May 13, 2015
Rob
1

Recipe: Strawberry tart with pastry cream

Since the beginning of spring, I keep on being super tired.

As we say in Italian: “April, sleeping is sweet” (which is quite dull in English, but in Italian it rhymes, I assure you)… but anyway now we’re in May and I’d love to be able to get out of bed at a decent time! But no… I need a crane in the morning to lift me up!

I don’t know if this is the effect of the season change (or it’s maybe due to the fact that I go to bed late), but luckily enough spring has also brought many nice things so far: warm weather, blossoming plants, my birthday, new series on Netflix, a royal baby, but most importantly… strawberries! 🙂

They are by far my favourite fruit (together with cherries), so I started some serious baking activity around them. The first result is these nice strawberry tart.

Recipe-Strawberry-tart-51

Nothing difficult actually: a simple shortbread tart dough, a classic vanilla pastry cream with a bit of lime zest and a truckload of fresh strawberries.

Recipe-Strawberry-tart-42

I covered the strawberries with a home-made neutral tart glaze: it is nothing more and nothing less than a sugar syrup with gelatin, but it’s one of the best-kept secrets by pâtissiers. Glazing fruits in a tart really makes them stand out and shine. And it will also make your tart rise to a flattering “Oh but you must have bought this, I can’t believe you made it yourself” level! 🙂

Recipe-Strawberry-tart-55

And remember: the secret to a nice tart is arranging fruits harmonically, but also not leaving empty spots where the cream could be seen!

So enjoy this tart and stay tuned for other strawberry extravaganza coming soon! 😛

Strawberry tart with pastry cream

Print recipe

Ingredients

Shortbread tart dough

250gPastry flour
200gUnsalted butter (cold)
100gPowdered sugar
15gHoney
25gEggs (roughly half egg, beaten)
1 pinchSalt
1/2Lime zest (grated)

Pastry cream

250gMilk
25gGranulated sugar
25gGranulated sugar
3Yolks
1/2Vanilla bean
1/4Lime zest (grated)
17gCornstarch

Tart

400gFresh strawberries (medium size)
1/4Lime zest (grated)

Neutral glaze

60gWater
60Sugar
3Gelatin

Directions

Shortbread tart dough

1
The day before, start preparing the dough. Place the flour and the diced butter in a bowl
2
Mix together the two ingredients quickly (to keep the butter cold) by using the tip of your fingers only. Do not overmix and stop when you obtain a coarse mixture (the so-called "sable"/"sand").
3
Add the remaining ingredients and mix by hand to obtain a homogeneous dough. Do not overmix.
4
If necessary, to avoid overmixing, you can knead with the palm of your hand once or twice maximum (technique: put the dough in front of you; starting from the farthest end, push a small amount of dough away with the palm of your hand; repeat until all the dough has been "pushed away")
5
Wrap in a plastic film, flatten and store for at least 2 hours or better overnight
6
Roll out the dough on a slightly floured surface until it's 3mm high. Rotate the dough often to prevent it from sticking (but don't flip it)
7
Place the dough inside a buttered tart ring and press with your thumb to form an edge all around
8
Reinforce the edge with your thumb, while covering it with an excess of dough of about 1cm. Pass the rolling pin on the tart ring to cut the unnecessary dough. Save the scraps for another preparation.
9
Raise the excess of dough by pressing it against the ring and so that the dough is half cm higher than the ring. Refrigerate for several hours.
10
Place a piece of parchment paper inside the tart and fill it with beans (or other cereals or pastry weights, to prevent the dough from rising) then blind bake at 170°C. After 15 minutes, remove the tart ring and the weights (and optionally brush the side with egg wash) then bake for 5-7 more minutes until golden brown.

Tart glaze

11
Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a saucepan. After one minute, remove from the heat and let cool down.
12
Soften the gelatin in cold water for 5 minutes; heat the sugar syrup to around 50 degrees and then incorporate the gelatin. Refrigerate overnight

Pastry cream

13
Heat the milk with half of the sugar, lime zest and the vanilla bean in a saucepan
14
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar and corn starch
15
When the milk is boiling, pour it in three times over the egg mixture through a strainer and mix every time to prevent the yolks from curdling
16
Put back the liquid mixture into the saucepan and cook on medium heat whisking continuously
17
Allow the pastry cream to boil for 2 minutes then remove from the heat and pour it in a large container
18
Cover the pastry cream with the remaining part of the plastic wrap and store in the fridge

Assembling the tart

19
Whip the pastry cream for a few seconds, then pour it inside the tart (it might not be necessary to use all the cream)
20
With a spatula, spread the cream homogeneously
21
Slice the strawberries vertically in half (or in three pieces, if bigger) then arrange them in a circle starting from the edge; the strawberries should lean on the right
22
Keep on arranging strawberries in concentric circles alternating the sides strawberries lean on
23
Warm the tart glaze to 50 degrees and brush it on all the strawberries
24
Grate some lime zest all over the tart and serve

Note

  • You can store the tart refrigerated for up to 3 days
  • The remain tart glaze can be kept refrigerated in an airtight container for up to two weeks

More Posts Like This One