In April, strawberries are one of the star fruits on our plates! Charlotte, Gariguette, Ciflorette, Mara des Bois… when she brings home her strawberry, she reveals a variety of sweet, fragrant varieties. And what better way to sublimate the famous red fruit than with a strawberry tart? Chef Cyril Lignac’s easy strawberry tart recipe is just what you need. A crunchy, gourmet homemade pastry, a generous pastry cream, fresh, fleshy strawberries in their beautiful red dress… We’ve found the recipe for the perfect tart to enjoy this spring (and not too sweet, to please Mercotte!) So, ready to wow your little family and your guests with this decadent strawberry tart? Ready, set, bake!
Cyril Lignac’s ultra-fresh seasonal strawberry tart recipe
Serves 6:
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Easy recipe *
Ingredients:
For the shortbread dough with almond powder :
- 190 g flour
- 90 g powdered sugar
- 130 g butter
- 20 g cornstarch
- 35 g almond powder
- 1 egg
- 2 pinches salt
For the pastry cream and strawberry tart filling:
- 500 g strawberries (all varieties, preferably Charlotte for their tartness)
- 40 cl milk
- 50 g caster sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 bourbon vanilla pod
- 30 g cornstarch
Preparation steps :
- Mix the flour, powdered sugar, chopped butter, almond powder and salt in a large bowl. Then add the egg to the mixture. Mix and form into a ball.
- Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough between two baking sheets (approx. 2mm thick). Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 180° (thermostat 6).
- Remove your dough from the fridge and place in a tart tin. Prick your shortcrust pastry with a fork to prevent it from puffing up during baking. Then line the pastry with parchment paper and dried beans (again to prevent puffing) and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pastry from the oven, remove the beans and parchment paper and leave to cool to room temperature.
- Pour the milk and split vanilla pod into a large saucepan. Scrape the pod with a knife to remove the “caviar”. Then bring the mixture to the boil.
- As an aside, mix the eggs and sugar in a bowl. Whisk vigorously until the mixture whitens. Gently stir in the cornstarch and vanilla milk, while still hot. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and stir continuously for 3 minutes, until creamy. Pour the custard into a bowl. Cover the bowl with cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.
- Wash and halve the strawberries.
- Remove the custard from the fridge and whip to make it as smooth as possible.
- Finally, spread the custard over your baked tart base. Carefully arrange the halved strawberries on top. Chill until ready to serve.
And because everything small is cute, why not try a mini version of this Chef’s recipe, with strawberry tarts? Enjoy!