This free-form glazed strawberry tart in a butter-crust pastry is thickly glossed and beautiful. You can use a tart pan, but going free-form is kind of fun. Be sure to use perfectly ripe, sweet strawberries.
Ingredients
- ball sweet pastry dough: 1 piece (8 ounce)
- cream cheese, room temperature: 1 pack (8 ounce pack)
- crème fraiche: 2 Tbsp
- white sugar: 2 Tbsp
- egg yolk: 1 piece
- salt: 0.25 tsp
- vanilla extract: 0.25 tsp
- lemon zest: 0.5 tsp (grated)
- ripe strawberries, hulled: 1 pound (halved, fresh)
- apricot jam: 0.25 cup
- water: 2 tsp
Metric Conversion
Stages of cooking
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Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
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Place pastry dough on a lightly floured work surface. Roll out dough to a round disk about 1/8-inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Transfer to the prepared baking sheet.
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Brush outside 2 inches around the edges of circle lightly with water. Tightly curl up a bit of the edge of dough to give it a rounder shape with a slightly thickened edge. If some edges are thicker than others, pinch off excess and add to thinner edges forming a circle with even edges. Roll each edge again just once to make the edges thick enough to crimp. Crimp crust with your floured fingers.
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Use a fork to "dock" dough's bottom surface, covering it with tiny holes to prevent dough from bubbling up as it bakes.
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Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool about 10 minutes. Do not turn off the oven.
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Place cream cheese, crème fraîche, sugar, egg yolk, salt, vanilla, and lemon zest in a mixing bowl. Mix together thoroughly. Carefully pour a thin layer of mixture evenly into pastry shell (you may not need all the cheese mixture).
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Transfer filled tart to the oven. Bake until cheese layer is set and crust is browned, about 20 minutes. Let tart cool completely to room temperature before adding berries.
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Arrange berries cut side down, pointy end out starting with the larger berries around the edges. You can lean strawberries up a bit as your work your way toward the center. Cut some berry halves in half again to fit into any gaps on cheese layer.
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Place apricot jam and 2 teaspoons water in a saucepan. Heat over low heat until thin enough to brush. Let cool slightly before brushing generously over all berries and crust. Transfer tart to a serving plate. Chef John
