Poco Mountain Girl

First, the important news: Zia is learning her letters! It came all in a spurt, and she’s been writing nonstop since Friday, when she got the idea to make some Valentine cards. This one is for Mimi, Papa, and the aunts and uncles in NY. She went from knowing hardly any letters to recognizing all of them and being able to write several from memory. When a girl’s gotta write, a girl’s gotta write!

Next, the real Valentine’s Day was yesterday. One of my favorite days of the year is the day David and I first met. Read all about it here.

Even though I am not so much of a holiday person, it’s only because yesterday’s sweetness can’t help spilling over to today that I kind of like to celebrate Valentine’s Day.

So, today’s creation…

A chocolate strawberry tart with whipped cream. I almost stuck to the recipe, too…except for just a minuscule variation. It’s a fairly healthy recipe, but I subbed out half the sugar in the crust and half the sugar in the filling for 1/8 tsp stevia in each.

Did you notice my makeshift tart pan? I baked it in a foil pie tin (bent into a heart shape) and then ungracefully cut off the edge. It actually kind of worked.

I also whipped up the remaining almost-1 pint of heavy cream and added between 1/8 tsp and 1/4 tsp stevia instead of sugar.

Zia was a big help. She sprinkled the chopped chocolate on top and licked the whipped cream beaters, then decided the table needed some Valentine decorations, which as always, were very original:

The tart is cooling, so the verdict is still out on taste…but we’re about to dig in.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Chocolate Strawberry Tart

For the crust:

1/2 cup unsalted, organic butter

1 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa poweder

1 whole egg

1/2 cup unrefined dark brown cane sugar (muscovado)

1 beaten egg white

Combine all ingredients except beaten egg white using a hand mixer or stand mixer. Pat dough in 12-inch tart pan, and chill in refrigerator. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush surface of dough with beaten egg white. Bake 10 minutes.

Filling:

2 eggs

1/2 cup unrefined dark brown cane sugar (muscovado)

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1 lb. fresh strawberries, sliced in half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 oz. dark chocolate (70% or darker), coarsely chopped

Beat eggs, sugar, and cream together in medium bowl. Lay strawberries on previously baked dough in attractive pattern. Drizzle egg mixture over fruit. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Sprinkle chopped chocolate over tart. Allow tart to cool at room temperature. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream. Refrigerated leftover portions.

From Better Nutrition Magazine, February 2012

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 14th, 2012 at 1:28 pm and is filed under Celebrating, General, Lion Man, Little Redhead Girl, Recipes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.