Tuesday, June 10, 2008

TWD: La Palette's Strawberry Tart


This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was chosen by Marie of A Year in Oak Cottage: La Palette's Strawberry Tart. It's a tart lined with strawberry jam, then topped with fresh strawberries. It is so named after the café where Dorie first enjoyed it.

As I read about the recipe, I started thinking about how I could adapt it. The only "playing around" option that Dorie suggests is using different types of fruit in place of the strawberries. I love strawberries, though, so I knew I wanted to stick with the strawberries. Then I remembered the wonderful pastry cream from the brioche raisin snails and got the idea to add it to these tarts in place of the jam. And since I love chocolate covered strawberries, I thought the addition of a chocolate ganache would be perfect.


As I was waiting for the tarts and pastry cream to cool, I started flipping through the book... only to realize that the recipe following La Palette's Strawberry Tart is Dorie's "Quick Classic Berry Tart" which is basically what I had decided to make, just without the chocolate ganache! (Oops!) When I saw this, I knew that I had to at least make one tart into La Palette's Strawberry tart, otherwise I wouldn't really be making the chosen recipe at all.


Not a problem, as I do not own a 9" tart pan and had decided to make tartlets. I made a double recipe of Dorie's sweet tart dough, yielding six 4" tartlets and a 7" tart (a single recipe will yield four 4" tartlets).


We previously made the sweet tart dough for The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart so I knew that I wouldn't have any problems with it. If you find the edges of your tart beginning to brown too quickly, there are some tips on how to avoid that here.


So of the seven tarts I made, I used one of the 4" tartlets to make La Palette's Strawberry tart. Oddly enough, Dorie suggests embellishing the strawberries with some black pepper. I was a bit hesitant about this, but decided to trust Dorie and added just a touch of pepper. I have to admit that the pepper gave it an delightfully interesting undertone.

La Palette's Strawberry Tart

The strawberries in La Palette's Tart are supposed to be spooned on haphazardly. Dorie actually recommends cutting the crust into slices, then spooning the strawberries onto each slice. Since I was using tartlets, I did not do that, but I did kind of let the strawberries fall into place on the tart without worrying about their arrangement.

La Palette's Strawberry Tart

For the other tarts, however, I wanted a less rustic appearance. Being as indecisive as I am, I ended up decorating my tarts in a variety of ways. (And because of the number of different arrangements I created, this post is particularly dense in photos.)






With the exponential growth of the Tuesdays with Dorie group (over 200+ members now!), Laurie has understandably requested that, out of respect to Dorie, we no longer post the full recipe each week. It would take some time, but obviously Dorie's entire cookbook would be on our blogs if we continued to post the recipes each week. I've included the recipe for my pastry cream/ganache adaptation below. Since there are components of this recipe that we have previously made (and posted), I have included links to those below.
*Update: It's been decided that we will simply link to the recipe each week. If you're interested in this week's recipe, you can find it at Serious Eats.


Oh, and the secret to the even glaze on the strawberries? Jell-o. Yep, it's a trick my mom showed me. You prepare the Jell-o as directed and then as it firms up, use a pastry brush to glaze the strawberries. I prefer this to other glazes containing cornstarch.


Thanks again to Marie for choosing this week's recipe. It was a nice change from your traditional fruit tart, though I have to admit that I prefer the pastry cream and ganache combination :) Make sure you visit the TWD Blog Roll to see everyone's beautiful tarts this week.


Strawberry Tart
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups Pastry Cream
8 four-inch tartlets made with 2 x Sweet Tart Dough
Chocolate Ganache (recipe below)
2 lbs fresh strawberries
0.75 ounces (1/4 package) of strawberry Jell-o gelatin
3 tablespoons of boiling water
5 tablespoons of cold water



To Assemble the Tart:
Spread about 1 tablespoon of chocolate ganache onto the bottom of the tart, refrigerate for approximately 5-10 minutes to allow it to firm up a bit. Next, spoon enough of the pastry cream into the tart crust to come almost to the rim, then even the surface with a spatula.


Arrange the strawberries on top of the pastry cream in any pattern you would like.


To Prepare the Glaze:
In a small bowl, stir 3 tablespoons of boiling water into the gelatin for approximately 2 minutes, or until completely dissolved. Refrigerate 5 minutes.


Gently add and stir in 5 tablespoons of cold water. Cover and refrigerate.


After the Jell-o has thickened but not completely hardened, use a pastry brush to spread the glaze evenly over all the strawberries. Refrigerate until the glaze is completely set.


Serve the tart as soon as the glaze has set. It is best served on the day it is made. If you need to keep it in the refrigerator for a few hours, make sure to keep it away from any foods with strong odors.

Yield: 8 tartlets



Chocolate Ganache
from the May Daring Baker's Challenge

3.5 ounces premium chocolate
1 1/2 tbsp. heavy cream

Melt the chocolate and heavy cream in a small saucepan. Stir to ensure that it’s smooth and that the chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool completely.

46 comments:

  1. oh, such gorgeous tarts! i best the pastry cream ones were outstanding!!

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  2. Beautiful! The tarts look delicious.
    I'll have to try the black pepper sometime.

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  3. Oh my goodness those tarts look brilliant!! It brings out all the summer in me and the lushness of summer fruit!! Excellent post :)

    Rosie x

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  4. Such lovely tartlets! My favorites are the second and fourth ones down, when you show the four photos looking down on the tarts.

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  5. Your tart is MAGNIFICENT!!! Love your adaptations for the recipe.

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  6. Everything looks perfect! Great job!

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  7. Great tartlets! I love your different decorations. Thanks for the jello tip.

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  8. Ohh your tarts look delicious. I Love the idea of using the pastry cream and the chocolate ganache!! Well done! Wonderful adaption!

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  9. Oh my goodness...absolutely beautiful!! I love every single picture you took. The berries & the tarts look delicious! Wow! You make me want to go out and buy tart pans! Lovely job! :)

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  10. Gorgeous and I love the chocolate and pastry cream idea...yummy!

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  11. Jaime, all your variations look great, I can't pick a favorite!

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  12. I want the cream, strawberry and ganache one! *cough OVERACHIEVER cough* haha. Great job!
    Clara @ I♥food4thought

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  13. The pastry cream is making me drool-plus the glazed strawberry. Gorgeous presentation!

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  14. boy, oh boy--you've really outdone yourself this time! each and every tart looks gorgeous and yummy and utterly irresistible! i'll take the one with the most strawberries on top, thanks. :)

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  15. First of your pictures are gorgeous! And omg that pastry cream with chocolate instead of the jelly sounds so good!

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  16. These tarts look amazing. Your arranging skills are to be commended.

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  17. Wow Jamie,
    Those are some gorgeous tarts. Those strawberries look perfect sitting on top. Really beautiful!

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  18. Incredibly beautiful! Aren't strawberries photogenic??

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  19. These look amazing, and I love your flavor combination. YUM.

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  20. Your tarts are beautiful! I love the addition of the pastry cream and ganache. It looks delicious.

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  21. I am so going to have to make this with the pastry cream! Your pics are beautiful! Great job!

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  22. The pastry cream was a great touch.

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  23. I love all the different patterns of your little tarts!! Gorgeous. And jello, huh? I'll have to try that. I use melted apricot jam as my glaze - kind of the same game plan as the jello only in reverse - as it warms up and liquifies, I just brush it on. Great job!

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  24. wow, each pic is more beautiful than the next. awesome job on all the different styles.

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  25. Great job! They all look gorgeous!

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  26. Great job! They all look gorgeous!

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  27. Pastry cream is a great idea. And all of your version of this delightful tart look yummy. Great job!

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  28. Wow! Gorgeous pictures! Amazing job!

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  29. wow, so many yummy looking photos! i love the ganache idea :)

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  30. I think you've convinced me to buy tartlette pans instead of a tart pan. Reading the dough recipe, that part does scare me a bit.

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  31. Wow...you put me to shame!!!!

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  32. Oh my goodness, Your tarts look amazing! And chocolate ganache... I'll take two :)


    Great job!

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  33. These look great! What fab treats.

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  34. Gorgeous! Tarts have always intimidated me for some reason, but I really need to give this one a try!

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  35. A picture says 1000 words. Those tarts look beautiful.

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  36. Your tarts look fantastic! I will definitely try ganache in the tart shell next time, because I think it'd be rather lovely!

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  37. wow, what bright ,fun looking ,summer gazing, tarts!

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  38. You are making it impossible to stop reading this blog. So gorgeous...all of these photos, your explanations, everything...I can see it is going to be a long night of reading...pleasantly so! Thanks for sharing!

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