Chocolate Amaretto Tart Piled High with Strawberries

What a fantastic weekend my family and I had. How was yours? Friday night was another all-nighter getting ready for the Salon on Saturday. I think I need a few more hours in my week! The Cooking Salon went very well and my Distinguished Guests enjoyed a morning at the Market learning how to pack a beautiful picnic for an evening at Wolf Trap, or a day in Virginia's Wine Country.


I'll share with you today the dessert, a decadent but very simple Chocolate Amaretto Tart with almost the last of our strawberry season's berries. The farmer I work with, Mary from Mt. Olympus Farm, said that with all the rain we have had, the strawberries are fermenting in the fields. So I celebrated this last harvest with this show stopping dessert.


Sunday evening we met my brother and his family at Wolf Trap for the Marine Corp Band and Fireworks. My spiffy new camera can do these cool panorama shots. Everyone is in the photo except me.


Here is Mia, my niece. She is so cute you could just squish her.


The fireworks were set to the music of this year's performances and the final song was Mamma Mia! I think there were a few thousand people singing and humming along. I was. It is such a fun sound track and I enjoyed the movie, so we are hoping to see it live this summer. The kids even want to see this one.


All in all a great weekend of hard work, time with family and friends, and solving some big problems. My biggie last week was that my original power cords weren't cutting it and I had to move up to 10 gauge/15 amp/1875 watts/NEMA L5-15R/100ft extension cords to run my appliances at the market. You had no idea I could speak power cords? Yeah, I am an electrician now too. These new suckers are thick and very heavy, 25 pounds a piece, and I will not even mention the cost- it makes my want to cry. So although I am getting a big workout with these guys, they work.

Now for that tart recipe...

Chocolate Amaretto Silk Tart with Strawberries– adapted from Annie Coughlin the Dinner Belle
one 9 inch prepared rolled pie dough
3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup cocoa powder
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
3 T. Amaretto
Strawberries
non-melting powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°. Place pie dough in a 9 inch tart pan or pie pan, pressing into the sides of the pan, trim excess. In a medium sized, heavy bottomed pan heat cream, butter, and cocoa powder until butter is melted. Place chocolate chips in a large bowl. Pour heated cream mixture over chocolate. Let set while you whisk together the eggs, sugar, and salt. Stir chocolate mixture until smooth and slowly whisk into the egg mixture. Add Amaretto and stir until smooth. Pour into prepared crust. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before serving. Top with fresh strawberries and sprinkle liberally with powdered sugar. Serves 8-10.

This is a tart I had learned to make years ago at a cooking class and have made it countless times when I used to cater. It can be made ahead of time, freezes well, and travels nicely- simply top with strawberries and powdered sugar once you get to where you are going to picnic or party.

PS- It was also my 18th Wedding Anniversary with Himself, the best fella a gal could have.


How was your Memorial Day Weekend?

For love of country they accepted death... ~James A. Garfield
Never Forget.

Robin Sue

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