Strawberry Fields Forever

Summer is officially here! The local strawberry man has his beautiful fresh strawberries for sale... $10.00 gets you a HUGE bucket of the red beauties to do with as you please. And I please a tart, please. This insanely good tart is in the May '06 Everyday Food. There is not much to it, which is why I choose to make it. With all the buttercream lately I was craving something clean and naturally sweet. Somthing uncomplicated and easy.... I definatley found what I was looking for with this little beauty. This is such a fabulous summer dessert and I give a big "Hell Yeah" to the Everyday Food chef who came up with it (because we know Martha can't think of everything...). Strawberry Tart TART CRUST 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled) 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces 1/3 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon salt FILLING 1 bar (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese, softened 1/4 cup sugar 1 1/2 to 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and halved 1/4 cup seedless red currant jelly 1. Make the crust: Preheat oven to 350°. In a food processor, blend flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form (this may take up to 1 minute). Transfer dough to a 9-inch round tart pan with a removable bottom. 2. With floured fingers, press dough evenly into pan and up sides. Dip a dry-measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan. Freeze crust until firm, 10 to 15 minutes. 3. Using a fork, prick crust all over. Bake until golden, 25 to 30 minutes, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up. Cool completely in pan. 4. Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth; spread mixture evenly in bottom of baked crust (still in tart pan). 5. Starting from outside edge, arrange strawberry halves, stemmed side down, in tight concentric circles on cream cheese. 6. In a small saucepan, heat jelly on medium-low until liquefied. Gently brush strawberries with jelly; let set at least 20 minutes. Chill in pan at least 1 hour (and up to 6 hours); remove from pan just before serving. I am telling ya.. this one you have got to try. It's easy, quick and so freaking good.... We all had it after a dinner of fried chicken and mashed potatos. We finished off half of it between the 4 of us... then I accidently ate the rest of it around 2am.... DAMN IT! But each bite was one of those eye rolling, groaning with pleasure bites.... so so good.