Strawberries, boysenberries, or both?

Berry season is in full-swing here in California. And, with perfect timing, Marie of A Year in Oak Cottage, selected La Palette’s Strawberry Tart for this week’s TWD. The tart is wonderfully delicious – who cares about the filling here, when the crust itself is so divine! Ah, but part of the challenge is to utilize the season’s bounty.

First of all, one of my dear friends asked me to take a huge basket of boysenberries, freshly picked from her garden. So, I thought, Great! I’ll make my tart with boysenberries. And, not only did she give me the freshest berries, but she Forced Upon Me (Forced! I repeat!) homemade boysenberry jam. Was she psychic? Did she know we needed both berries and jam? How could I refuse? So, round one tarts were filled with boysenberries. **

It turned out that there were only enough boysenberries for 2 ½ tarts, but I still had 4 of the tasty darlings sitting on the counter. What to do?

Early Saturday morning (after the crazy dog woke me at 5 am), I raced down to the Farmers Market and bought a pint of fresh strawberries for $2.50. Round two brought forth the strawberry tarts. Still delicious.

But, now, there were still two tart shells left and a smattering of red and black berries. So, it was on to round three: a mélange of strawberries and boysenberries, with the yummy boysenberry jam underneath. Triple delicious.

For all the tarts, I sweetened some sour cream and placed a dollop on top. It was just the right amount of tartness to balance the sweetness of the tart.

Great choice, Marie! Truth be told, I didn’t even miss the chocolate this week.

Be sure and visit the other TWD sites to see some out-of-this-world fruit tarts.

** Oh, and all she wants in return is some homemade bread. ; )