Strawberries are in season now in California (even in my little garden) and the markets are filled with them. One of my favorite desserts on this site is a mascarpone mousse with strawberries in a balsamic syrup.

The combination of balsamic vinegar and sweetened strawberries is one of those heaven-made matches that you simply must try if you haven’t already. (Sprinkle a little good quality, aged balsamic over some sugar macerated strawberries and you’ll see what I mean.)

Combine that with a sweetened mascarpone base, and it’s just, well, really really good. Like eat the whole batch and forget about dinner good.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart

This week I experimented with putting these ingredients to work in a strawberry tart, happily for the family (dad had a box of strawberry jello out on the kitchen counter to prepare and when I told him I was making a strawberry tart, he said, “well, if you must,” smiled, and put the box away.)

I made a tart crust using my standard pâte brisée recipe in a tart pan and also experimented with some frozen puff pastry.

Both work fine, I loved the taste and flakey texture of the puff pastry though I had a bit of trouble rolling it out to a size large enough to hold a comparable amount of filling and strawberries as the tart pan.

My advice is to just use a crust you are most comfortable with. You’ll need to bake the crust first, as this tart is a no-bake tart. I experimented with mascarpone and ricotta combinations, my preference is straight mascarpone for the tart, but experiment and see what you like.

Strawberry Mascarpone Tart Recipe

  • Prep time: 1 hour, 30 minutes
  • Cook time: 35 minutes
  • Yield: Serves 6 to 8

You can bake the tart shell a day ahead of time, keep at room temperature (do not chill). Fill the shell with filling and strawberries just before serving.

Ingredients

Tart Shell

  • 1 recipe pie dough (see Pâte Brisée recipe, increase sugar to 1 1/2 teaspoons)

OR

  • 1 sheet of puff pastry, thawed
  • 1 egg, whisked

Filling and Glaze

  • 2 lbs strawberries, stemmed and quartered
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 Tbsp orange zest, divided
  • 1 teaspoon lemon juice
  • 12 ounces mascarpone cheese (can also use 8 ounces mascarpone mixed in with 4 ounces of ricotta or 4 ounces of whipped cream)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/3 cup confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
  • 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar (substitute a teaspoon of lemon juice if you don’t have balsamic)

Read More: Strawberry Mascarpone Tart