Summertime Strawberry Mascarpone Tart with Chocolate Cookie Crust

This has been a dreamy-as-fuck summer.  I was feeling a little snarky when I started writing this, as recent experiences with aggressive basil-plant death, terrible things happening to a hazelnut-cardamom-tartlet experiment, and a traveling Joey and faraway Molly had left me feeling a little crotchety, but then I remembered how I recently learned that the Potomac is home to four-foot long water snakes and probably water moccasins too (awesome), and that if someone hollers at you to shout the name of a state capital when you're swinging off a tree, you might possibly shout back "Maryland!" but no one will hold it against you. 

Multiply that by a bunch of seriously good-times trips to Maine, Seattle, Portland, and Richmond and a perpetual marathon of beer, bikes, and dance parties, and well, it's no wonder I've totally been cheating on this blog with summertime and instant ramen. Let me make it up to us though: This recipe is shamefully easy and it's practically no-bake! It's a take on last year's nectarine tart (You should click that. I use the phrase "fickle produce mistress."), adapted since the strawberries in Maine are baby jewels of awesome. If you're like me and have been completely underusing your farmers' market's supply of berries and stone fruit this summer, then this is an excellent recipe for getting back into the rhythm of fruity dessert accountability (for you and me both); it would be equally and possibly more awesome with gingersnap crust and blackberries drizzled with honey on top. Get yr summer on. 

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart 

Adapted from SmittenKitchen

Crust
About 3 1/2 cups of crushed chocolate cookies
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 

2 tablespoons brown sugar, or more, if you prefer a sweeter crust

Filling
1 8-ounce container mascarpone cheese
6 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
1 quart of the tiniest strawberries around, with their tops cut off
1/4 cup strawberry jam, warmed (I skipped this, it felt cheap)

For crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Finely grind cookies and sugar in food processor. Add melted butter and pulse on and off until crumbs are evenly moistened. Press mixture over bottom and up sides of 10-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Bake crust until color darkens, pressing sides with back of spoon if beginning to slide, about eight minutes. Cool completely.

For filling: Beat first six ingredients in medium bowl until smooth.  You can make this ahead and keep refrigerated for up to one day, or proceed and spread filling in prepared crust. Cover loosely and refrigerate at least two hours and up to one day.

For topping:  Place hulled strawberries bottom up across your filling. Alternatively, you can cut the berries into thin slices and fan them across the top. Brush with jam if you're using. Serve, or cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to six hours. (We actually had leftovers for about two days and they kept okay, but the crust gets soggy and the fruit degrades after about a day, so this is definitely best if eaten in the same day.)

Pudding Packet Revolution

I grew up baking brownies from a Duncan Hines box. I'm not certain I know anyone who really didn't, and I remember feeling revolutionized when they added pudding packets to the mix. I don't like to credit boxed mixes with having too much to do with my baking upbringing, but I reveled in measuring out my three-fourth cups of oil perfectly and cracking the single egg directly into the powdery center of my baking bowl. I think that the pudding packet is what gave me my taste for dense, fudgey brownies that have some structural integrity, but are most lovable for their profound, chocolate overload.

Ghiradelli 100% unsweetened chocolate, chopped for Cook's Illustrated batch

I'm not sure that brownies and I got off to the proper start through. I can claim an early love of the aforementioned DH pudding semi-masterpieces--though I wouldn't touch boxed brownies now unless you menaced me--but the first time I baked brownies from scratch was when I was going through my requisite vegan phase at Berkeley. What eventually became my go-to recipe impressed the hell out of me because until then, my vegan dessert staple had been a scoop (or several) of peanut butter, rolled in chocolate chips and coconut. I guess my brownie bar was set pretty low, and it wasn't until I started feeling serious about baking that I realized that my brownie repertoire was in dire need of some updating. I had always been scared to bake brownies from scratch, however, because their deliciousness is seriously embedded into my memories of childhood, and I was nervous to upset the nostalgia.

Cook's Illustrated final product--a touch underbaked, but cohesive, delicious squares

A good brownie, in my opinion, is the best inducer of childhood indulgence. It should be undeniably rich but not overly so, fudgey in the middle with a satisfyingly crisp outer shell. Crumbs should be manageably sticky, but not gummy, and I prefer a deep dark chocolate to the pale and milky sort that leads to a rather Play-Doh-tasting brownie. This may be a holdover from my vegan days, but I think that a cold glass of almond milk is a terrific accompaniment, since its nutty flavor cuts through the chocolate and brings out all that is deep and earthy about proper brownies.

Cook's Illustrated stacks--crackly shells with a soft, thick interior

In my quest to pinpoint exactly which brownie satisfies my demanding and indulgent need for baked goods, I narrowed down my recipe bloc to two contenders that have been beckoning to me for months now. The first is a product of Cook's Illustrated wiz Erica Bruce, and the recipe was published as the perfect response to our childhood need for decadence with simplicity. The second comes from the two fellows behind Brooklyn's inspiring (seriously, inspiring--their baked goods are so toothsome) Baked bakery in Red Hook.

Baked version--ungodly rich and so fudgey, underbaked in spite of an additional 20 minutes of oven time

The first three photos in this post are from the Cook's Illustrated recipe, which uses an amount of chocolate that is modest compared to the Baked brownie, and swaps out all-purpose flour for cake flour which reduces the granular feeling that can sometimes accompany baked goods that use quite a bit of white sugar. The CI version baked nearly to perfection, even though I have a tendency to underbake (I will readily eat an overbaked brownie, but the texture reminds me too much of dry, store-bought cake to be thoroughly enjoyable), and the taste and texture were everything I needed: crackled exterior, rich, fudgey middle, and with an expansive chocolate taste that made it nearly impossible to stop myself from eating four in a row. These brownies were ever better on the second day, and next time I make them, I think I will refrigerate the batter for a few hours before baking, to allow the egg to thoroughly absorb the dry ingredients and promote that fugdey taste that is so crucial. The Baked ones would have been delicious over ice cream, but alone, they were simply too rich for me (who thought this day would ever come!). The Baked brownie uses two types of chocolate and is absolutely, deliciously decadent, but I prefer the simplicity of the Cook's Illustrated brownie. I think with its incredibly deep chocolate profile, however, the Baked brownie would take a spice (such as smoked paprika) or a stripe of caramel nicely. Let me know if you try anything!

Classic Brownie
Cook's Illustrated

1¼ cups cake flour
½ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking powder
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped fine
12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cut into six 1-inch pieces
2¼ cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 325 degrees. Cut 18-inch length foil and fold lengthwise to 8-inch width. Fit a length of two of foil into a 13 by 9-inch baking dish, pushing it into corners and up sides of pan; allow excess to overhand pan edges. Spray foil-lined pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk to combine flour, salt, and baking powder in medium bowl; set aside.

3. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl set over saucepan of almost-simmering water, stirring occasionally, until smooth. When chocolate mixture is completely smooth, remove bowl from saucepan and gradually whisk in sugar. Add eggs on at a time, whisking after each addition until thoroughly combined. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions, folding with rubber spatula until batter is completely smooth and homogeneous.

5. Transfer batter to prepared pan; using spatula, spread batter into corners of pan and smooth surface. Bake until toothpick inserted into center of brownies comes out with few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, then remove brownies from pan by lifting foil overhang. Cut and serve brownies, and keep remainders in the freezer to eat at your leisure.

Baked Brownie
From the folks at Baked bakery

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13 glass or light-colored metal baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, cocoa powder (and spices if you’re using them), r.

3. Put the chocolate, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.

4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.

5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes (I had to bake for 50, to no avail), rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them int osquares and serve.