OK, so it’s not perfect. This little baby, made with a sweet, crispy, yeasty, buttery dough, she’s not in her prom dress today. Or maybe she is, but it’s one of those ‘uhoh, my dress got ripped, and my hair is way more curly than I thought it would be, and I cried after I got my make-up done, and now I have to fix it, and I suck at make up, and oh my god, the Shirley Temple curls, I can’t even handle it’ type prom situations. It’s definitely not a 1950s poodle skirt, and perfect bangs prom. No it ain’t. I like to think that this gal wouldn’t be the sulking wreck that I certainly wasn’t (I was) when this real life scenario actually didn’t happen to me (it did). It was the one time in my life that my hairdresser has ever let me down. And I mean my life. She has been cutting my hair since I was a wee baby. Anyway, this tart is most certainly not a sulk! She would artfully increase the size of the skirt-tear into a daring split! She would find a way to pile those Shirley Temple ringlets on top of her head, and rock a messy bun. She would not cry with her makeup on, and even is she did, she would have had the foresight to use water-proof mascara anyway. Yeah, this tart is not a perfect looker, but it’s just so dashing, and gorgeous that it’s little imperfections don’t matter at all! The roasted strawberries aren’t quite as piercingly pink as they were fresh, but now they have a deep, dark ruby sweetness, that glints out from their pastry bed. The once-straight lines of danish dough on top of the tart have become a little expansive, but they have also crisped into buttery shards of browned-butter flavour – ain’t nothing wrong with that. No, I really wouldn’t trade this little tart for the world. I love it. It’s right up my street – complexity from yeasted dough. Jammy sweetness from twice-roasted strawberries. Flexible enough to eat at any time of the day – danish dough is totes a breakfast food. Yep, totes recommend this one lovelies. Try it – I guarantee you’ll love her like a little sister.

Roasted Strawberry Danish Tart

600g Strawberries

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

zest 1/2 lemon

1/2 recipe Beatrice Ojakangas FAMOUS cheat’s Danish dough Once you’ve made the Danish dough, and folded it, and chucked it in the fridge, this recipe is really a doddle. But the recipe is a bit time consuming (it needs to rest overnight) so go and have a peek at that first. I STRONGLY encourage you to try it; it’s super easy and tastes exactly like proper Danish pastry, aka Heaven. But you could easily use puff pastry, ready rolled, instead. Toss the strawberries into a shallow pan with the vanilla paste and lemon zest. Roast them in a 200C oven for 15-20 minutes or until they look juicy, wilted and slightly scorched. Roll out your pastry into a rectangle that is about 30x40cm. Trim the sides down to make it perfectly square and cut the scraps into lengths to use for lattice. Don’t re-roll the scraps at all, otherwise you will use your lovely butter layers. Place the neat rectangle on a lined tray, and spread the roasted strawberries evenly over the top. Lay over the extra strips of pastry (*creativity time*). Bake in a 180C oven for 25 minutes, and serve warm or at room temperature. Whipped cream. Do it.