the enchanted oven: Strawberry

Every year when I was growing up, I requested fresh strawberry pie for my birthday instead of cake. It was a wonderful concoction of baked pie pastry filled with fresh strawberries and topped with seven minute icing. I wanted to try bite sized pies (because I love my new little tart pans) and top them with flaming strawberries (because I like to play with fire).

This is very easy and makes a knockout presentation. I fit pie dough into tart pans that were sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. A note here - whenever I bake a pie crust without a filling, I generously prick the bottom, line it with foil, and fill with dried beans to avoid shrinkage. Halfway through the baking, I remove the foil and beans.

After the tart shells had cooled, they popped right out of the pans. I filled each one with a sliced strawberry.

Top with seven minute frosting, Italian meringue, or if you had a week of migraines like me, marshmallow fluff. All choices are gooey and good.

Now its time to play with the fire. Take a whole strawberry, cut out the stem, and hollow it out just a bit. Pour a little orange extract in the hollow, place it on the tart, and light it up.

I have a really old and simplistic camera, so catching the flame was not easy. You will have to take my word for it - really beautiful. I'm a sucker for anything you can flambe.

Really bad picture, but you get the idea. I was so hoping to do a dessert and coffee in the garden for this, but south central PA can't seem to get a break from the rain. Instead, I set up shop in my dining room. I also made strawberry and strawberry blossom sugar cookies.

I didn't have a strawberry cookie cutter, so I used a heart and the end of a magic wand cutter and put the two together.

Love these Goodwill purchases. The taller one is a hobnail vase and I put a tiny plate on it.

I didn't have a runner that looked good with the colorscheme, so I just wove one out of ribbon. I have an Offray factory outlet nearby and the last time I was there, I got a GARBAGE BAG full of beautiful ribbon for $3.11.