Since marrying Amanda, Matt has become more and more of a sweets person (but one of Amanda’s nicknames is Cookie Monster, so…).  

The idea for this shoot came to us unexpectedly one Thursday evening.  A magazine we love posted a challenge for photographers to capture the story behind “yummy treats”, which of course Amanda was all about.  The challenge was to capture each piece of the creation of the food, from start to finish, with details and feeling throughout.

When we learned about the challenge, both of us had the same idea in mind–contact Vines Bakery.

Vines is a young bakery owned by a young, professional, caring, profound friend of ours from college.  Julianna studied to be a teacher in college, but at the end of her college career felt God’s call to give her career to him and see where He lead.  Through a lot of faith and crazy support from her community, Vines grew (see what we/she did there?) into a staple of our college town.

And it’s still growing.  

This was the perfect time to capture Julianna in action as she crafted one of her confectionary creations.

We spent the afternoon with Julianna, documenting and curating moments as the strawberry lemon green tea tarts were coming to life.  We got to talk to Julianna about her life and ours and become more connected to her through the afternoon.

We’re so glad we accepted the call to something different, to something tasty, and to something unexpectedly heartwarming.

You can find the recipe at the end of the post! 

Strawberry Green Tea Tarts

Ingredients:

Crust

• 1 c butter, room temp
• ½ c sugar
• ½ almond extract
• 1 ¾ c all purpose flour
• ½ c almond meal
• ½ tsp finely ground green tea leaves

Filling

• 1 cup fresh strawberries
• ½ c sugar
• ¼ c water
• 1 tsp lemon juice and zest
• 2 tsp fruit pectin

Whipped Cream

• 1 cup cold heavy cream
• 3 tbsp green tea
• 2 tbsp powdered sugarToppings
• Optional slivered almonds, lemon zest, and strawberry pieces for decoration

1. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar for the crust. Add extract, beat to combine. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, almond meal, and tea leaves.  Slowly add the flour mixture into the beaten butter mixture. Stirring until the mixture comes together.
2. Grease 8 mini tart tins and press the crust mixture into the bottom and sides of the tins. Using a fork, poke holes into the bottom of the crust to prevent the crust from puffing up. Place in the refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
3. While the crusts chill, make the filling. Wash and cut the strawberries in half. Place them in a small saucepan over medium heat. Combine with sugar, water, lemon juice and zest, and fruit pectin.  Continue to cook the mixture, stirring occasionally, until the strawberries break down and the mixture thickens. About 12 minutes. Remove from heat and chill completely.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake chilled tarts for 20 minutes, or until they are golden brown and set. Cool completely.
5. Make the whipped cream. In a small saucepan, combine heavy cream and tea leaves over low heat for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and let sit until cooled.  Strain the tea leaves from the mixture and place in the refrigerator until chilled completely.
6. Using an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the chilled cream and sugar on high until stiff peaks form.
7. Assemble the tarts. Place the chilled strawberry filling in the center of each tart shell. Top with dollops of green tea whipped cream. Decorate, if desired, with pieces of almonds, lemon zest, and strawberries. Enjoy!

Film Processing: Photovision Prints |  Bakery: Vines Bakery