Thursday, May 31, 2018

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart with Sweet Walnut Crust


Many of you may have seen all of the new privacy policies flooding into your inbox lately regarding the new European Union guidelines.  If you are a visitor from a European Union country, please see my updated Privacy Policy at the top of the page under my title and photo header.  My privacy policy is meant to comply with the EU General Data Protection Regulations called GDPR.  If you disagree with the guidelines you may always opt out of receiving my subscription emails by using the Unsubscribe link at the bottom of the my 'new post' emails at any time in the future.  I deeply value my subscribers and viewers and want you to have a pleasant experience when you visit.  

I have also finally converted my blog to https which is more secure.  It took a long while to figure out where the hidden http links were in my template and remove them, but I think I have it finally figured out and uploading is much faster now.  


Now that I have that piece of business out of the way, let's talk about this delicious strawberry-rhubarb tart, and the amazing sweet walnut pastry crust!

This beautiful spring-time tart was almost a disaster as the original recipe only called for 2 tablespoons of potato or cornstarch to bind it together (it didn't happen), but a little tweaking with the addition of unflavored gelatin, it turned into a tart that held together beautifully and tasted wonderful!


The best way to serve this tart is with a dollop of crème fraîche or sour cream.  You can find my post on how to make your own homemade crème fraîche (which is a lot cheaper than store bought!) by clicking here.


The sweet walnut crust alone is worth trying, even if you don't care for rhubarb desserts.  I can imagine so many delicious fillings in this pastry!  Chocolate would be my first choice :)  I think I foresee a post on that coming up!


It was an unusually hot Memorial Day weekend for the Midwest...90's farenheit with even hotter 'feels like' factor!  I seems like we went from winter, to monsoon season and then to mid summer in the month of May! Many of my early spring irises and Lily of the Valley flowers were roasted during the heat and sadly didn't last too long.  How has your weather been?

Strawberry-Rhubarb Tart in a Sweet Walnut Crust

Printable Recipe

Makes one 9-1/2 to 10-inch tart

Sweet Walnut Pastry (recipe below)

¾ cup sugar
Juice and grated zest of 1 large or 2 small oranges (4 tablespoons zest)
1 pound fresh rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch lengths
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons orange liqueur
2 tablespoons potato starch (I used corn starch)
2 pints red ripe, strawberries, hulled and sliced
2 packages unflavored gelatin, sprinkled over 1/3 cup cranberry or apple juice (or water)
½ cup strawberry preserves, heated until barely runny and strained
Crème fraîche or sour cream for garnish

For the walnut crust:

2 oz. (1/2 cup) finely chopped walnuts (food processor), toasted
6 oz. (12 Tbs.) butter, slightly softened
2 oz. (1/2 cup) confectioners’ sugar
1 large egg
7-3/4 oz. (1-3/4 cups) flour

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar at high speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg; mix to combine. Lower the speed to slow and add the flour, mixing until barely combined. Add the walnuts and continue mixing, scraping the sides of the bowl, until the dough comes together. Divide the dough. Wrap the half you’ll be using in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. Wrap the other half well in plastic and then in foil and freeze for future use.

Lightly oil a 9-1/2-inch tart pan or use a non-stick tart pan.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a round about 1/8 inch thick. Arrange it in the tart pan, trimming to fit. Line the crust with foil or kitchen parchment and weight with beans, pie weights or a smaller oven-safe pan that will fit inside.

Bake until the edge is light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Carefully remove the beans and foil and bake until the bottom is dry and light brown, about another 5 minutes. Cool to room temperature.

To Make the Filling:

Bring sugar, orange juice and zest to a boil in medium, heavy-bottomed non-reactive pot. Add rhubarb and return to a boil, shaking occasionally so rhubarb cooks evenly, but without stirring, which will break it up. Reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes, or until rhubarb is soft. Add butter and shake to combine.

Whisk together liqueur and potato starch until smooth and stir into boiling liquid. Cook until mixture is clear and thickened, about 2 minutes. Fold in half the strawberries, remove pan from heat.

In a glass measuring cup, add 1/3 cup fruit juice or water. Sprinkle the 2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin over the top of the liquid and allow to sit for 1 minutes. Then microwave the gelatin mixture on high for about 30-40 seconds, stirring once. Then pour the hot gelatin over the hot fruit mixture and carefully fold the gelatin mixture and fruit mixture together until well combined. Allow to cool slightly.

Spoon filling into crust and top with remaining strawberries. Brush strawberries with preserves to make a shiny glaze and chill tart until set, about 2 hours. If you have leftover filling, you can put it in a small dish and refrigerate and enjoy on its own.

Serve topped with crème fraîche or sour cream.

48 comments:

  1. This looks amazing, Susan. Golden crust and fruity filling...a perfect combo for a perfect summer day!

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    1. Thank you, Angie! I love rhubarb and my little rhubarb patch :)

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  2. It has been cold, windy and foggy here in Santa Cruz. Your strawberry rhubarb pie looks great, I like the walnut crust.

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    1. The walnut crust really made this tart special, Gerlinde. My daughter is traveling for work and is in Menlo Park so she must be having similar weather.

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  3. Our weather was pleasantly very warm over the weekend, and nothing got fried thankfully. I just made a rhubarb cake last evening, which is very plain in comparison to your beautiful rhubarb dessert! Our 95 year old neighbor Isabelle left some rhubarb at my door, and that forced me to bake. LOL

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    1. How sweet of your neighbor to leave rhubarb for you! I hope I'm picking rhubarb at 95 :)

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  4. The tart sounds great and your yellow peony is beautiful-enjoy:@)

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    1. Thank you, Lynn! The yellow peony is very stingy with flowers so I appreciate each one very much :)

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  5. This looks wonderful Susan and it's so pretty! I'm glad you tweaked it and got it just right!

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    1. It was more like a loose custard before adding the gelatin. Not what you want for a tart :) Thank you, Chris!

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  6. Such a beautiful tart Susan and the filling looks so plentiful. You always make lovely pies and tarts. I need to try these more often.

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    1. I think I enjoy them more than cake, Vicki :) Thanks so much!

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  7. You sure are making good use of the fresh strawberries. I really like the SB rhubarb desserts and yours looks delicious.

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    1. I've always loved the combination too, Larry. The strawberries sweeten the rhubarb just right for me :) Thank you!

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  8. The sweet walnut crust and the tart sweet filling sound perfect for outdoor entertaining.

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    1. Thank you, Karen! We hope to do plenty of outdoor entertaining this summer, Karen, if we can get the mosquitoes under control!

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  9. It looks absolutely beautiful first of all..and I am sure delicious:)
    I have no idea if I https or not and do I have to have a Privacy Policy? LOL..Why?
    No clue how to do that either and I hurt my piriformis ..UGH..so it feels like sciatica..Come on! I HAVE to garden..crikey.Didn't need this..not now..I am sure you have felt like this :(
    I read garlic spray is amazing for mosquitoes..all over FB:)
    My yellow Tree peony has not bloomed yet..the deep opera rose or quinn rose lol is in bloom.
    Sometimes we just feel when a recipe will fail;)
    Good for you..Happy weekend!!

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    1. Are you kidding me? I'm so sorry about your pain. A good friend just went through the same thing. So difficult for her to sit because of the pain down her thigh. Fingers crossed it goes away quickly♥ I'll have to do a search on garlic spray!!

      I saw a notice in my blogger edit/post/layout, etc. page about the EU notice. Not sure if it was necessary but figured I'd go ahead and do it anyway. If you look in your URL bar at the top of your home page it will either say http://latabledenana or https://latabledenana. It was a mess trying to get it switched but when you do you get a great lock that says 'Secure' to the left of your http. I had several very old http links within my template that I had go through the html language and fix or switch them to https. It was not easy but I'm happy I finally figured it out. Since you don't have any links to social media or other email subscription sites that may have had the old http you may not have a hard time but not sure you want to fix something that isn't broken, if you know what I mean :)

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  10. Will you bring me over a piece? This is so mouthwatering, I can almost taste it! I would have it for breakfast, lunch and dinner, and maybe a snack before bed - dangerous!!!

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    1. I'd love to :) I agree that his tastes best at all times of day or night! Thank you, Jacqueline!

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  11. This tart looks absolutely beautiful Susan, have a nice weekend!!

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  12. Beautiful strawberries...beautiful dessert. Thank you for discussing the new guidelines out of EU. I don't get it, but I appreciate knowing a little more. I don't know if my blog is compliant, but I don't think I have much readership from "away."

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    1. Thank you, Vee. I don't fully understand everything either but it's something to do with the 'cookies' that most websites use to collection information from visitors. Most of which bloggers such as you and I don't use anyway. Happy June to you!

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  13. This is so lovely, and I so love nut-based crusts!

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    1. I absolutely loved the walnut crust too, Mimi! Have a great Sunday :)

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  14. This recipe speaks to me Susan! How lovely and no doubt delicious. Perfect for any summer get together.

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    1. I sure was a case of trial and error but finally got it to work :) Thank you, Tricia!!

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  15. this tart looks so good, and I confess I don't understand the new rules I need to read them.

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    1. Thanks, Rebecca! I believe it has more to do with 'cookies' and advertisting but don't understand all of it either ;)

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  16. This tart sounds fabulous! It has been a tough season for my entire yard. My peonies took forever to come out but now they are roasting away. And the irises went very fast. Fleeting beauty just like I bet this tart was!

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    1. We wait all winter to see those beauties and so sad when the weather takes them too quickly. Yes, the tart was fleeting too :)

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  17. Your tart is absolutely delicious Susan! I wish I could have a slice since we don't have rhubarb here in Greece!

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    1. I'm sure your climate to too warm throughout the year for it to grow, Katerina. One of the nice things about living where it gets below freezing :) xo

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  18. Perfect in every way, dear Susan.
    Amalia
    xo

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  19. Oh Susan, your tart looks absolutely heavenly! Rhubarb doesn't grow here, but can be bought at $10 a pound!!!! Thank you for the creme fraiche link, too.
    I subscribed to your blog, but somehow, it is never sent to me. I will try again. Thank you for your comment on my blackberry cobbler post. I miss getting comments emailed to me!!
    Happy Baking, Susan!

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    1. I'm so sorry you don't get the emails. I did change my http to https recently for security reasons so perhaps that is why. I hope you try again :) $10 a pound! I could be rich - LOL.

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  20. What a great tart, Susan! I love that walnut crust. A perfect dessert, for sure!

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    1. The walnut crust really makes it special, Pam. Thank you!

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  21. Lovely Pie Sue!! I am pinning and sharing!!

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  22. Beautiful tart Susan! Your description of the weather sounds like you live in Florida (laugh).
    The technology behind blogs today are more complicated than they were just a few years ago :-) It always seems we have to update, or change to keep up with the times. It's a necessary evil.

    Take care.

    Velva

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    1. We had another weekend of hot and humid weather, Velva! It's either been chilly or hot here. Very little of the nice, in between weather, unfortunately. So true about the technology. Keeps us on our toes :)

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  23. I love everything about this tart, Susan! I have to agree that sweet walnut crust does sound delicious! Beautiful photos in this post too :)

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    1. I do love rhubarb but the crust is the star in this recipe :) Thank you, Marcelle!

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  24. Oh my goodness, one of our favorite fruit and flavor combinations. This is certainly a keeper recipe Susan. Beautifully prepared and photographed as well. Pinned!

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I appreciate your comment!