I have always loved beautiful French Patisserie. Lines of perfect little cakes and tarts lined up in the window, glistening with fruit, flowers and chocolate. I never dreamt of making my own until the first confinement happened and suddenly I had no guests to cook for and nowhere to go. I decided to take some online patisserie courses with Molly, who I had met on Instagram the year before. A trained pastry chef, originally from Texas, but now living in Versailles, Molly was teaching face-to-face classes but had to pivot her business and share her skills online instead – find out more here www.mollyjwilk.com. This strawberry mint tart recipe was one of my favourites from those lessons, it’s really popular with our guests and Molly has very kindly allowed me to share it with you all here. The tart shell is beautifully crisp and the strawberry and mint filling is such a beautiful and interesting flavour combination – and it’s not as tricky as you might think.
Makes 8 individual tarts or 1 large 9″ tart
ingredients
For the pâte sucree (makes enough for two 9″ tarts – so freeze one half for another time)
340g plain flour
120g icing sugar
30g ground almonds
1⁄2 tsp salt
200 g butter, cold, cubed
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cold water
For the strawberry mint curd (makes enough for one 9″ or eight individual tarts
170g unsalted butter, cubed, cold
3 large eggs
150g granulated sugar
60ml lemon juice
120 ml strawberry puree (approx 150g of strawberries blended until smooth)
5g chopped fresh mint
Extra mint and strawberries for decoration
Method
To make the pâte sucree – whisk the egg, water and vanilla extract in a small bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, briefly mix together the flour, sugar, salt and the almond flour just to combine them. Add the cubed butter and toss to coat with flour. Then rub the butter into the flour until the butter is in small pieces. Work quickly so the butter doesn’t become too warm. If the butter is getting warm, pop the bowl into the freezer for a few minutes to firm it up.
Once the butter is incorporated, pour in the egg, water and vanilla and mix in with a finger or knife – at this point the mixture will still be very crumbly and lumpy. Pour everything out onto a clean surface. Then using the palm of your hand and starting furthest from you, push the dough forward and away from you in multiple strokes smearing the mixture across the work surface. Once you get through all of the dough, scrape back together into a pile and start again, repeating until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film and chill for 30-45 minutes before rolling out.
While your dough is chilling, make your strawberry mint curd.
Place the cubed butter in a large bowl and put a sieve on top – set aside for later.
In a medium saucepan, add the sugar and eggs. Whisk together well and then whisk in the lemon juice, strawberry puree, and mint. Place the saucepan over medium heat, and then whisk constantly for about 5 minutes, until it thickens slightly and just starts to boil.
Pour the mixture, through the sieve onto the butter to melt it. Push the strawberry mixture through with a spatula (remember to scrape the bottom) to get all the flavour into the curd. Whisk together until the butter is completely melted. Cover the surface of the curd with cling film to stop a skin forming and set aside.
Roll out your chilled dough on a floured work surface to approximately 3mm thick, turning it regularly to stop it sticking and to ensure it’s even. Line your tart tin(s), carefully easing the pastry into the tins without stretching it. Lightly prick the base of the tart(s) with a fork, then chill for 15 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven to 160c then bake the chilled tart shell(s) for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. There’s no need for baking beans or blind baking with this pastry recipe.
Allow the tart(s) to cool slightly, remove from the tin and then pour or spoon in your strawberry mint curd. Chill for a minimum of 2 hours and then decorate with sliced strawberries, mint and edible flowers.
learn to bake with Molly
If you love to cook, I cannot recommend Molly’s pastry classes enough. Each month she releases a packed timetable of live virtual courses taught on Zoom. It’s much more than just following along with someone making a recipe – Molly teaches you trade secrets, professional techniques and even how to rescue your pastries when things go wrong. Each class is great fun and easy to follow and they start from as little as €25. If you can’t make the live classes Molly now has a professionally filmed online pastry school with unlimited access to a bank of classes to help you create French favourites such a macarons, eclairs, croissants, choux buns, tarts and much more. You can find out more at www.mollyjwilk.com – and if online just isn’t your thing I love Molly’s cookbook French Pastry Made Simple – available from all good book shops. Thanks so much Molly for letting us share your gorgeous recipe.
