Cassie With Easter right around the corner and the beautiful spring weather, I thought it was time to create a healthier version of a fruit tart. Out here in California, we have strawberries finding their way to fruit stands and I couldn’t be more excited. One of my favorite things is a fruit tart topped with strawberries and blueberries but I hate buying store bought ones that are topped with a sugary glaze. It ruins the awesome flavor of the fruit, in my personal opinion.
This gluten free tart has all your favorite elements of a tart, without all the sugar, gluten or dairy! To make this recipe you’ll need a good gluten free 1-to-1 flour, I love Bob’s Redmill and use it in all my baking. Other essentials are arrowroot powder, full fat coconut milk, eggs and a mixer.
The thing with custards and creams, is that it is easy to curdle your eggs so just remember that patience is king in this recipe. The slower you go, the more likely it’ll come out good. To make the vanilla custard, you’ll heat up your coconut milk slowly until it is steaming but not boiling. You’ll then pour it into your stand mixer where you have your egg yolks and maple syrup blending. I transferred my warm coconut milk to a 2 cup pyrex measuring cup to make it easy for pouring slow. It is CRITICAL that you pour very very slow into your mixture because if you go too fast, you’ll cook your eggs and have to start over. When it doubt, go slower. Once you mix in all your coconut milk, you are going to add it back to your saucepan over low-med heat and stir constantly for 5 minutes then mix in your arrowroot powder and water mixture. At this point, you’ll want to start checking the temperature of your mixture. It will start to thicken up and you want to get it to 165ºF and then remove from the heat. You’ll then stir in your fat of choice and vanilla and put in the refrigerator to chill!
If you don’t overthink this recipe, it’s quite simple. And you can easily make the custard the night before so it has all night to chill then you only need to assemble it all on Easter morning.
Enjoy!
Gluten Free Fruit Tart
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1½ cups Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour Bob's Redmill
- ½ cup powdered Sugar
- ½ tsp sea Salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 egg
For the vanilla custard:
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup arrowroot powder
- 1 can full fat coconut milk (15 oz)
- 5 egg yolks
- 5 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp butter, ghee, or coconut oil
Toppings:
- Strawberries, sliced
- Blueberries
- Rasperries
- Kiwi, sliced
- Blackberries
Instructions
Crust:
- Preheat oven to 375ºF.
- In a food processor, pulse together flour, powdered sugar and salt. Drop in the pieces of cold butter and pulse until they just disappear into the flour mixture.
- Add in the eggg and process together, stopping just as the dough forms a ball and starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.
- Remove the dough from the food processor and pat into a flat disk. Wrap tightly and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Take crust from the refrigerator and place on a lightly floured surface. Gently tap the crust with the rolling pin to flatten. Repeat until crust is 10 inches in diameter.
- Gently roll the dough around the pin and trasnfer into the tart pan, using your finger tips to press the crust into the seam where the base and wall of the pan meet. The dough may tear in some spots as you transfer, this is okay! Roll the rolling pin across the top of the tart pan edge to cut excess dough. Use the excess dough to patch any holes and poke holes in the bottom of the crust to prevent bubbling. Chill in the refriegerator for 10 minutes before baking.
- Press parchment paper into the crust and fill with pie weights or dry beans and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool completly.
Vanilla Custard:
- Whisk together 1/4 cup water and 1/4 cup arrowroot powder in a small bowl and set aside.
- Pour coconut milk into medium sauce pan and gently heat until steaming but not boiling.
- Meanwhile, with a hand mixer or stand mixer, whisk toggether egg yolks and maple syrup on medium speed for 2 minutes. Turn hand mixer on low and VERY slowly (to prevent eggs from cooking) drizzle hot coconut milk into egg mixture. Go slow or the eggs will curdle and cook.
- Once all coconut milk has been added, return mixture back into saucepan and turn onto low/medium heat. Stir the mixture continually for about 5 minutes. Whisk in arrowroot mixture until fully incorporated. Continue to stir constantly until mixture thickens and coats the back of your spoon and is smooth and free of lumps. Once the temperature reaches 165ºF remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of fat of choice.
- Pour pastry cream into large glass bowl and place a round piece of parchment paper direcly on the surface to prevent a skin from forming. Chill for at least 4 hours or overnight.
Assembly:
- Pour chilled vanilla custard into cooled crust and smooth top. Add fruit toppings of choice, my favortes with this are lots of strawberries and blueberries!
- Chill for 30 minutes before serving.
