strawberry crumbly tart

early strawberry season!

Strawberries in February? 70 degree weather in March? Something is not right. But anyway, I've been home sick lately, working on perfecting attempting macaron making and a few other things. For now, here's a tart I made by request when I had a particularly gorgeous bunch of strawberries. The tart is a lovely shortbready cookie thing, and the crumble is delicious - but if I were making it again, I'd double the cream cheese filling and double the strawberries because, well as we know I love fruits and filling stuffs. As it were, I halved the recipe and used a 6" pan and ended up with wayy too much filling (which made for an awesome ice cream topping. Makes a lovely breakfast/dessert!

Nick Malgieri's Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart

One 10" unbaked Cookie dough tart crust, chilled - recipe below

Almond Crumb Topping

1 1/2 cups (7 ounces) all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)

1/3 cup (2.5 ounces) sugar

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup (1 ounce) slivered or whole blanched almonds, coarsely chopped into 1/4-inch pieces

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling

1 pound cream cheese, softened

1 cup (4 ounces) confectioners’ sugar, sifted after measuring

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 pound (about 1 1/2 pints) strawberries, rinsed, hulled and halved or quartered if large, or left whole if very small (reserve 1 perfect whole berry)

Confectioners’ sugar in a shaker for finishing

1. Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350˚F (180˚C).

2. For the topping, in a medium mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the almonds. Use a rubber spatula to stir in the butter. Let the mixture stand for a few minutes, then use your fingertips to break the mixture into 1/4- to 1/2-inch crumbs. Scatter the crumbs on the prepared pan.

3. Bake the tart crust in the lower third of the oven and the crumb topping in the upper third. After 10 minutes, remove the paper and beans from the tart shell and place it on the upper rack and the crumbs on the lower one.

4. Continue baking the tart shell until it is dry and light golden, 15 to 20 additional minutes. Bake the crumb topping until it is deep golden and firm, 10 to 15 additional minutes.

5. Cool the crust and the topping on racks. If the crumbs have clumped together during baking, let them cool completely and then use a bench scraper or table knife to chop them coarsely.

6. For the cream cheese filling, place the cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed just until it is smooth. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest and vanilla and continue beating until lightened, about 1 minute.

7. To assemble the tart, spread half the cream cheese filling on the bottom of the tart crust and arrange the berries on it, cut side down. Spread the remaining filling over the berries. Evenly scatter the crumb topping over the filling. Right before serving, lightly dust the topping with confectioners’ sugar and place the reserved berry in the center of the tart.

8. Serving: Unmold the tart and slide it off the pan base to a platter. Serve wedges of the tart—it needs no accompaniment.

Storage: You may have all the components ready, but don’t assemble the tart until a few hours before you intend to serve it. Keep it at a cool room temperature until you do. Wrap and refrigerate leftovers and bring to room temperature before serving again. The crust will soften after it has been refrigerated.

Crust:

for two 6" crusts, or one 10"tart shell

2 tablespoon almonds (any style)

6 tablespoons (1.5 ounces) confectioners’ sugar, sifted after measuring

1 1/4 cups (5.25 ounces) all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 ounces (1 sticks) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 16 pieces

1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine the almonds and confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse repeatedly until finely ground, about 1 minute. No visible pieces of almond should remain. Use a thin metal spatula to scrape away any of the mixture caked up in the corner where the bottom meets the side of the bowl.

Add the flour and salt and pulse a couple of times to mix. (If not using the nuts, start here and add the sugar.) Add the butter and pulse again repeatedly until no visible pieces of butter remain. Add the yolks and vanilla and pulse again until the dough forms a ball.

Invert the dough to a floured surface and carefully remove the blade. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece of dough into a thick disk and wrap individually in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour. You may prepare the dough several days in advance and keep it refrigerated, or double wrap and freeze the second piece of dough, defrosting it in the refrigerator overnight before use.