Forget the turkey, the ham and even the Oamaru grown new potatoes - this Strawberry Tart recipe by Corentin at Butter not only makes a beautiful centerpiece, but is guaranteed to be the talking point of your Christmas table for years to come...
- Makes: 1 tart
- Preparation: 20 mins
- Cook: 15 mins
- Chill: 1 hour
- Serves: 6
Tart Shell
Ingredients
- 125g flour
- 65g icing sugar
- 65g cold butter, cut into cubes + a little extra for greasing the tin
- 25g egg (approx half an egg)
- 20g cocoa butter - melted and cooled, to glaze (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C
- Sift flour and icing sugar together into a bowl
- Use your fingers to rub the butter into the flour and icing sugar until the mixture has the texture of coarse sand
- Mix in the egg and form into a smooth dough
- Gently bring the pastry together until completely smooth. Be careful not to overwork the pastry by kneading it
- Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and leave to rest for 30 mins
- Roll the pastry dough between two sheets of baking paper to a thickness of 2mm. Chill for 30 mins
- Grease a 20cm tart ring. Use the ring as a cutter to cut a pastry circle for the base. Cut strips the height of the ring (around 2.5cm) and wrap the strips on the inside of the ring to create the sides. Trim the top of the pastry level with the side of the ring
- Freeze for 15 mins, then bake for 15 mins, or until golden
- Allow to completely cool before removing from the tart ring
- If you would like to glaze the tart shell, once it has cooled use a pastry brush to carefully brush melted cocoa butter onto the pastry inside and out, then chill for 10 mins. Glazing will help keep the tart shell crisp for longer
Pastry Cream
Ingredients
- 180ml milk
- 20ml cream
- zest of 1 lemon
- 20g sugar
- 15g cornflour
- 2 egg yolks
- 40g cubed butter
Strawberry Jam
Ingredients
- 150g chopped strawberries
- 30g sugar
- juice of 1/2 a lemon
Garnish
Ingredients
- 250g strawberries, sliced into rounds
- Melted apricot jam
- Edible flowers or basil leaves
Instructions
- To make the pastry cream, bring the milk, cream and lemon zest to a simmer
- Whisk together the sugar, cornflour and egg yolks until completely combined
- Once simmering, pour half of the milk over the cornflour mix. Whisk to combine then add it back into the pot with the rest of the milk
- Whisk over the heat for about 2 minutes, or until thickened and boiling
- Remove from the heat and whisk in the butter, piece by piece. Cover with plastic wrap and cool for approximately 30 minutes
- To make the strawberry jam, mix the strawberries with sugar and lemon juice
- Put into a small pot and stir over a medium heat until bubbling and thickened, about 5–10 minutes
- Pour into a shallow pan and put in the fridge until completely cool
- To assemble, spread a thin layer of jam in the tart shell
- Whisk the chilled pastry cream until smooth, and spread into the tart shell, using a spatula to level. Chill for 30 minutes
- Arrange the strawberries on top of the pastry cream starting from the centre out
- Brush each strawberry piece with melted apricot jam. Garnish with edible flowers or basil leaves
