It’s time for a sweet treat! My Grain Free Strawberry Hand Tarts are a riff on two childhood favorites - boxed strawberry Pop-Tarts (the ones with the neon sprinkles) and homemade strawberry jam.
May is strawberry season for many parts of the country, though we won’t reach peak strawberry season here in the Midwest until sometime around early/mid-June. My Grain Free Strawberry Hand Tarts are a riff on two childhood favorites. I loved the boxed strawberry Pop-Tarts covered with icing and neon sprinkle flecks as a kid, but as we’ve all learned from a recent lawsuit, they don’t actually contain real strawberries – imagine that ;-). And I’ve always been partial to strawberry jam, I remain convinced to this day that my mom’s strawberry jam is the best strawberry jam you can find. She doesn’t recall where the recipe came from, but she’s been making it at least since I was a little girl. One of my greatest food memories is my mom scraping foam from the top of the jam as she was making it and slathering the warm strawberry foam across buttered white bread for us, simple and delicious. Her jam was quick and easy to make, requiring only a microwave, strawberries, boxed pectin, and a load of white sugar. The jam I make for these Grain Free Strawberry Hand Tarts requires a lot less sugar and a little more time, but is full of the fresh, sweet, tart summer strawberry flavor I’m after. My Grain Free Strawberry Hand Tarts are yummy and fun to eat, and a little more grown up than the boxed kind I grew up with. Mine are made with a grain free dough and filled with a homemade, slow cooked strawberry jam full of fresh fruit and free of artificial pectin and refined sugar – the granny smith apple here provides the pectin to help the jam gel together. You can feel good about reaching for these Strawberry Hand Tarts in the morning, or any time of day!
Make ahead tip: the Strawberry Jam filling can be made a few days ahead and the dough can be made a day ahead for quicker assembly when you are ready to bake.
Grain Free Strawberry Hand Tarts
Ingredients
For the dough:
3 cups superfine blanched almond four (336g)
2 cups + ¼ cup tapioca flour (270g), plus additional for dusting
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks/168g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into ¼ inch cubes
1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
½ cup + 2 tablespoons ice water
For the Strawberry Jam filling:
2 pounds strawberries, hulled and chopped
1 small granny smith apple (about 113g), peeled, cored and grated
6 tablespoons raw honey
1 lemon (about 120g), juice and zest
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
Generous pinch of coarse kosher salt (about 1/8 teaspoon)
For assembly:
Tapioca flour for dusting
1 large egg
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 tablespoon cold water
How to make Grain Free Strawberry Hand Tarts
In a medium bowl, combine flours and 1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt. With a pastry cutter or two knifes, cut butter into flour until butter is mixed through and mixture looks shaggy. Drizzle 6 tablespoons ice water over dough and stir to combine, working water through mixture, the dough will still be dry and separated. Add 2 more tablespoons of water and work into dough – there’s no gluten so you don’t need to worry about over working the dough, though you don’t want to work it so much that the butter melts in; after the 8th tablespoon of water is worked in, it will start to come together but may not be fully combined. If needed, add 1 or 2 more tablespoons of water and work into the dough, using your muscles ;-), and a smooth ball of dough will start to form, much like a heavy cookie dough or play dough. Form dough into a ball, flatten to a disc, wrap very tightly in two layers of plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes. If refrigerated for longer, take out of refrigerator and let sit 10-15 minutes before attempting to roll out.
While dough chills, prepare the filling. In a 2-quart sauce pan, mix together chopped strawberries, grated apple, honey, lemon zest and juice, vanilla, and a pinch of kosher salt. Bring to a boil and allow to boil for 10 minutes, stirring frequently to prevent jam from boiling over. Reduce to a low simmer and simmer for 50 minutes. If a smoother strawberry filling is desired, carefully blend mixture until smooth – an immersion blender works great here. Allow strawberry jam filling to cool completely, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
Prepare work surface to roll out the dough by covering with parchment and lightly dusting with tapioca flour. Lightly dust rolling pin with tapioca flour as well. Remove disc of dough from refrigerator, divide dough in half, wrap half back in plastic wrap and return to refrigerator. Lightly dust the top of the dough you are working with with tapioca flour and roll out to 1/8 inch thick. Continue to dust dough and rolling pin with tapioca flour while rolling out to prevent dough from sticking to pin. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut dough into a large rectangle, then cut into rectangles measuring 3.5 x 5 inches each until you have 10 rectangles – you will need to roll out the dough 2 to 3 times to achieve the number and size of rectangles needed. Carefully, use a thin metal spatula or chef’s knife with the edge dipped in tapioca flour to gently slide under the cut rectangles one at a time to free them from parchment, lift up each rectangle and move to a separate sheet of parchment paper until all rectangles are cut and ready to assemble. The dough will not have any stretch or give, but if you find small tears, gently press with your fingertips, the heat from your fingers will be enough to bring it back together.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place 5 dough rectangles on the parchment lined baking sheet, spaced about an inch apart. Add 2 tablespoons of strawberry jam to the center of each rectangle, leaving a ¼ inch border all the way around. Gently arrange a second dough rectangle on top of each piece of jam topped dough. Using a fork with the tines dipped in tapioca flour, gently press along all four sides of each tart to crimp and seal closed. Place baking sheet with tarts in freezer for 10 minutes.
While first tray is in the freezer, take remaining dough out of refrigerator and let sit about 10 minutes before rolling out.
Prepare egg wash by beating egg, water and heavy cream together in a small dish.
Remove baking sheet from freezer and using a pastry brush, brush each tart with the egg wash. Using the fork again, poke the center of each tart a few times to allow steam to escape while baking or using a sharp paring knife cut a few slits into the top layer.
Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes, until an even, golden brown. Remove hand tarts from baking sheet and allow to cool on a wire rack.
While first tray is in the oven, roll out with second half of dough to cut another 10 rectangles, keeping rolling pin lightly dusted with tapioca flour to avoid tearing the dough. Repeat directions above for assembly, freezer, brushing with egg wash, and baking.
*If you have enough dough left over from both halves, you might be able to get another 2 rectangles cut for an extra tart. Otherwise, makes 10 Strawberry Hand Tarts.
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