Sometimes I make my own puff pastry. This was not one of those times.

I bought the Grand Central U-Bake pastry at New Seasons. It was on a day when I was home alone, and I got my usual grandiose plans of baking up a storm and getting way ahead on blog posts (though, not so grandiose that I wanted to make my own laminated pastry). My entire haul from the grocery store that day was puff pastry, heavy cream and a bottle of rosé. Guess which one got used that evening?

Heh.

Ok, to be fair, I also used the cream to get started making homemade mascarpone. But it turns out that you have to drain homemade mascarpone overnight. So my grand plans of making a strawberry mascarpone puff pastry tart were tabled. For the moment. So I had another glass of wine and did some other stuff.

A couple of days later my tart finally got to happen.

It was definitely worth the wait, and it was worth making my own mascarpone, too. I swear, one day I’ll get that post up. Come back tomorrow, will you?

Here’s what you need:

3 Tbsp. granulated sugar
3 cups strawberries
Puff pastry – approximately 12 inches by 8 inches
1 egg mixed with 1 Tbsp. water
Mascarpone cheese, softened

About an hour before you want to be finished with this recipe, mix the strawberries and granulated sugar together in a bowl and allow to stand. Stir occasionally when you think of it.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Place puff pastry on a nonstick baking sheet and brush liberally with the egg and water mixture. bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the pastry is nicely browned.

When the pastry is done baking and has cooled down to just be warm to the touch, spread generously with mascarpone.

Use a slotted spoon to drain the strawberries and then transfer to be atop the pastry. Try and get as little juice as possible.