Tasty Bites: Lemon Strawberry Refrigerator Tart

By Beth V

Easter! This Easter, I have my first opportunity to host dinner. We are accustomed to participating in huge family gatherings, having large collections of parents, brothers, sisters, and cousins on both sides of our family - what a blessing! We have moved for the first time away from all of those relatives and it sounds like we may have a few of them staying with us at Easter. Over these next two Thursdays, I’d like to share some Easter recipes with you. We are going to walk on the wild side and talk about dessert first.  Next week, I will share a delicious recipe for scalloped potatoes and my favorite spring salad.

Confession time: I had planned on sharing a ham glaze recipe I tested, but I didn’t feel like it came out quite as good as I had hoped. I will leave this great video tutorial of a delicious ham recipe that I am going to try next in case any of you are interested in trying it for Easter.

Now, on to dessert! This lemon strawberry tart just tastes like the essence of spring to me! Creamy light, lemony goodness accompanied by fresh, juicy strawberries. The ingredients are very simple and this can be made ahead and stored in the refrigerator or freezer.

We are going to be whipping some fresh cream for this recipe. You may be put off by this step, but bear with me, this is super easy! Place a large bowl and beaters or whisk attachment into the freezer and allow to chill a bit while you are prepping the other ingredients.

Next, we are going to remove the zest of one lemon. My absolute favorite tool for doing this is a Microplane grater/zester. You can find these at any kitchen store or online for about $10-$12 and you will feel much more inclined to make recipes using lemon zest. Fresh lemon zest lends such great freshness and flavor to lemony-dishes. This is a great kitchen investment. It can also be used for grating fresh nutmeg, fresh ginger, fresh parmesan cheese…you get the idea.  Just rub it gently over the lemon, back and forth and the lemon zest comes off in billowy, fluffy, tiny pieces. We only want the yellow part. Once you get past the yellow, move to another spot until it all of the yellow is removed from one lemon. This takes about a minute - the microplane makes very quick and easy work of it. You can also use a zester or peeler, just be careful to finely chop the zest so that it blends in nicely into this creamy pie.

Now, we are going to cut the zested lemon in half and squeeze out the juice, plus the juice of one more lemon. Prior to cutting, I roll the lemon a little on my cutting board, pressing down gently to release the juice. I just squeeze the lemon over a fine mesh strainer into a bowl and then just toss the seeds.

Now we are ready to make our whipped cream. Pour a cup of heavy whipping cream into the bowl and beat on low for about 1 minute just to make it frothy. Then, turn the mixer to high and blend for 1-3 minutes longer until it doubles in size and stiff peaks begin to form. 

This is how it looks at the frothy stage.

This is starting to turn to a “whipped” consistency, but it is still a bit loose.

This looks like its done.

And, we test it on a fingertip and it should stay put when you turn it upside down.
This is ready to go.

Next, we add the condensed milk to the bowl and then the lemon zest. Fold everything together gently with a spatula.

Now, we could stop here and just eat this mixture all by itself…it is so fresh-tasting and yummy. Pour this luscious mixture into a graham cracker crust. This needs to go into the refrigerator or freezer to chill. I put mine in the freezer until it was thoroughly chilled and then moved it to the refrigerator until I was ready to serve it. If you are making this a few days in advance, store it well-wrapped in the freezer, moving it to the refrigerator to thaw a bit overnight before serving.  This tastes delicious by itself, but I like it even better accompanied by macerated strawberries.

About 30 minutes before serving, cut up a container of strawberries in halves or quarters and sprinkle them with sugar. This process, called maceration, allows the juices to flow out of the strawberries and makes them saucy. They need to sit about 30 minutes out on the counter to become macerated.

You can spread the strawberries out over the pie or serve them on the side. Either way, they make a perfect springtime flavor combination. Feel free to make this extra fancy by whipping up some extra whipped cream and piping it around the edges.

Lemon Strawberry Refrigerator Tart
Adapted from babycenter.com

8 oz heavy cream

zest from 1 lemon

juice from 2 lemons

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 graham cracker crust

1 container strawberries (optional)

Approximately 1/3 cup sugar (optional)

1. Chill a large bowl and beaters or whisk attachment until they are cold

2. Pour heavy cream into bowl and blend on low for about 1 minute until it
is frothy.

3. Turn mixer to high and blend for 1-3 minutes longer until it doubles in
size and peaks form. The whipped cream should stick to a spoon or your finger and not drip off when turned upside down. Do not over beat.

4. Gently fold in sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice and lemon zest with a rubber spatula.

5. Pour into pie shell and chill. If making ahead, store, well-wrapped, in freezer, transferring it to the refrigerator the night before serving.

6. Optional strawberries: 30 minutes before serving, slice strawberries into halves or quarters and sprinkle with sugar. Allow the strawberries to macerate prior to serving.

Enjoy this delicious taste of spring!

Beth is a stay-at-home mom of three wonderfully active children ages seven, four and one. She is married to Jason V (who also writes for us here at MAD21) and spends her days teaching, changing diapers, sweeping up Cheerios, stepping over Legos, keeping peace among the kids, and enjoying the creative outlet of cooking.