Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust

Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust

“The truth is that life is delicious, horrible, charming, frightful, sweet, bitter, and that is everything.”
Anatole France

I’ve never delayed a Daring Baker challenge this long before, and it gave me palpitations! Seriously, in my 3 years as DB, I’ve usually hit the ground running within the first week. This time around things just don’t seem to want to fall into place. My blog was throttling me, in addition to a million other things {you really don’t want to know, and life goes on!} Well,  I completed the challenge a few hours ago , and happily so!

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz.

I didn’t to the maple mousse as authentic maple syrup is very expensive here, and not  easily available. The other bit of the challenge was the edible container. Heavens knows I had thoughts, many edible delicious thoughts, but summer in India is treacherous. With daytime highs already hitting 40C, melting mousses is more the call! My thoughts of sugar cookie boxes, cream rolls, spun sugar, chocolate coffee mugs with an espresso mousse, a pistachio meringue with lemon curd mousse all laid to rest! I liked Evelynes idea of nut bowls, and of course got mighty distracted.

I eventually googled my way and found Mollie Katzens Strawberry Meringue Tart with Walnut Shortbread Crust. It looked absolutely gorgeous and I had 2 boxes of strawberries on hand. I was fascinated by the beautiful meringue on top. Once I got the tart shells baking {walnut shortbread tart shells = edible containers!}, I put the berries to simmer… It was only half way through that I realised I was actually making a strawberry curd, very similar to a pastry cream. It did look deep pink and gorgeous once done, and I happily ladled it into my very delicate edible containers. One word of caution on the tart shells – they are very delicate {and very delicious too!}. Maybe the dough was overly soft as the weather is so warm here. I would probably add another 1/4 cup flour next time around, or would use this walnut shortcrust pastry dough that I used in these Dark Chocolate and Sour Orange Walnut Tartlets

. I happily spooned my very cheerful looking strawberry curd into the tart shells and offered a small taster to Mr PAB. He doesn’t mince his words unfortunately, and I hated him when he said it wasn’t the best. I could have strangled him as posting date was around the corner; he looked positively unhappy. He suggested it might taste better after chilling in the fridge for a bit, and I knew this wasn’t looking good! {He said it had a slight eggy flavour. For me, that is just doesn’t work at all!!}Turned the oven off, pushed the whites away; sadly there was going to be no meringue! Off to my beloved kitchen, mind working overtime, I began whipping cream. I would do a whipped strawberry curd cream filling, and all would be well with the world again! In went a dash of sugar {and vanilla bean powder to it as well}, and it was whipped it to medium stiff peaks. I then folded half the strawberry curd into it. I can say I felt much better, and one lick of the spatula told me that the sun was shining again!! Mr PAB gave this version a beamer!

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Strawberry Meringue Tart with Walnut Shortbread Crust

adapted from Mollie Katzens recipe {for California Walnut Board}
Course: Dessert | Serves: 6 |
CRUST
2/3 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup all-purpose flour (plus extra for rolling dough)
teaspoon salt
STRAWBERRY CURD
{1/2 quantity required for this recipe}
3 small eggs yolks
400gms strawberries, sliced
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/8 cup cornstarch or arrowroot
1/2 cup sugar {might require more if strawberries are tart}
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of 1 lime
1/3 cup fresh lime juice {3-4 limes}
200ml low fat cream, chilled
1 tbsp powdered sugar
1/4 tsp vanilla powder {optional}
Instructions:
For the crust:
Preheat oven to 190C.
Place walnuts plus 2 tablespoons sugar in food processor; process to powder with series of bursts. Add remaining sugar and butter; process 3 minutes more. Add flour and salt; process just until dough holds together.
Press dough into flattened disc {if dough is too soft, chill for 20 minutes in refrigerator}.
Gently press dough into six 3-inch loose bottomed tart pans, or a 9-inch tart pan with removable base; press dough down and ease dough into corners and up sides. Prick dough all over with fork. {Use extra dough to make sides thicker.)
Place sheet of parchment or foil in crust; weigh it down with pie weights or dried beans, and bake in lower third of oven 15 minutes. Remove parchment or foil and pie weights; continue baking crust until deep golden all over {10 to 12 minutes longer}. Cool completely before filling.
For the strawberry curd:
Place strawberries in medium-size saucepan. Without adding any liquid, cover and cook 5 to 8 minutes over medium heat until soup-like {watch carefully so not to stick or burn}; set aside.
Meanwhile, in larger saucepan, combine cornstarch or arrowroot, 1/2 cup sugar, salt and lemon zest. Stir in lime juice, whisking until uniform.
Whisk egg yolks with scraped vanilla bean until smooth, then drizzle yolks into cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly. Continue beating mixture and slowly pour in hot strawberries and their liquid.
Place saucepan over medium heat; bring mixture to a boil, stirring constantly {but not too fast} with wooden spoon until mixture thickens. Set aside to cool, about 30 minutes.
Assemble:
Whisk cream with sugar and vanilla powder to medium stiff peaks. Fold in the strawberry curd {just half the above quantity, reserve rest for later, else make 1/2 quantity} gently with a spatula.
Spoon into tart shells, and chill for about 2 hours before serving.
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Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

61 thoughts on “Whipped Strawberry Curd Cream Tartlets with Walnut Shortbread Crust”

  2. Lol Deeba! Right about the bit of wanting to strangle the hubby when the verdict is not good after a lot of effort or expectation:-) My hubby had once tasted and said ‘I hope you are not going to be putting THIS on your blog’!!

    The walnut shortbread crust sounds delish with that so pretty pink cream…When will I dare to be a Daring Baker?? Sigh!!

    Reply

  3. Deeba, you’re simply amazing. I love your blog. I have bookmarked a few recipes since last year. And this is definitely something I shouldn’t miss. Thanks again for sharing.
    Best regards, Kristy

    Reply

  4. These are the picture of pretty spring. Lovely little tarts filled with my favorite berry of the season. It doesn’t get better than that. 😉

    Reply

  6. Awesome work! Your photos always look so professional! I love them 🙂 I totally understand your feelings when your hubby said it wasn’t the best. It has happened to me many times 😀 Nevertheless, it looks absolutely stunning and I think I’d love it!

    Reply

  13. Lovely interpretation to the challenge, Deeba! You always have a great solution to whatever gets on your way. Both look delicious to me! Thanks for your lovely comment on mine.

    Reply

  16. Sensational as always. They way you use strawberries in your recipe or for garnishing I feel a book on strawberry desserts is in order.

    Best Regards,
    Anita

    Reply

  17. Hi Deeba, your tarts look so pretty! Strawberry curd sounds like a terrific filling, and one that I have never tried before.

    Reply

  18. This looks delicious Deeba! I do love your strawberry version. It’s strawberry season here in the states, so this is a perfect substitution. Glad you were finally able to get the flavor right. Congrats on a successful challenge!

    Reply

  19. Sorry that the first taste didn’t go over so well, but glad that it worked out well in the end! And your photos are fantastic – so beautiful and the color is awesome. Strawberry in a nut tart shell sounds AMAZINGLY delicious. Sorry you couldn’t do the maple (TOTALLY understandable!), but your creation came out wonderfully. Great job!

    Reply

  20. Deeba, what gorgeous, delectable tarts!!! LOVE these flavors…and your lovely photos have me very hungry 🙂 Excellent job on the challenge~

    Reply

  21. The strawberry curd sounds delicious and great job transforming it into the perfect filling. The whipped cream and strawberry curd mixture sounds heavenly! The nut crusts look great too. I made something similar last weekend but with pistachio crusts.

    Reply

  24. What divine little tartlets! I really like the idea and that flavor combo. Wonderful, as always.

    Cheers,

    Rosa

    Reply

  30. Thank you for visiting my very humble blog. Your photos are so beautiful, particularly the shots of your strawberry curd, which has an incredible freshness of colour. I would love to try to make that walnut crust but sadly my main taster has a nut allergy so I have to play safe.

    Reply

  31. Even at the last minute you pull off a stunner like this Deeba! Bravo, lady, bravo! Love the sound of strawberry curd 🙂

    Reply

  32. I came back for your mascarpone recipe and saw this new post. What a beautiful job on this month’s challenge :-). And frankly, I think that strawberry filling is a much better fit for these edible containers than maple 😉

    Reply

  34. I have to try this strawberry curd…. It is vivid red and is calling for full attention. And I am sure combining this curd with whipped cream will result in a heavenly delicious cream. A great companion for the walnut shortbread crust!

    Beautiful shots as always 🙂

    Reply

  40. Hi Deeba,

    I am recently more and more amazed with your blog – it has so many wonderful recipes, useful tips and inspriational photography! I could live on this site :-).
    So I am very honored to pass on to you some food blog awards that I’ve received last week http://cookingrookie.blogspot.com/2011/04/passing-on-food-blog-awards.html

    Thanks so much for this blog!

    p.s. by the way, I’ve made mascarpone following your recipe – it is SOOOO good. I’ve tried a couple of times before and it has been too sour. This one is so light and perfect! Thanks 🙂

    Reply

  43. Your tartlets looks absolutely delicious! I’m just waiting for a first fresh strawberries from my garden and I think I will try the recipe 🙂 Beautiful photos!

    Reply

  52. ‘wow’ ………….said hubby after he tasted it!!!the tart shell is to die for….yum yum…soglad that ive saved 2 for tmmrw ;)…. tnks D for posting it

    Reply

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