Roasted strawberries get blended and whisked into a light, zippy, greek yogurt panna cotta and poured into a salty-sweet pretzel graham crust. Summer in a dessert. Top it with some vanilla bean greek yogurt whip, a little fig leaf oil, and some edible flowers? You basically have a fancy restaurant in your house!
If you choose to make the fig leaf oil (which I highly recommend), use a good, clean neutral oil to let the vibrant vanilla, grassy notes of the fig leaf shine. I like Algae Cooking Club (and you can get 15% here).
The last note, and one on most of my baking recipes – I have the below recipe in grams/weight and I HIGHLY encourage you to weigh your ingredients!! It is far more accurate – did you know there is not even a standard “cup”? So there really is no way to know you have the proper amount of whatever ingredient without the weight. This is especially important in baking where just a few dozen grams in the wrong direction could have a big impact. Here is the scale I use.
The crust recipe is an adaptation of the Graham Cracker Crust from Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz.
Roasted strawberry tart
Course: DessertDifficulty: Easy8
servings25
minutes40
minutesThe perfect summer dessert
Ingredients
- Roasted Strawberries
One quart strawberries, washed & hulled
1 tsp balsamic Vinegar (optional)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste (optional)
Granulated Sugar
- Pretzel Graham Crust
85g (4-5 sheets) graham crackers, broken
85g (1.5 cups) pretzels, broken
2 Tbsp demerara or turbinado sugar
1/2 tsp diamond crystal kosher salt*
85g (6Tbsp) butter, room temp, in cubes
1 large egg yolk
- Strawberry Tart Filling
480g (2 C) heavy cream
200 g (3/4 C) full fat greek yogurt
100g (1/2 C) granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
7g (2 1/2 tsp) unflavored gelatin
45g (3 tbsp) cold water
Directions
- Pretzel Graham Crust
- Preheat your oven to 350 F.
- In a food processor, add all of your crust ingredients (graham crackers, pretzels, sugar, salt, butter, yolk). Process in long pulses until everything has broken down and the mixture can clump together. It should look like wet sand and just hold together, but should not be greasy.
- Transfer the mixture to a removable bottom 9inch tart pan, or pie plate. Starting with about half of the mixture, use your hands to press the crumb into the sides, forming the edges. Then, add the rest and smooth the bottom, using a 1 cup measuring cup and pressing gently until you have no more bare spots.
- Place the crust on a foil lined half sheet pan and bake 15 minutes, until the edges have darkened, it is fragrant, and is somewhat firm to the touch. If it looks loose, keep baking a bit – this will not return to the oven, so browned edges are what we want!
Cool while you prepare the filling. - Roasted Strawberries
- Preheat your oven to 375 F. Line a half sheet baking pan with parchment paper.
- Slice any large strawberries in half. Add all berries to a large bowl and toss with a sprinkle of sugar (use more (1/2-1 tbsp) for more tart/less ripe berries and less (a sprinkle or a teaspoon) for very ripe and sweet ones). Drizzle balsamic vinegar and vanilla bean paste over and toss until everything is well combined and slightly glossy.
- Arrange on prepared baking sheet and roast 20-25 minutes, mixing halfway through, until thick, syrupy juices are pooling around the berries and they look soft. Remove from oven and let cool on pan 15-20 minutes.
- Once cooled, transfer the roasted berries, including their juice, to a tall, deep container and blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Alternatively, blend in a blender until smooth, but ensure you do NOT do this while they are still hot or it may explode.
Strain the mix through a fine mesh sieve to get rid of the seeds. This is optional, but recommended for a smooth texture and clean top. Set aside until ready. - Panna Cotta Filling
- Add the cold water to a small bowl. Sprinkle the gelatin over top, mixing to combine any granules that are dry. Set aside to bloom.
- In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the heavy cream and sugar. Cook, stirring to dissolve the sugar, until it is fully dissolved and the cream is hot and about to simmer. Do not let boil.**
Remove from heat and add in the bloomed gelatin mix. Stir until the gelatin is fully dissolved, then add the vanilla. - Whisk the greek yogurt in a large bowl just to smooth it out. Carefully ladle small amounts of the hot cream mix into the yogurt, whisking well until smooth before adding the next to slowly temper the yogurt and avoid lumps. Once about half of the cream is successfully tempered in, pour the remaining cream into the bowl and whisk until combined.
Add in 300g of the roasted strawberry puree (you may have a bit extra – enjoy on yogurt, in place of jam, dolloped onto cake, etc!) and whisk to combine. - Pour into the cooled tart crust, popping any surface bubbles with a toothpick. Let cool at room temp if still hot, and then transfer to the fridge for at least 4-6 hours to set.
Slice and serve as is, or top with a lightly sweetened greek yogurt whip and some fig leaf oil for an elegant twist.
Recipe Video
Notes
- A
*use half the amount of salt if using Morton
**Optionally, for extra flavor (but way more work fair warning) steep some freeze dried strawberries in the warming milk mix, and let it sit on very low heat to just maintain heat but not boil for 20-30 minutes and strain. Then bring back to temp before proceeding