Strawberry Tart Recipe

I baked this over the Christmas period and received so many compliments for it!

It is amazing how it turned out, considering that it was my first time baking a tart.

So, if I can do it... So can you!

My beautiful tart! Tastes as good as it looks.

This recipe was adopted from The Little Teochew

I love her recipes and her beautiful photos. 

This is a strawberry frangipane tart. Many fruit tarts have a layer or fresh cream or custard cream? This is a healthier version, with a layer of almond meal. I've added my own comments as well as any ammendments that I did (:

For Pastry Crust
- 1 1/2 cups (200g) all purpose flour
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated white sugar
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten


1. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour with the salt. Place the butter in the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, and beat until softened. Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Gradually add the beaten egg, beating just until incorporated. Add the flour mixture all at once and mix just until it forms a ball. Flatten the pastry into a disk, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 15-30 minutes or just until firm (can place in freezer for about 10-15 minutes.)

Comments: I baked like 7 tarts over 3 days, so I made 7 pastry crusts and store them in the freezer. Just bring them down to the lower compartment a night before you want to bake them or bring them out to room temperature for about an hour or so.

2. Lightly butter and flour, or spray with a non-stick vegetable/flour cooking spray, an 8 to 9 inch (20 to 23 cm) tart pan with a removable bottom. Once the pastry has chilled sufficiently, evenly pat onto the bottom and up the sides of the tart pan*. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
* Pay special attention to the bottom rims where dough tends to gather. Use your thumb and press the dough in, to thin it out.

Comments: The recipe gave me quite a thick crust. I like my crust thin. Then again, my tart pan is 20cm so that's why it was abit thick. I threw away quite a bit of extra crust after flatterning the on the pan. Just adjust it to your desired thickness (:

3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 200°C (about 400°F) and place rack in center of oven. While the oven is heating up and the pastry dough is chilling, make the frangipane.

For the Frangipane
- 1/2 cup (50g) almond meal
- 1 tbsp (12g) all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated white sugar
- 3 tbsp (40g) unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/8 tsp salt


Comments: Almond meal is called ground almond if you get it in Phoon Huat. This recipe gave me enough frangipane for 2 tarts. (It could also be due to the size of my pan, or my preference for a thinner layer) So if you're making only one, you may like to half it. Also, it rises slightly after baking. so if you put a thick layer, it might become the same height as your crust's outer rim.

4. In a big bowl, whisk* almonds, sugar, and flour to combine. Add the rest of the ingredients and whisk until you have a smooth paste. Set aside.
* You can whisk by hand.

5. Bring out the tart dough that has been chilling in the freezer. Lightly prick the bottom with the tines of a fork. Pour the frangipane filling into the unbaked tart shell, spreading evenly. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 175°C (350°F) and bake for another 15 minutes more. A skewer inserted in the center should come out clean. If the frangipane begins to turn too brown, cover the tart loosely with a piece of foil. After it is baked, cool it.

Comments: I baked for 30-40 minutes as I preferred my crust harder. Also, it depends on various oven. Just make sure it doesn't get too brown.  

Remember to FULLY COOL the tart because failure to do so will result it it breaking apart when you're removing them out of the pan. 

Final assemble

- 1 punnet of strawberries

- jam

Comments: For my jam, I used my favourite - Smuckers'. Their's is very healthy and tasty. You can be generous with the jam as it is not sweet! I sliced my strawberries into half as I find that it is easier to arrange it in this way.

I also made a peach tart, using canned peach. Sliced into wedges. For the peach tart, I used an apricot jam as it is more matching. 

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