post “Strawberry Fields Forever” for other recipe ideas.

Eat, drink and be merry!