Gluten-Free Strawberry & Elderflower Tart with an Oat & Almond Crust.

If you’ve never attempted pastry before this is a great place to start. No rolling pin required, the pastry is simply pressed into the case and baked.  The only slightly tricky part is making the creme patissiere.  Flavoured with elderflower, this tart is a truly seasonal dessert, gluten free too! Not only delicious, nutritious as well.  I love using oats in my recipes – for breakfast, desserts and blitzing to create a flour in seconds.

Elderflowers bloom in the month of May in the UK.  Forage for the fresh flowers to make a delicious and fragrant cordial.

Strawberry & Elderflower Tart with an Oat & Almond Crust.

Print Recipe

Strawberry and Elderflower Tart with an Oat & Almond Crust

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time20 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr 5 minutes mins

Course: Dessert

Servings: 6 portions

Equipment

• 25cm pastry case

Ingredients

• 200 g rolled oats use GF if you're coeliac
• 75 g ground almonds
• 35 g caster sugar
• 85 g butter cold and diced. Extra for greasing
• 2 Tbls water ice cold

Elderflower creme patissiere

• 300 ml whole milk
• 4 egg yolks
• 50 g caster sugar
• 50 ml elderflower cordial undiluted
• 35 g cornflour
• 100 ml double cream
• 450 g strawberries

Instructions

• Preheat the oven 175C/Fan. Place 175g of the oats in a food processor and pulse until you have a course meal. Now add the remaining oats, ground almond, sugar and butter. Pulse until the butter is incorporated and you have small and large lumps of mixture. Add the water and pulse until the pastry dough just comes together. Tip the whole lot into a bowl. Grease the pastry case with butter. This pastry doesn’t require rolling, you just have to press it into place, smoothing the surface with the back of a spoon.
• Line the pastry case with parchment paper and fill with baking beans or rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the baking beans and cook for a further 5-8 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.
• To make the creme patissiere, place the egg yolks in a bowl with the sugar and elderflower cordial, whisk for a minute or two. Now add the cornflour and whisk again until smooth. Pour the milk into a saucepan and bring just to a boil. Remove from the heat and pour it into the egg mixture, whisking as you pour. Now tip the mixture back into the saucepan through a fine sieve. Place back onto the hob on a gentle heat, stirring constantly with a small whisk, scraping the sides down well. Bring to a boil and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly. Pour the thickened mixture into a bowl and cover directly on the surface with a parchment disc to prevent a skin forming. Cool and then place in the fridge to chill.
• Once the creme pat is cold, whisk with an electric hand held mixer or a balloon whisk and a strong arm! It will feel quite stiff but persevere, it will become smooth. Whip the cream to soft peak and stir into the creme pat.
• To assemble the tart, remove the pastry case from the tin and place on a plate. Tip the elderflower creme pat into the case and level out. Arrange the strawberries on the top and serve.

Tips:

• Don’t have any elderflower cordial? Use 100g caster sugar in the creme pat recipe and add vanilla extract for a more classic tart.
• Substitute the almonds for hazelnuts, just pulse them in the food processor with the oats.