Counting the seconds until spring

I really wanted spring to get here today. Mother Nature has been teasing us all season long with warmer-than-usual weather and beautiful sunny days throughout what should be a rather cold and snowy Canadian winter season. I mean, don’t get me wrong… I’m not complaining! It’s a little unnatural, but I’ll take it over 30 below any day. 

But I have a feeling that I am not the only one craving spring, because my favourite vendor at the Hamilton Farmers Market (Farmacy, seriously go check them out!) has Ontario-grown (in a greenhouse) strawberries and they were on mega-sale this week - 3 pints for just $5! They taste incredible and there really is nothing like Ontario-grown strawberries. The fact that I have access to them in the dead of winter? Fantastic. 

I wanted to do something with these berries that would bring together my yearning for spring and the flavours of winter, so I whipped up some sourdough pie crust dough the other day, and then today I added vanilla, cardamom and a pinch of nutmeg to the strawberries as I simmered them down to make a filling. 

Making these was more a process of patience and just waiting for the dough to develop flavour than it is actual work, but I have a hunch that all of that waiting will be worth it. It smells INCREDIBLE in here! 

I may be going to visit my grandma who is in the hospital tomorrow, so I just might have to bring her one of these… 

This dough makes enough pastry for a top and bottom crust. If you only need the top or bottom, just halve the amounts of the ingredients listed.

Strawberry Tarts:

• 1 pint of strawberries, stems removed

• ¼ cup sugar

• 2 tsp, vanilla  

• Pinch of cardamom 

• Pinch of nutmeg 

For the Sourdough Pie Crust:

• 250 g All Purpose Flour

• 5 g Salt (or to taste)

• 10 g Sugar (optional - see notes)

• 230 g Unsalted Butter must be COLD

• 200 g Sourdough Starter or Sourdough Discard

• 10 g White Vinegar or Apple Cider Vinegar

• 50 g Iced Water just in case

1. To make the dough: add the all purpose flour, salt and sugar to a large mixing bowl and stir together until well combined. Set aside for now. Grate the cold butter into a bowl. If the butter starts to melt or is very soft once grated, place the bowl into the freezer. This will help to firm the butter up (which makes the next step much easier). Place the cold, grated butter into the bowl with the flour, salt and sugar and use a spatula, pastry cutter or simply your fingertips to coat the butter in the flour. You want the butter to stay cold, so try to touch it as little as you can. Add the sourdough starter or discard and vinegar and bring the mixture into a dry, shaggy dough. It's best just to use your hands to squeeze the pastry dough together. It will be a rough, dry dough. If the dough really isn't coming together at all, add a little iced water until you are able to bring it together. Tip the rough dough out onto the counter, divide the dough into two pieces and bring each piece into a rough ball. Wrap each ball of pastry dough in parchment paper and squash it down into a disc shape. Wrap each disc in cling wrap and place both discs into the fridge

2. Leave the dough a minimum of one hour to fully hydrate and become cold. You can leave the dough in the fridge for up to 48 hours before you use it

3. When you are ready to use the sourdough pastry to make a pie crust, take the dough out of the fridge and unwrap it. Let it come up to room temperature. Dust the dough lightly with flour and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to your desired size

4. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Dust the cups on a muffin tin with flour

5. Use a cookie cutter or a mug to cut circles out of the dough. Line the muffin cups with one circle each. Bake these for 15 to 20 minutes until almost browned (you may need to push the dough down in the centre of the cups, unless you use pastry weights). Remove from the oven and set aside to cool 

6. In a small saucepan, combine the strawberries, sugar, vanilla, cardamom and nutmeg. Heat over medium-low heat until the strawberries are softened, then spoon the mixture into the muffin cups

7. Top the muffin cups with the scraps of dough from cutting out the circles. Brush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar

8. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes longer until the dough on top is getting crispy and brown. Let cool completely before serving with vanilla ice cream

Strawberry sourdough tarts. The perfect way to wrap up the weekend!