My Inner Pastry Chef

I've always loved to cook and bake, but I've been intimidated when it came to making pastries like pie dough and tarts. This week I decided to tackle the challenge! We were invited to our dear friends' house for dinner last night, so I offered to bring a dessert. I absolutely love anything made by Barefoot Contessa (you can see her on Food Network) and since I had a coupon for free strawberries, I decided to jump in and make these strawberry tarts. They look like something you'd pay $7.00+ for in a fancy restaurant! They did taste really good and I was so impressed with the way they looked! Although Maddie barely ate her dinner (as usual), boy did she perk up when dessert was brought out! She climbed right up on the chair and reached for a whole tart, saying "I'll have this one, Mommy!" Nice try, darling! Keith was nice enough to let her share with him (big mistake!) as she proceeded to eat almost half of his tart, shoving pieces in her mouth before he could get to them! That's my girl. :-)


Perhaps this summer I'll try my hand at pies (although nobody can touch my Mom's pies, in my humble opinion...she started making them in high school to bribe my grandpa and boy, did she become a master!) :-) Now I'm drooling thinking about pies...peaches & cream, strawberry-rhubarb, marionberry with streusel topping...mmmm!