Some days, you just know what you are going to write for that day’s post. And it is going to be brilliant. Then your daughter, who is having her birthday says she wants you to do something.

Sara with her birthday fruit tart.

When it is her birthday, you cave just a little. Because it is her tenth birthday and she is your only daughter. Someone suggested to me that I should have another baby since I enjoy playing with a friend’s newborn.

The problem with that is I am 47 and my friend is 32. fifteen years of energy that I no longer have. Those late nights of crying and fussing. Those days of complete exhaustion. I prefer playing with Emma now and again.

But back to my daughter whose birthday is today. Ten years ago, I went to the hospital for an inducement. (Ladies, don’t do it if you do not have to.) A couple of days later I took home a girl. Later this week she will get her ears pierced. She has been begging me to do it for the last two years and I promised when she hit ten we would do it. Today, she hits ten.

As you may remember, each Sunday a different family member at our house chooses the menu and makes the meal. So this Sunday’s supper was her choice which she traded in order to have it. It was the perfect meal for a cold spring day. Roast beef that had been in the crock pot all afternoon along with potatoes and carrots. Biscuits were on the side. But dessert, dessert was the kicker.

It was a tart made in my smallest springform pan. We did not have the cute fluted sided pan but the springform allowed for easier removal. But once the pastry was ready, we put down a layer of melted chocolate chips, a layer of sugared neufchatel cheese and topped with fresh halved strawberries.

Written by Liz Franklin; Image from Borders.com

The recipe came from Cooking Italian with Kids by Liz Franklin. Ever since I have had this book, it has been nothing but a godsend of recipe ideas. Rosemary potatoes, tomato and bread soup, and sugared ricotta with fresh fruit are just a few of the recipes we have made and enjoyed.

This time around it was the Summer Fruit Tart and here is the exact recipe.

For the Pastry

12 Tablespoons of butter, softened

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra to sprinkle

Chocolate Base

2 1/2 oz Semi-sweet Chocolate

Filling

8 oz Marscarpone cheese

2 tablespoons sugar

2 1/4 lbs mixed summer fruit

a 9-inch loose-bottomed tart pan

a pastry brush

I have to admit we changed a few things around. Without marscapone, we went for the neufchatel cheese. We may have spread more chocolate than needed on the tart. Just strawberries were requested because the b-day girl did not want blueberries.

The recipe was fairly easy for my daughter to make on her own for the most part. I showed her how to cut the strawberries and corrected her form a few times. Then I had to stop watching because I kept imagining the worst.

When it came time for eating the tart, we were ready. None of that tart lasted beyond a half an hour. Which means it is on the list of desserts to make again.

I can’t imagine what it will taste like when we get berries from the berry farm. The crust makes enough for two tarts.

We might have to make several.

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