Strawberry Rhubarb Rustic Tarts with Whipped Cream Frosting

I spotted some beautiful looking rhubarb the other day at a farm, and bought some to make some strawberry rhubarb pie with.  After careful consideration, however, I decided to make something a little smaller since Clint has never had rhubarb anything, and I knew I couldn't eat a whole pie by myself if he didn't like it.  So, this recipe from Dinner With Julie provided the inspiration for my tarts.  I used different crust than she did, since I have a good recipe from the 1950 Betty Crocker's Cook Book for homemade pie crust that is pretty simple.  Also, I adjusted Julie's recipe to correspond with the amount of strawberries and rhubarb that I had on hand.  Then, I topped it off with whipped cream frosting - Delicious!

Pie Crust (one 8 or 9 inch crust):

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter

2 tbs water

Mix salt and flour.  Cut in half the butter until mixture looks like meal.  Cut in second half of butter until mixture looks like big peas.  Sprinkle with water one tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with forrk until all the flour is moistened.  Gather dough together into a ball.  I usually have to add in another tablespoon of water, and it still seems really dry, but when you start to gather it up into a ball, it will turn into pie crust dough, I promise!  Roll out on lightly floured surface.  Cut into several smaller circles.

 

Strawberry Rhubarb Filling:

1 1/2 cups chopped rhubarb

2 cups chopped strawberries

1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)

1 Tbs cornstarch

1 egg beaten (optional)

sugar or coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)

In large bowl, mix strawberries and rhubarb.  In a small bowl, stir together sugar and cornstarch until lump-less.  Toss sugar and cornstarch with strawberries and rhubarb until coated.

Put a spoonful of strawberry rhubarb filling in the middle of each pie crust circle, leaving about an inch of empty pie crust all the way around.  Fold the pie crust over the filling to create an edge.

If you want, brush the edge with egg and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes at 350 or until fruit is tender and crust is golden.

 

Whipped Cream Frosting:

(You definitely don't need this much frosting for the tarts, but the extra always gets eaten around here as a topping for . . . well, anything sweet!)

1 (8oz) package cream cheese

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups heavy cream

Place the mixing bowl, whisk, cream cheese and heavy cream in the freezer for about ten minutes to chill.

With the whisk attachment, mix the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until smooth.  While the cream cheese mixture is still beating, slowly add in the heavy cream.  Continue beating until it holds a stiff peak.

You can use it right away, but the flavor is better if it's allowed to mellow a while, or even overnight.

Enjoy!