Tart aux Fraises - French Strawberry Custard Tart

5 from 5 votes

Tart aux Fraises - French Strawberry Custard Tart

Delicious and refreshing Tart aux Fraises - French Strawberry Tart with Custard is the perfect dessert to welcome the start of summer with your loved ones.

Prep Time1

Cook Time25

Total Time1 25

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French, Mediterranean

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: People

Calories: 330kcal

Author: Ayla Clulee

Equipment

1 kitchen scale
1 measuring spoons
1 Measuring cups
1 whisk
1 Rubber spatula
1 sifter
1 Rolling Pin

Ingredients

Sweet Pastry Dough

150 g plain flour
75 g unsalted butter (cold)
75 g icing sugar
20 g ground almonds
pinch of salt
½ egg (30 g)

Diplomat Cream

185 ml milk (full fat)
12 g unsalted butter
½ teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1½ egg yolks (35g)
40 g sugar
10 g plain flour
12 g cornflour
125 ml double cream or whipping cream

For the Decoration

500 g strawberries
2 tablespoon fruit jelly or jam without the fruits for the nappage (diluted with 1 tablespoon of water)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Making the Sweet Pastry Dough

Place the flour, butter, icing sugar, salt, and almonds in a mixing bowl.
Work the dough by rubbing it between your fingertips.
Add the egg and mix using a fork.
Turn the mixture out on a work surface and knead to form a smooth dough without overworking it.
Flatten the dough out slightly, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 180°C and let the dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes until soft enough to roll but not too soft.
Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to ½ cm thickness / 23 cm (9") circle and line a 20 cm (8") fluted, loose-bottomed tart tin.
Press the dough firmly against the sides and bottom without stretching it and trim off the excess dough.
Prick the dough all over with a fork, cover it, and place it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before blind baking.
Preheat the oven to 175° C - 350° F (fan oven).
Line the tart tin with parchment paper or tin foil, covering the edges to avoid them from burning.
Fill with dried chickpeas or rice to prevent the dough from rising and bake for about 15 minutes, remove the chickpeas or rice and cook for another 10 minutes until golden brown.
Let it cool down on a wire rack before filling it with the pastry cream.

Preparing the Diplomat Cream

Place the milk, vanilla paste, and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes pale and thick. Add the flour along with the cornflour and whisk to combine.
Add half of the hot milk into the flour-egg mixture, whisking well, and return the mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
Return the saucepan to heat and cook until it thickens, whisking continuously. Let it boil for a minute constantly stirring then remove it from the heat. Let it cool down to room temperature.
When the pastry cream has reached room temperature, start whipping the double cream or whipping cream until you reach stiff peaks.
Whisk the pastry cream to loosen then fold in the whipped cream gently in 2 stages.

Assembling the Tart

Spoon the diplomat cream into the baked sweet pastry shell, and level the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula.
Arrange the strawberries over the pastry cream and brush them with nappage.

Notes

When making the pastry, make sure your butter is chilled and put it into the freezer for 10-15 minutes after cutting it into cubes.
Place the pastry dough in the freezer for 30 minutes before blind baking to avoid the pastry shrinking while blind baking.
Use a tart pan with a removable bottom, which will support the crust when lifting your tart.
Avoid using substitutes and changing the recipe unless you can reformulate this tart recipe and be able to keep the balance in texture as well as flavor.
Always measure your ingredients with a .

Nutrition