Lemon Thyme and Ginger

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Nut Crust

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

An amazing event happened last week just in time for Mother’s Day. My friend Tami became a grandma. Tami’s daughter gave birth to a healthy 7 plus pound baby boy and both mom and baby are doing fine. She is the first of my friends from Yorktown to become a Grandma and because it is Mother’s Day this weekend, I wanted to honor her and her growing family with a gluten free strawberry tart. Tami, Alissa and her husband Victor are a great support to me and my blog and I am grateful for their continued interest and encouragement. A month ago, Tami sat by and watched as our book club friends ate two strawberry tarts I was testing. Now, it is Tami’s and her family’s turn to dig in and enjoy a gluten free nut crust tart filled with strawberry rhubarb jam and fresh strawberries.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart

My inspiration comes from a recipe in Jacques Pépin’s cookbook, Essential Pépin. His raspberry tart uses a pâte sucrée dough that he rolls out then shapes the tart by hand on a baking sheet. Once baked, the tart is filled with a layer of jam and fresh berries. Jacques Pépin makes everything look so easy. I am always in awe when I watch a video of him roll out pie dough in under 2 minutes like it is as familiar to him as his own hand.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

 Gluten Free Tart Pastry

Gluten free strawberry tart is a gluten free and nut version of a traditional sweet cookie pastry dough. I used white rice flour for its’ neutral flavor, butter, sugar, and ground and peeled pistachios. This is a very different gluten free nut pastry dough from the crust in my Double coconut pie . That pie crust is made with all nuts and egg whites, like a coconut meringue cookie. This tart I used a whole egg for extra strength, and it tastes like a shortbread cookie.

Gluten free pastry is fragile to say the least and this gluten free sweet cookie pastry dough is no exception.  Fortunately, I found the dough very easy to work with. It was soft, not too sticky, and rolled out nicely between sheets of plastic wrap. The challenges came later, when the dough became crust. Once baked, the gluten free tart crust is very fragile, and it broke apart easily whenever I touched the tart. It was very difficult to keep the tart crust in one piece while removing it from the pan. Afterwards, I started to wonder why all the recipes I researched never talked about how to get the tart crust out of the pan. Hmmm, very curious.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

After my third tart crust turned into cookie crumbles, I decided to make this a free form tart. It might look more rustic, but it stayed in one piece as I transferred the tart to a serving plate. Rustic is all right with me.

Regardless of the fragility, it tastes delicious. The strawberries are bright and sweet, and the crust is nutty and crumbly in a good way. The white flour gives the crust a grainier texture, but it compliments the ground pistachios.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Variations for a Gluten Free Strawberry Tart

First you can swap out the pistachios and substitute it with almonds or walnuts. Both those nuts pair nicely with other fruits.

Switch up the filling. You can make a pastry cream and top it with berries. Switch out the jam with another flavor. Change the fruit and use any berry or a mixture of fruit. Most fruit will taste great in a jam tart.

Chocolate ganache filling is wonderful in a strawberry tart. Take 3/4 cup heavy cream and bring to just a boil. Remove from the heat and add 6 oz of bittersweet chopped chocolate to the hot cream. Stir to melt the chocolate and let it cool until it starts to thicken. Pour the chocolate into the tart shell, then loosely cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Add the strawberries.

If you want to make this with all-purpose flour, switch the white rice flour with 3/4 cup (106 g) all-purpose flour and add 4 TB of heavy cream instead of water. Omit the xanthan gum. This all-purpose flour pastry crust is the Sweet Nut Cookie Tart Crust recipe from The Pie and Pastry Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Happy Mother’s Day

Tami, Alissa and Alissa’s husband Victor, are a great support to me and my blog and I am grateful for their continued interest and encouragement. Happy Mother’s Day.

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Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust and recipe.

Gluten Free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Nut Crust

An elegant strawberry tart gets a gluten free upgrade when made with a pistachio sweet pastry dough. The pastry is tender but crumbly like a giant nut cookie. The tart filling is a simple one filled with a thin layer of the best quality jam, or homemade, and fresh strawberries. 

To get that nice green color from the pistachios you need to peel off the thin dark skin off the nut. See recipe notes for how to do this. I bought my pistachios in bulk at a the grocery store with the skins already removed.  

You can substitute the pistachios with almonds or almond flour, or toasted walnuts. 

Course Dessert
Keyword gluten free strawberry tart
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chilling 2 hours
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 8
Author Ginger

Ingredients

Gluten free Pistachio Pâte Sucrée, Sweet Pastry Dough

  • 1/2 cup (75 g) pistachios peeled (see recipe notes)
  • 3 TB (45 g) granulated sugar
  • 1 cup (162 g) white rice flour (more if the dough is too wet)
  • 1/2 tsp xanthan gum (see notes)
  • finely grated zest from half a lemon
  • 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
  • 6 TB (89 g) unsalted butter
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten
  • 1 TB (15 ml) cold water

Strawberry Filling

  • 1/3 cup (75 ml) strawberry rhubarb jam (or your best quality strawberry or seedless raspberry jam)
  • 2 lb (1 liter) fresh strawberries
  • 3 TB (45 ml) seedless raspberry jam
  • 1 TB (15 ml) raspberry liquor
  • finely chopped pistachios for garnish
  • fresh basil or mint for garnish

Instructions

Gluten free pistachio Pâte Sucrée, Sweet Pastry Dough

  1. Lightly butter a piece of parchment paper and place on a rimmed baking sheet, at least 12 inches (30.5 cm) wide. Set aside. 

  2. Add the pistachios and the sugar to a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground, but not starting to turn into nut butter. Pour the ground pistachios with sugar into a medium size mixing bowl. 

  3. Add the white rice flour, Kosher salt, lemon zest, and xanthan gum. Stir with a fork to mix all the ingredients. 

  4. Cut the butter into small pieces then add them into the flour mixture. With clean hands, rub the butter into the flour until it is thoroughly mixed in. The dough will look like rough sand. 

  5. Add the egg and 1 TB of water and mix in with your hands. If the dough feels too wet, add more white rice flour 1 tablespoon at a time. The dough will feel wet, but it should not be sticky.  

  6. Roll out the dough. Cut a piece of plastic wrap to make a 16-inch (40.5 cm) square. Depending on the width of your plastic wrap you may need to overlap two pieces of plastic wrap. Place on the counter where you will roll out the dough. Place the pistachio pastry dough in the center of the crust and flatten it with your hands into a disk. Cover the pistachio dough with more plastic wrap the same size as the bottom layer. 

  7. Roll out the pastry dough into a circle until it reaches 12-14 inches ((30.5 - 35.5 cm) in diameter. You are aiming for a 1/4 inch (.5 cm) thickness. 

  8. Drape the dough covered in plastic over your rolling pin. Remove the top piece of plastic and roll the pastry dough onto the prepared baking sheet, plastic side up. Remove the plastic wrap from the pastry dough. 

  9. Roll the edge of the dough inward about a half an inch, (1 cm), creating an edge for the tart. Roll the edge inward another 1/2 inch (1 cm) for a more defined edge. Make a decorative edge or keep as is. 

  10. Loosely cover the pistachio pastry with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. 

  11. 25 minutes before you plan on baking, preheat the oven to 425°F (220°C/ Gas Mark 7). Make sure the oven rack is in the middle position. 

  12. Remove the plastic wrap and pierce the bottom of the pastry dough with a fork. Place in the oven and bake for 5 minutes. Turn down the heat to 375°F (190°C / Gas Mark 5). and bake for 10 -15 minutes, or until the tart is a light golden brown. Watch the tart carefully so it does not burn. 

  13. When done, place the baking sheet on a cooling rack and completely cool. Lift the parchment paper with the tart, supported underneath the tart with a large BBQ spatula or pancake spatula. Place the tart on the counter and remove the baking sheet.  Carefully slide an offset spatula under the tart to loosen it from the parchment paper. Slide the tart onto a serving plate. 

Assemble the tart

  1. Spread the strawberry rhubarb jam in an even layer over the bottom of the tart. Clean the strawberries and dry them. Remove the stem and arrange the strawberries around the tart and fill it up., cut side down.  You can add other fruit to fill any gaps between the strawberries, like blueberries or raspberries, if you wish. 

  2. Add the seedless raspberry jam and raspberry liquor in a microwave safe bowl. Stir to mix and warm up in 10 second intervals until it thins out. Baste the jam over the strawberries with a pastry brush. Sprinkle with chopped pistachios and other garnishes like chopped basil or mint. 

  3. Serve within an hour of assembly. This tart is best eaten within a couple of hours from when it is made. 

    If you do have leftovers, loosely cover the remaining tart with plastic wrap and keep on the counter. 

Recipe Notes

I was able to buy my pistachios in bulk which cut down the price and they already had the dark skins removed. If you cannot buy pistachios with the skins removed, buy roasted pistachios (preferably not salted) remove the shells and blanch in boiling water for one minute. 

Drain the pistachios from the water and place on a lint free and clean kitchen towel. Cover the pistachios with one side of the kitchen towel. With your hands on top of the towel, rub them back and forth until all the skins have come off. 

Separate the pistachios from their skins and set aside on a plate in an even layer.  Some skins on pistachios need extra encouragement and you may need to rub the skins off with your fingers.  Air dry the pistachios before using. 

 

Xanthan Gum helps stabilize gluten free ingredients, so they do not separate and makes it easier to work with.  Normally, Bob's Red Mill sells it in an 8 oz bag for $13.99 which is a lot if you only need a half teaspoon. If you plan to do a lot of gluten free baking buying that amount makes sense. Fortunately, some groceries sell xanthan gum packets made by Hodgson Mill and is more reasonably priced. 

 

Gluten free Strawberry Tart with Pistachio Crust. Gluten free strawberry tart recipe. A tender gluten free pâte sucurée dough made with ground pistachios and white rice flour. The tart is filled with strawberry rhubarb jam and fresh strawberries. A simple but elegant strawberry tart.

© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.

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