Chocolate Strawberry Tart

What are some good, timeless matches? Macaroni and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, caramel and apples, bread and butter, and of course…chocolate and strawberries. The other day I was having a DIRE craving for some sweet strawberries dunked in warm, melty, sweet, milky chocolate. Yum. So, so incredibly good. But I needed to make a dessert for a dinner party too, so I was in a dilemma. Satisfy my craving or do what I need to do. I was swaying heavily towards being selfish when I came upon the brilliant realization of making a dessert that would satisfy my sweet tooth and be presentable for company. Hence: the chocolate strawberry tart was born.

I was originally going to make a chocolate pastry cream but my sister came in and said “NO!! That will be too chocolaty!” And while I believe their is no such thing as too chocolaty, I did consider the fact that this wasn’t just for me. I complied and decided to use the white chocolate pastry cream that was so successful in my Summer Berry Tart. I found a delicious chocolate tart crust from a Chocolate Caramel Tart by Lootie + Doof that looks absolutely insane. If you’ve never visited that site, you need to. Now. And make the mac n’ cheese. I’m a mac n’ cheese connoisseur and theirs is my definitely favorite. Yum. Anyways, now that we’ve come back from that tangent, after I made my tart crust I whipped up some yummy, creamy pastry cream and assembled the tart. It wasn’t the prettiest tart ever, but it tasted amazing (if I do say so myself). I really do encourage you to try it.

So now after talking about my two favorite combination (mac n’ cheese and chocolate-covered strawberries) I’m curious about yours! Leave a comment below and tell me what your favorite combo is! :)

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Chocolate Strawberry Tart

Author Rachel

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Tart Dough

• 8 tablespoons 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon confectioners’ sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus more for rolling
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

For the pastry cream

• 2 cups whole milk
• 6 large egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch sifted
• 1 vanilla bean
• 4 oz. good quality white chocolate chopped
• 3 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter cut into bits at room temperature
• About 2 cups of sweet fresh strawberries with cut the stems cut off and the berries cut into quarters, halves, or just sliced!

Instructions

For the tart dough

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and confectioners’ sugar until combined, about 1 minute. Add egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Sift flour and cocoa powder together and then beat it in on low speed until just combined. Scrape the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and form it into a disk; wrap well. Chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the tart dough into a large circle 1/8 inch thick. Transfer the tart dough to a 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and press into pan. If it falls apart at all just push it back together in the pan. Chill the tart shell in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
3. Prick the shell all over with a fork. Line with parchment paper filled with pie weights or dried beans and blind bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights, and bake until the pastry looks dry and set, 5 to 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool. (The tart shell can be made 8 hours ahead.)

For the pastry cream

1. Bring the milk to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring to make sure it doesn’t burn. If you’re using the vanilla bean, split and scrape it, putting the small flecks into the milk as well as the rest of the bean. Before you whisk it into the yolk mixture, remove the bean.
2. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk the yolks together with the sugar and cornstarch until thick and well blended. Still whisking, drizzle in about 1/4 cup of the hot milk. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remainder of the milk.
3. Put the pan over medium heat and, whisking vigorously, contstantly and thoroughly bring the mixture to a boil. Keep at a boil, still whisking, for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove the pan from the heat.
4. If you didn’t use the vanilla bean, whisk in the vanilla extract now. Let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk in the bits of butter and chopped white chocolate, stirring until they are fully incorporated and the pastry cream is smooth and silky.
5. Scrape the cream into a bowl. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the cream to create an airtight seal and refrigerate until cold or, if you want to cool it quickly put the bowl into a larger bowl filled with ice cubes and cold water and stir the pastry cream occasionally until it is thoroughly chilled, about 20 minutes. The pastry cream can be kept, tightly covered, in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

To assemble your tart

1. After you have let your tart crust and your pastry cream cool, scrape the pastry cream into the tart crust. Smooth top evenly. Rinse berries, and arrange as you would like on top of the tart. Then, gently remove the tart from the pan as carefully as you can to resist breaking the tart. It can be refrigerated for a few hours before serving if needed.