Fresh Fruit & Mascarpone Cheese Tart

I was driving past the multitude of strawberry fields on my way to Oxnard this morning. The season is on it's way! This has been a go-to dessert success. Minus my sna-foos of trying to double the recipe without properly calculating....added confirmation that my math skills have waned since my school days! Got it from Sunset Magazine's site. The two things I love about this tart are the Nilla Wafer Cookie crust and the Mascarpone Cheese filling. The recipe calls for an espresso flavored crust but I haven't tried that yet. And I've been searching for chocolate wafers but haven't found any. Anyone know where I can get some? I've just been using the original ones which are great in themselves! The mascarpone is a lighter and less sweeter version of cream cheese. It has a hint of honey & vanilla to sweeten it just the right amount. Enjoy! :)

Ingredients

• About 9 ounces chocolate wafer cookies, broken into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 lb.)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 1 pound mascarpone or cream cheese
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups strawberries (14 oz.)

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 325° (300° if using convection heat). Place cookies in a 1-quart zip-lock plastic bag and seal. With a rolling pin, crush cookies into fine crumbs. Pour 2 cups of the crumbs into a bowl and mix with melted butter, sugar, and espresso powder. Press mixture evenly into bottom and up sides of a 10-inch tart pan with removable rim.

2. In another bowl, with a mixer on medium, beat mascarpone, honey, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour and salt.

3. Place tart pan in a 12- by 16-inch rimmed baking pan and set on center rack of preheated oven. Pour filling into chocolate crust. Bake until filling is pale golden and barely set in the center when you gently shake pan, 30 to 35 minutes.

4. Remove tart from oven and let cool on a rack about 30 minutes, then chill until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day (cover tart once cold).

5. Shortly before serving, remove rim from pan. Rinse, stem, and thinly slice strawberries. Arrange in a circular or spiral pattern on top of the tart, overlapping slices slightly.