My famous cousin, Lisa

My cousin Lisa Weiss, the famous cookbook author, has a new book out with Emily Luchetti, the very famous and talented pastry chef at Farallon and Waterbar in San Francisco. I went to their book signing party last week at Waterbar and ate some yummy desserts. They gave me a book because I helped coordinate the volunteer bakers. Lucky me! The name of their new book is The Fearless Baker. Of course when I got home I read though it, salivated and enjoyed the pictures. Check out Lisa's dog, Chita on page 96 and the dedication to their husbands and dogs.

Mike and I were invited to our neighbor's, Adam, Jennifer & Vivenne, house for dinner Sunday night and they very fortuitously asked me to bring dessert. The problem was picking out which recipe to make out of my new cookbook, too many good ones to choose from. I decided on strawberries since they're in season and settled on the Double Strawberry Cream Tart. Good choice! I love sour cream and strawberries. Their instructions are flawless and it turned out perfectly.

The Fearless Baker Double Strawberry Cream Tart, pages 142 and 146

Basic Sugar Short Dough

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch cubes, it can be frozen
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons cold water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Place flour, sugar, salt and butter cubes in food processor bowl. Pressing the pulse button quickly, pulse the mixture until the butter is the size of small peas. Do not overmix. Whisk the egg yolk, water and vanilla together in a small bowl. Add it to the dry ingredients and pulse until the dough comes together into several small clumps. Do not process to the point where it forms a ball.

Place the dough on a cooking board or other work surface and press the lumps together. Separate the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and place into 9 inch removable bottom tart pan. Use your fingers to press the dough over the bottom of the pan. make the dough as even as possible, breaking off pieces and re-placing elsewhere as needed. Put the pan with the dough in the freezer for about 20 minutes or refrigerate for 45 minutes. Be careful not to push up on the bottom of the pan. You can place the tart pan on a baking sheet.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the dough for about 30 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Let cool.

Double Strawberry Cream tart

2 pints organic strawberries, stemmed and washed
1/3 cup plus 1 1/2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Put half in the strawberries cut into 1/2 pieces in a small saucepan with 1/3 sugar. Cook over medium heat until the mixture is thick and jammy. Stir occasionally, about 10-15 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

Spread the cooked strawberries over the baked crust.

Mix together the sour cream, 1 1/2 tablespoon sugar and the vanilla. Spread over the strawberries.

Slice the other half of the strawberries lengthwise through the stem end and arrange on top of the tart.

This tart can be refrigerated up to 6 hours. Let sit for 30 minutes at room temperature before serving if chilled first.

This was a big hit. My neighbor, Adam, had 2 pieces and we split the leftovers. Mike happily ate the leftovers. Thanks Emily & Lisa! Enjoy!