Strawberries have been in abundance at the markets recently, so I made this easy tart for morning tea last Sunday.
It’s simple to make – I used June’s sweet pastry dough (defrosted from the fridge) to line a quiche dish and then blindbaked it until golden. I’m sure packaged shortcrust pastry would work just as well.
This was filled with a batch of microwave pastry cream, and then topped with halved strawberries. The boys loved it!
Here’s the microwave pastry cream recipe again (with metric conversions added)…
- 2 cups (500ml) full cream milk (I used UHT)
- 6 large (59g) free range egg yolks (use the whites for meringues)
- ½ cup (110g) white sugar
- 1/3 cup (45g) cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
- 1½ (8ml) teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3½ tablespoons (50g) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into small pieces
Step 1: In a large pyrex bowl, mix together the milk, sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract. Whisk well to combine, then microwave on high until hot but not boiling (in my 1100 watt micro, this took two minutes). Remove from the microwave, whisk well to smooth out any lumps.
Step 2: In a separate bowl, whisk egg yolks together until smooth.
Step 3: Continually whisking, pour the egg yolks into the milk, mixing until smooth. Microwave on high for one minute, then in 30 second increments, whisking after each burst, until the pastry cream is thick. In my microwave, this took 2½ minutes.
Step 4: Whisk well, then add the butter pieces and whisk them into the pastry cream until smooth. Press a sheet of cling film to the surface of the cream to stop it forming a skin and store in the fridge until cool.
. . . . .
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
We still have a lot of strawberries in the grocery stores- mainly from warmer climes- I may make this for tea tomorrow. Thanks for the conversions right in the recipe, Celia .:>
Heidi, hope you like it! It’s just a simple little thing really.. :)
Thanks Celia, just what I needed! I am planning to make a strawberry tart for this weekend. I usually make a filling using gelatine but haven’t had much success using the new style gelatine leaves rather than the powder. So your recipe could be the answer. I will give it a go.
Christine, it doesn’t set as hard as a gelatine filling would, but it’s definitely firm enough to hold up the strawberries! Thanks for giving it a go.. :)
You have a very lucky family Celia this looks delicious. I can’t wait until I have a houseful of people to bake for!
Claire, won’t be long! And you’re so good at it already! :)
So yummy, but why oh why did you post this just before dinner? All of a sudden my curry isn’t as tempting now :-)
I can hardly wait for my garden strawberries to ripen, at the moment they’re tiny green promises of future strawberry tarts.
Darling, curry is always tempting! My strawberries in the garden are a disaster – they’re all rotting from the rain! Becca, I think the pastry cream would work well with LF milk…
Local strawberries are finished here in Italy and the figs have just disappeared. We get our strawberries in winter in Brisbane as it is too hot in summer. There is nothing like a good strawberry.
Deb, I agree – when they’re good, they’re really good, it’s just a shame that for so much of the year they’re cardboardy!
thanks for this microwave recipe – it should come in handy when we have unannounced guests :)
Tandy, I also make a microwave custard which we use all the time. I’ve taught several teenage boys how to make it, and they make their own desserts now! :)
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/05/20/raspberry-chocolate-friands-and-microwave-custard/
Great recipe – especially like the custard-style base!
Thank you, O Custard Queen! :)
Yummy, I would definitely have two slices of this one!
Lizzy, I only got one slice! Pete and Big Boy demolished the rest of it! :)
I bought late Cheddar strawberries last week for Peggy and took them together with some little cakes for an impromptu tea party to her home. She would have adored your tart, it looks splendiferous :)
Thanks Jo! I would love to have an impromptu tea party with you.. :)
Strawberries are so plentiful nowadays aren’t they! There seem like more than normal-or maybe I’m just eating more than normal! :P This looks magnificent! I’m a sucker for strawberries and cream or custard :)
Thanks Lorraine! It seems to have been a good year for strawberries, they’re everywhere at the moment! Mulberries too, although I’m basing that conclusion on the fact that they’re appearing in everyone’s blogs – I never see them at the markets!
Ahh, we do guerilla gardening tactics to get mulberries. Knock on doors up and down the street and then use bucket & ladder to get the berries from trees hanging over the footpaths.
This is a beautiful looking tart!
Thank you! :)
How I long for summer again! What do you think about the microwave custard mixed with my organic, local, sliced frozen (many adjectives) strawberries? Looks great.
Em, the strawberries aren’t baked, so I’m not sure how well frozen ones would work in the tart. I’m sure that microwave custard with a strawberry compote would be amazing though. Here’s our custard recipe in case it’s of use – it’s a little different to the pastry cream one..
https://figjamandlimecordial.com/2011/05/20/raspberry-chocolate-friands-and-microwave-custard/
Sounds delish. The strawberries have been good this season, haven’t they?! Certainly feels like summer when you start making berry tarts!
Just amazing! And not all about to go mouldy like they often are at this time of year!
That looks gorgeous, Celia! I’ve never microwaved pastry cream before…I’m so intrigued!
Abby, I reckon you could do amazing things with an easy pastry cream filling! :)
Yes the strawberries have been fabulous – I just made another version of strawberry jam. When they are in season and so affordable it’s easy to play around with them in all sorts of dishes. Believe it or not, I actually find it harder to use up leftover egg yolks than the whites. Apart from meringue, there’s always mousse, almond bread, friands and even a low calorie omelette!
Your tart looks really luscious, but I just can’t make pastry cream in the microwave – the old-fashioned way is the only way for me.
Mariana, we never seem to have either left over in the house – any surplus yolks always end up in a custard! Good on you for making custards the old fashioned way – I always end up scorching them! :)
ohh! i am making this one this week. i looove strawberry tarts!!!!!
Thanks Aleida! Hope you enjoy it!
Orange County, where I live is famous for strawberries. We grow the tiny, jewel sized ones in our front garden, though the season is done until next spring. :-)
Maz, my friends who are currently living in the US tell me that they can’t believe how good the berries are over there! They’re an expensive treat here, except for when the strawberries are in season. But fresh blueberries, raspberries etc always cost a fortune!
This year berries have been especially inexpensive. Raspberries are my favorite. We had a good crop of blackberries from our garden this year. So sweet and sunshiny.
Apart from strawberries, we never get cheap berries here. Although we have been harvesting a dozen or so blueberries every couple of days from our little bush. It’s only enough for snacking! :)
Celia, what a superb recipe to come back to after being away from reading your wonderful blog the past week! I love that you can whip this up in no time at all and so pretty.
Have a happy week.
:-) Mandy
Mandy, thank you! Isn’t it cool that something so pretty can be an emergency dessert? :)
I love a good bit of tart. Strawberry has to be one if the best.
Thanks Meg! It felt almost indulgent to have so many strawberries to play with! :)
this looks heavenly celia..it’s a bit too early yet but i go to the dandenongs to buy strawberries each summer..i make jam with them but i must remember to keep a few and make a strawberry tart..
Jane, I wish we lived close to somewhere we could go berry picking! We went once when were in Young, and they were the finest strawberries I’d ever eaten!
Yummmmm, Celia! I love a strawberry tart. Do you ever use mixed summer fruits? Another favourite here. I also like to brush warmed, strained apricot jam over the fruit..it makes it all shiny. :)
Chris, I’ve only made it a couple of times, but I’d love to try and make it with mixed fruit and all glazed like the ones in the French patisseries. I’ll try next it next time when the stonefruit is in season!
I’ve never had a strawberry pie, I guess the only dessert with strawberries I’ve ever had is strawberry mousse. And ice cream…
your pie made my mouth water, and I could have a piece right now! ;-)
Sally, if you were closer, you know I’d run a piece over to you, don’t you.. :)
I hope you would! ;-)
Hi Celia,
I have made another attempt at IMK!
Christine, that’s fantastic, thanks for playing along! I’ve added your post to my sidebar listing!
This looks fantastic…I love your creations..
I haven’t been here in a while and got to check what I’ve missed..
Thank you for sharing and have a wonderful evening!!!
Sandra, thanks for popping in! :)
Perfect Celia. Seasonal, simple and right up my alley!
(I told Mr Chocolate about your last post, that one (no surprise) was right up his alley and wants me to make it for him.)
Brydie, those brownies had Mr Chocolate’s name written all over them! :)
This looks amazing, maybe I’ll make this over the weekend! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for stopping by! Hope you enjoy the tart! :)
Oh no I am so late. Have you eaten it all! It looked divine c
C, it was all gone that morning! :)
I just showed this to my granddaughter and she said “cool” when are you making it.
Norma, your granddaughter is lucky to have you! Does she have a sweet tooth? :)
Looks delicious! About to go to house for 10 days for some baking!
Fantastic! Did you ever end up getting chickens there?
Hi Celia, I’m your newest fan, well at this very minute anyway. I live down in the Illawarra but will be in Sydney for a few hours tomorrow, thanks to your influence I’ll be dropping by the Chef’s Warehouse. I look forward to reading through the archives here.
Hi Rose, thanks for stopping by! Hope you had fun at Chefs! :)
Hey nice summer tart. I love cooking with strawberries, this looks fresh and delicious.
Thanks Tania! We bought some more strawberries at the markets this week!
Oh, Celia, this is so beautiful. Made me hungry now. Thank you. With my love, nia
Thanks Nia! I sometimes think it’s the colour of strawberries that draws me to them more than anything else!
We definitely have been spoiled with the strawberries of late. We’re eating them every day with yoghurt and also breakfast. Its been so great! What a fab way to use them :)
Thanks Nic! We bought five more punnets at the markets this week – just $1 each!
Looks beautiful! I have only had strawberry tart once – I must try some more:)
Thanks Miss Kimbers – I must try and make them more often!
Oh yum. This looks amazing. So summery and fresh and tasty. I could go a slice, a big one. I adore strawberries. Mmmmm. Hope your enjoying the warmer weather, it’s gorgeous in Canberra, totally inspiring to cook the yummy Summer goodies. :)
Today was a scorcher, Anna! 34C! Hope it’s a little cooler for you in Canberra.. xx