I bought strawberries every week while strawberries were in season. While they were amazingly delicious, I decided to make a Strawberry-Almond Cream Tart.
First, I made a graham cracker crust. I hate making graham cracker crusts - I'm much more likely to buy a premade crumb crust than I am to make one - but I did it anyway. It wasn't too bad. I used the food processor to pulverize my graham crackers and combine them with water, sugar, and melted butter. I patted the moist mixture up the sides of my 9-inch springform pan and baked it at 350F for 10 minutes.
While the crust cooled, I made the glaze. In the food processor again, I combined 2 cups of strawberries with sugar and cornstarch. I poured it into a saucepan and cooked it over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it came to a boil. After letting it simmer for 1 minute, I removed it from heat to let it cool.
While both the glaze and crust cooled, I combined cream cheese with sugar, vanilla, and almond extract. I also cut the tops from strawberries and tossed them with a little lemon juice. Finally, it was time to assemble the tart. I spread the cream cheese mixture over the crust. I topped it with whole strawberries, and spread the strawberry glaze around them. I was tired, so I skipped adding almonds around the outside of the tart. I covered the tart and put it in the fridge overnight.
The strawberry tart was tasty, but overall I was unimpressed with this dessert. Alex and I agreed that the graham cracker crust was not as tasty as the shortbread crust of the Lime Curd Tart (but this one also didn't have 3 sticks of butter in it!). The tart was soggy after a few days, which was both expected and disappointing. I didn't get a strong almond flavor from the almond cream; the flavors were dominantly sweet and strawberry. The glaze was okay, but I don't think you need to add sugar to in-season strawberries. I was also frustrated that you make twice as much glaze as you need for the tart; I'd rather just eat the other cup of strawberries! This was pretty and tasty enough, but I don't think the returns were worth the effort spent making it. I'd rather make Strawberry Summer Cake or strawberry shortcakes, or just eat the berries whole and unadorned.
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