Let’s use our homemade mascarpone, you will need double this recipe
This recipe makes one regular, large tart. You can cut down ingredients if you are making a smaller tart.
Crust Ingredients:
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons heavy cream
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1-½ cups (7.5 ounces) all-purpose flour
3 ounces (about 2/3 cup) powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
9 tablespoons (4 ½ ounces) unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes and chilled
Filling Ingredients:
2 cups mascarpone cheese (if you make your own it’s double this recipe)
1/4-1/2 cup powdered sugar (start with 1/4 cup, taste and add more if you like it sweeter)
Zest of one or two lemons
1 teaspoon dried lavender (Optional)
1 teaspoon elderflower liqueur (Such as St-Germain)
pinch of salt
Topping ingredients:
2 pints strawberries, stemmed and sliced into lengthwise slices about 1/4“ thick
Sliced almonds (optional)
1/4 cup apricot preserves (Optional)
Method:
- Make the crust dough: In a small bowl, lightly whisk together the egg yolk, heavy cream and vanilla extract. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, pulse the flour, sugar and salt until combined. Add the cold butter cubes and pulse until mixture resembles sand. Add the yolk mixture and process until the dough comes together in one mass.
- Remove the dough from the food processor, form into a disk, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours.
- Take your dough out of the fridge, unwrap and place it on a silicone mat or pastry board, or counter lightly dusted with flour. Dust top of dough with flour and roll out with a rolling pin, turning and lifting as you roll from the middle, outward to edge. Roll it out to about 5“ larger than your pan diameter.
- Use your tart pan as a cookie cutter and cut out the bottom crust and lay it in your pans. Cut strips of the dough ring left over to press into the sides of you pan to form the tart sides. Press well into the bottom crust dough as well as the pan sides and trim any overhand.
- Use a fork to prick the bottom and sides of the dough. This is to release steam during baking. Place your dough, in the pan, in the freezer for at least 2 hours, or up to a day in advance.
- Blind-baking your crust: Pre-heat your oven to 375F. When your oven is hot, take your cold crust out of the freezer and place it on a baking sheet. Put a piece of parchment on it and fill the parchment with pie weights, sugar, dried beans, rice or loose change. Fill to the top. Bake it in the oven for 30 minutes or so. Remove your crust from the oven and move on to your filling.
- Make your filling: In the bowl of your food processor fitted with the blade attachment, or in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle (or you can use a hand mixer, or even a wooden spoon!), add your mascarpone, 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, lemon zest, elderflower liqueur, optional lavender, and a pinch of salt). Mix until everything is well combined and fluffy. Taste your filling and decide if you want to add the other 1/4 (or more if you wish) of powdered sugar. It’s up to you!
- Assemble your tart: When your tart crust is completely cooled, remove it from it’s pan carefully by loosening the side and pushing it down off of the crust. You can pry the bottom off using a butterknife, or it’s perfectly fine if you are serving this at your home, to leave it on and place it, as is, on your platter.
- Once your crust is on its plate or platter, fill it with the mascarpone cheese (I like to pipe it out decoratively using a star tip) and place your strawberry slices in a decorative pattern. I like to start from the outside in and do circular rows of berry slices all facing the same way. Be creative if you like! You may want to save a really nice looking berry for the middle, and maybe keep it cut in half instead of sliced.
- If you like, this is optional, give a pretty finish to your tart by heating some apricot or strawberry preserves in a small pan until melted and painting on the melted preserves or jelly with a brush. Then you can also scatter some sliced almonds on top of your berries as a last touch. Perhaps even a few sprigs of lavender if you happen to have some in your garden :)
- Store your tarte in the fridge until you are ready to serve.
- Pairs with a Champagne cocktail. Cheers!