Strawberry tart with cream on homemade shortbread: the easy recipe

I used Philippe Conticini's excellent Breton shortbread recipe and his delicious vanilla pastry cream as a base... To give this tart a little extra something, I spread a thin layer of strawberry jam over the pastry cream before arranging the strawberries and lime zest on top.

Ingredients · Servings 8 people

125g flour
2 egg yolks
175g semi-salted butter at room temperature
90g icing sugar
80g almond flour
1 pinch fleur de sel
250 ml milk
2 egg yolks
20 g sucre
1/2 vanilla bean
22.5 g flour
strawberry jam
1 unit lime

Method · 45 min

To prepare the pastry cream: Place the milk and scraped vanilla bean in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Let it infuse for 15 minutes. Whisk the egg yolks with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the flour. Remove the vanilla bean from the milk and pour half of it into the egg yolk and sugar mixture, stirring well. Pour this mixture into the saucepan containing the remaining milk and thicken over low heat, stirring constantly. Pour the cream into a gratin dish, cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
To prepare the Breton shortbread: Place the butter, icing sugar, and almond flour in the bowl of a stand mixer and beat at medium speed until smooth. Add the egg yolks, then the flour and fleur de sel. Beat briefly at high speed for a few seconds. You should obtain a smooth, homogeneous dough. Transfer the dough to a piping bag. Place a pastry ring on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and pipe the dough into the ring. Place another baking sheet on top. Bake for approximately 35-40 minutes, or until the shortbread is a beautiful golden brown. Let cool.
Assembly: Put the pastry cream in a piping bag fitted with a fluted nozzle and pipe it onto the Breton shortbread base. Place a dollop of strawberry jam in the center and spread it lightly without pressing down too hard. Arrange the hulled and sliced strawberries attractively on top of the tart. Zest some lime over the top. It's ready!