A fresh strawberry tart is a simple and tasty dessert. Whether is it during the summer or a special Valentine’s Day dessert this tart is a wonderful treat made with crème patisserie and fresh strawberries on a sweet tart shell.
Tarts have been one of my favorite treats since I was little. I thought they were really cool looking and for my birthday I preferred them to cake. I know I know cake is perfect for birthdays but even to this day I would rather have a tart than a cake for my birthday. This tart is simple and refreshing and easy to make especially if you have made the crème patisserie already. Surprise those around you with this beautiful tart and watch it disappear before your eyes.
In this recipe
There are only 3 major components of this recipe, the fresh strawberries, crème patisserie, and pate sucree. The creme patisserie recipe can be found here. The pate sucree is a sweet pastry dough that is perfect for this and there are a few ingredients that are of note.
Powdered sugar: this is preferrable than granulated sugar as it will make a smoother crust. You will still get grains if you use the granulated sugar.
Almond flour: will add additional flavors to the tart crust.
Butter: this needs to be at room temperature.
Cornstarch: this will absorb the water in the eggs and butter to help keep the crust from shrinking.
Do not overmix
One of the important things about making this dough is that you don’t want to add a lot of air into this dough like you would a cake. That will cause your crust to warp and shrink when baking. It can also cause it to crumble and break. By overmixing once you add the flour you will develop too much gluten which will make the tart shell tough.
Rolling the dough
There are a couple of ways you can roll out your dough to fill the pie pan. You can refrigerate the dough in a disk before and roll it out with a little bit of flour. You can also roll it out right after you finish mixing it. However if you do this version you will want to use parchment paper to roll it out while soft. Then put the dough still in the parchment paper on a sheet pan and refrigerate for at least an hour. This will make separating the dough from the sheet easier.
Blind baking
Since the crème patisserie has already been cooked you will need to blind bake the crust. There are a lot of recipes that will call for pie weights but I have found that I don’t need them in this recipe. You want to make sure you prick enough holes in the bottom of the tart to allow for ample water and air to escape to prevent bubbles from forming. You can however use pie weights if you desire just make sure to take them out after 10 minutes and use parchment paper to line the inside instead of foil.
Looking for other tart recipes?
Fresh Strawberry Tart
Equipment
- 10 inch tart pan
- Piping bag with tip optional
- Rolling Pin
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer
- Mixing Bowl
- Sheet pan
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 2 pounds strawberries sliced
- 2 cups crème patisserie
- 1¼ cup flour
- ⅔ cup powdered sugar
- ½ cup butter unsalted, softened
- 1 egg room temperature
- ¼ cup almond flour finely ground
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt kosher
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment beat the butter and salt lightly. Add the powdered sugar, almond powder, and cornstarch. Beat until just evenly mixed.
- Add the butter and mix until just combined. Then add all of the flour.
- Using parchment paper roll the dough thinly and place on a sheet pan and chill for at least an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F, 177°C, or gas mark 4.
- Place the pastry shell into the tart pan press it into the sides and then cut off any excess. Poke the base with a fork to make several holes and bake for 15 minutes.
- Allow the tart shell to completely cool.
- Add the crème patisserie in an even layer and top with the sliced strawberries.
Nutrition
