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What better way to say I love you than making something sweet yourself for your beloved? Express your love on St Valentine’s Day with these easy to make, not-so-sweet strawberry tarts. Yes they require some effort but these amazingly delicious tarts are totally worth it.
Of course, other than Valentine’s day, you can easily swap out the strawberries with other fresh fruits and make it refined sugar free at the same time. Using the same pastry base, you can also make egg tarts. You see, the possibilities are endless.
Put together a 3-course meal for St Valentine’s Day with strawberry tarts
And if you are putting together a feast at home, check out these easy recipes which you can easily put together a 3-course meal:
- Sides: Crispy Potato Roses or Air Fryer Carrot Fries
- Salad: Summer salad with orange, avocado & pomegranate or Fresh Vegetable Salad
- Main course: Perfect steak using cold sear method or Air fried lamb rack
How to hull strawberries and cut it into heart shape
The hull of the strawberry is the green leafy on top of the fruit. It’s tasteless and is usually removed before consuming. The easiest way is to pluck out the leafy part and use the sharp end of the knife to trim out the white portion as much as possible.
To make the heart shape of the strawberry, cut it into a vertical half, make a V shape cut at the top of the white portion. Then cut the sides at the bottom of the strawberry into a V shape. Here you go, a simple heart shaped strawberry.
Ingredients for making Strawberry Tarts
The ingredients for making strawberry tarts can be segregated into 4 main groups.
- Tart shell – I made the pastry tart shell a day before and chill it in the fridge, then bake it the next day. The ingredients and the steps to make this are the same I used to make pineapple tarts and egg tarts. The ingredients are simple, just plain flour, stevia sweetener, salt, cold butter and an egg. I used a food processor to make the dough but you can also use a kitchen mixer with paddle attachment or mix it by hand.
- Pastry cream – The pastry cream is made a day before and chilled in a piping bag. It’s basically a thicken creamy custard made of egg yolk, stevia sweetener, full cream milk, vanilla extract and corn starch. It is also known as the crème pâtissière.
- Glaze – Only 2 ingredients are used in making the glaze. Simple mix water and a fruit jam, in this recipe, I used the yuzu honey which has a tangy mild sweetness flavour. And simmer it over low heat, let it cool just a little and use it while slightly warm to glaze the fruits. If left to cool completely it’ll turn into gelatine and become impossible to glaze. If that happens, just warm it up again, mix it well and it’ll turn into a thick glaze again.
- Fruits – Try to choose fresh red strawberries with as little white hull (top of the strawberry) as possible. Of course, you can use other kind of fruits, like in this fruit tart recipe.
Watch how to make strawberry tarts on YouTube
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Valentine’s Strawberry Tarts (Refined Sugar-Free)
What better way to say I love you than making something sweet yourself for your beloved? Express your love on St Valentine's Day with these easy to make, not-so-sweet strawberry tarts. Yes they require some effort but these amazingly delicious tarts are totally worth it.
Print Pin RateServings: 28 pieces
Calories: 236kcal
Detailed Step-by-Step Video
Ingredients
Tart shell (yields 460g dough)
- 250 g plain flour
- 1 medium egg, room temperature
- 50 g stevia sweetener
- ⅛ tsp fine salt
- 120 g unsalted butter, cold
Pastry cream
- 200 ml full cream milk, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 45 g stevia sweetener
- 20 g corn starch
- 20 g unsalted butter, chilled
Glaze
- 2 tbsp yuzu honey, apricot jam or any other citrusy jam is ok
- 1 tsp water
Fruits
- 14-15 fresh strawberries, washed
Instructions
Make the pastry cream (you can make this a day before)
- Separate 2 large egg yolks from 2 large eggs.
- Place the 2 large egg yolks and 45 g stevia sweetener in a large mixing bowl. Whisky the mixture until it turns pale and fluffy.Add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 20 g corn starch. Whisk until incorporated and smooth.
- Add 200 ml full cream milk into the mixture and mix until well-incorporated.
- Sieve the mixture into a saucepan.
- Place the saucepan over low heat and keep whisking until the cream starts to thicken about 15 minutes (depending on the heat).
- Once the cream forms a soft peak and not falling off like liquid, turn off the heat. Note: be careful not to let the cream curdles. you can try to add more milk and whisk it into more liquid form.
- Add 20 g unsalted butter. Whisk into a smooth mixture and the butter fully melted.
- Sieve the cream into a clean bowl.
- Cover the cream with the cling wrap touching the surface of the cream. This way it reduces any air pockets between the surface of the cream and the cling wrap, and also prevent a skin from forming over the cream.Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight.
- After chilling, mix or whisk the cream briefly.Transfer the cream into a piping bag, and keep it closed. Chill in fridge until ready to use.
Make the tart crust (you can make the dough a day before)
- Cut 120 g unsalted butter into cubes. Keep chilled in the fridge until ready to use.
- Add 250 g plain flour, 50 g stevia sweetener and 1/8 tsp fine salt into the mixing bowl of the food processor. Pulse for a few seconds to mix the dry ingredients.
- Add the cold butter cubes.
- Pulse until it turns into fine sandy crumbs.
- Add 1 medium egg and mix until larger clusters are formed.
- Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl.Use your hands to press the mixture together to form a pastry dough.
- Divide the pastry dough into 25g (I'm using 2.5-inch tart mould). Press the pastry dough into the shape of the mould, pressing gently on the sides to slide it down and cut off any excess at the edge with a knife. The crust should be about 3mm thick.
- Poke the bottom of the pastry with a fork to make small holes.Cover with clingwrap. Put in the fridge to rest and chill for at least 1 hour, or up to 24 hours.
- Preheat the oven on 170C or 338F. Transfer the hard chilled dough into the oven straight from the fridge. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Then leave it in the mould to cool for 30 minutes before removing the tart shell from the mould. Let it cool completely on a cooling rack. You can keep the tart shells chilled in the fridge until ready to use.
Make the glaze (recommended to make it before assembling the fruit tarts)
- Mix 2 tbsp yuzu honey with 1 tsp water in a saucepan over low heat and mix well.Once it simmers, turn off the heat.
- Sieve out the big bits.Use the glaze while still warm, as it gelatinises when cooled.
Assemble the strawberry tarts
- Wash and pat dry 14-15 fresh strawberries. Cut out the hull, ie the green leafy top of the strawberry. Cut the strawberries in half.Cut out the bottom into a V shape, so the strawberries are in heart shape.
- Pipe the pastry cream onto the tart shells, about 3/4 full.
- Place the fresh strawberries over the pastry cream.
- Brush a thin layer of glaze over the strawberries.
- Keep in the fridge until ready to serve.Best to remove from the fridge for about 30 minutes before serving.
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