STRAWBERRY CREAM TART recipe by the Culinary Institute of America

This recipe is perfect for entertaining between 4 - 6 people at a Christmas tea table.

It is not a traditional tart for autumn or winter, but it is very pretty and festive-looking. The ingredients have been carefully calculated by CIA to fit into an 8-inch tart mould.

There are 3 main items to prepare to assemble the strawberry cream tart.

1. Tart dough

2. Custard Cream

3. Fresh Strawberry & Warm Strawberry Jam

1. TART DOUGH

(highly recommend preparing this in a temperature-controlled kitchen)

You need the room to be cool (at least 22 °C)

Ingredients

• 113 g unsalted butter, at room temperature

• ¼ cup sugar

• ½ tsp vanilla extract

• 1 large egg yolk

• 1½ cups cake flour, sifted, plus extra for dusting

• Makes enough for eight 3-inch tartlets or one 8-inch tart

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract on medium speed, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed, until smooth and light in color, about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth, 1-2 minutes more. Add the flour all at once, mixing on low speed or by hand with a wooden spoon until just blended, about 30 seconds. The dough will be very crumbly when you remove it from the mixer. Use a gentle touch to press the dough into a disk, being careful not to work it so much that the pastry becomes tough.

Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate for 20 minutes or more before rolling.

When you are ready to roll out the dough, place it on a lightly floured work surface or between sheets of parchment or waxed paper.

Scatter a little flour over the top of the dough and roll it out into an even round about 2 inches larger in diameter than your tart pan.

To transfer the dough to the tart pan, fold the dough in half or roll it loosely around the rolling pin, and gently lift and position it over the pan. Unfold or unroll and ease the dough into the pan. Trim the overhang cleanly by rolling over the edge with a rolling pin. Gently use your fingertips to press the dough against the sides and bottom of the pan. Fill and finish the tart according to recipe directions.

To bake the tart, we use the technique called ‘ Full Blind Baking ‘

Blind baking

Baking an unfilled pastry shell, called blind baking or prebaking, sets its shape and texture so that the filling won't make the crust soggy.

Lining and weighing the dough

Once the dough is in the pan and the edges are fluted, use a dough docker or table fork to poke holes in the bottom and sides of the pastry. This will help keep the pastry from puffing up as it bakes. Line the pastry with parchment paper or aluminium foil and add enough pie weights to fill the pan from one-third to one-half full. If you don't have pie weights, dry beans or rice work just as well.

Full blind baking

If you are filling a pie with a precooked filling such as a mousse or cream, finish blind baking the pastry crust by returning it to the oven after you have removed the weights and paper. For added protection against wet fillings, brush the crust lightly on the bottom and sides with a whisked egg white. Bake until the dough appears evenly dry and the edges are just starting to brown, another 6-8 minutes, or a total of 16-20 minutes baking time. Let the crust cool completely before adding chilled fillings and 2 cups of Pastry Cream.

2. PASTRY CREAM

Ingredients

Makes about 2 cups

• ¼ cup cornstarch

• ¾ cup sugar (divided use)

• 2 cups whole milk (divided use)

• 4 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

• 1 pinch salt

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Combine the cornstarch with ¼ cup of the sugar in a mixing bowl, then stir in ½ cup of the milk. Blend the yolks into the cornstarch mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until completely smooth.

Prepare an ice bath.

Combine the remaining 1½ cups milk with the remaining ½ cup sugar and the salt in a non-reactive saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat.

Temper the egg mixture by gradually adding about one-third of the hot milk mixture, whisking constantly.

Add the remaining milk mixture to the eggs.

Return the mixture to the saucepan and continue cooking over medium heat, vigorously stirring with a whisk, until the mixture comes to a boil and the whisk leaves a trail in the pastry cream, 5-7 minutes.

As soon as the pastry cream reaches this stage, remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract and the butter.

Transfer the pan to the ice bath. Stir occasionally until the pastry cream is cool, about 30 minutes.

Transfer the pastry cream to a storage container and place parchment or waxed paper directly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Cover the storage container tightly and refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.

3. FRESH & FIRM STRAWBERRIES & STRAWBERRY JAM

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup strawberry jam

• 2 pints fresh strawberries, hulled, sliced if large (We sliced our strawberries thinly without understanding that the juiciness of strawberries added more moisture to the custard sauce )

After full blind bake the pastry case cool to room temperature in the pan on a rack.

Heat the jam in a small saucepan over low heat until it is warm enough to strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Strain the jam into a small dish and keep warm (or rewarm in the microwave for a few seconds before using).

Spread or pipe the pastry cream in the tart shell in an even layer. Arrange the strawberries over the surface of the pastry cream, filling the entire tart shell so that no cream is visible.

Use a pastry brush to coat the strawberries lightly with the warm jam. Let the glaze set for about 10 minutes in the refrigerator. If you are not serving the tart immediately, keep it covered and refrigerated.

Personal note on this tart

1. We highly recommend eating this tart within a couple of hours after assembling. If you cannot and do not want to waste it, you can freeze it, but the character of the pastry will never be the same.

   
   

2. The consistency of the custard once assembled may vary due to the different temperatures in your location and the juiciness of the strawberries.