Strawberry Pistachio Tart

Strawberry pistachio tart is a beautiful summer dessert with a delicious combination of juicy strawberries and pistachios. Top this easy-made sablé Breton crust with cream and fruit of your choice to customize the tart!

Summer heat calls for summery desserts! I got an idea of making this strawberry pistachio tart some time ago but was waiting for juicy berries during the summertime!

Wildly known strawberry-pistachio combo brings bright colors and an irresistible taste to a dessert.

A crunchy sablé Breton crust with the pistachio mousseline cream balances the texture and flavors of this gorgeous tart.

Add your creativity in decoration and upgrade this strawberry pistachio tart to a birthday dessert!

Strawberry pistachio tart recipe

This tart recipe is a combination of classic French sablé Breton, mousseline cream, and fresh strawberries.

Sablé (Sablés) Breton is buttery French shortbread biscuits originated from the Brittany region in northwestern France.

Their name “shortbread” comes from the high ratio of butter in the recipe.

These French butter biscuits (sometimes called cookies) are traditionally served on their own.

However, French pastry chefs wildly use the sablé Breton recipe to make a tart base. 

Mousseline cream (also known as German buttercream) - is a combination of pastry cream and butter as a proportion 2 :1 where 2 cups of pastry cream and 1 cup of softened butter.

This strawberry pistachio tart is made with pistachio mousseline cream, while another dessert on the blog - Paris-Brest Dessert - is made with the praline mousseline cream.

And finally, seasonal fresh strawberries and pistachios are used to decorate the dessert.

Please, refer to the recipe for French strawberry tart to read on how to decorate tarte aux fraises.

How to customize the tart

Make a simple whipped cream instead of mousseline cream and pipe it on top of the sablé Breton. Decorate the tart with the other fresh fruit.

Top the tart with raspberries and sprinkle it with toasted or pistachios.

Or arrange fresh strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries and sprinkle the dessert with toasted almonds.

Another delicious tart topping idea is to combine fresh pears, candied pecans, and salted butter caramel.

Try to decorate your tart with sliced peaches and blackberries and sprinkle the dessert with toasted almonds.

For tropical fruit lovers, arrange sliced mango and other tropical fruit of your choice and sprinkle with coconut chips or coconut flakes.

Why you should try this recipe

1. The butter-rich sablé Breton is a perfect tart base to hold cream and fruit in making summer desserts.
2. The crispiness and crumbliness of the crust perfectly complement a smooth, creamy texture and fruit sweetness.
3. Strawberry and pistachio pairing is one of the top summer combinations in modern pastries.
4. Topping the shortbread crust with another kind of cream and fruit opens huge possibilities in making your own pastries.

Ingredients

Here is a quick overview of what ingredients you will need. Follow the full recipe below for detailed amounts and instructions. I recommend making this recipe as written for the best results. 

Egg yolks: using an egg separator, separate egg yolks from the whites while whole eggs are chilled. Then bring egg yolks to room temperature.

Sugar: use granulated white or caster sugar.

Butter: the recipe calls for unsalted softened butter. Use top-quality butter to make the sablé Breton crust to get its crisp and crumbly texture. Take butter out of the refrigerator 1 to 2 hours before you start.

Flour: use all-purpose flour.

Salt: it enhances the flavors of the crust.

Baking powder: it is a leavening ingredient.

Milk: use whole milk or replace it with low-fat milk if desired.

Icing sugar: make it yourself with a coffee grinder or use store-bought powdered sugar.

Corn starch: it is a thickening agent to make the pastry cream. Replace it with all-purpose flour if desired.

Pistachio paste: this ingredient is one of the stars of strawberry pistachio tart.

Pistachios: use toasted or raw pistachios or caramelized nuts covered with icing (powdered) sugar to decorate the tart.

Strawberries: use seasonal ripe strawberries. Read on how to arrange strawberries on top of the tart.

How to make strawberry pistachio tart

To make sablé Breton crust, whisk egg yolks and sugar with an electric mixer to get a creamy and white mixture (photo 1).

Add softened butter and mix with a rubber spatula to smooth (photo 2).

Finally, add sifted flour, baking powder, salt and mix again (photo 3). Wrap the dough in a plastic film and refrigerate two hours (photo 4).

Preheat the oven to 355 F/180 C. Roll out the dough between two parchment paper sheets to a thickness of about ¼ inch/ 6 to 7 mm approximately.

Place a 9-inch/23 cm tart ring or cake ring and cut a circle. Keep the ring, remove the excess dough out of the ring (photo 5).

Bake sablé Breton (being in the ring) for 15 to 20 minutes, until slightly browned.

Once the crust is ready and still hot, remove the ring immediately and let the crust cool down completely (photo 6).

To make the pistachio mousseline cream, mix egg yolks, sugar, and corn starch in a bowl.

Bring milk to a boil in a saucepan, add pistachio paste and mix well. Pour hot milk/pistachio paste mixture over egg preparation, whisking constantly.

Transfer mixture back to the saucepan. Reduce heat to medium, and cook, stirring constantly, 2 to 3 minutes.

Remove the pastry cream from heat, add 1.7 oz. (50 g) softened butter, and mix with a hand whisk (photo 7).

Transfer the cream to a plate, cover with plastic film in contact and let it cool for 30 to 60 minutes at room temperature.

Once the cream is cool, add the remaining 1.7 oz. (50 g) softened butter.

Whisk the cream with an electric mixer until smooth and shiny (photo 8).

To assemble the tart, place the sablé Breton crust on a serving platter and pipe the pistachio mousseline cream with the open star pastry tip -Wilton 1M (photo 9).

Wash and drain strawberries. Arrange them, cut in half or quarters, sprinkle with toasted pistachios (photo 10).

Expert tips

1. Make the mousseline cream on the day of serving. If the cream is lumpy while whisking, it means that butter was too cool when you added it. To solve the problem, just let the cream rest and warm up at room temperature till the butter softens completely. Then beat the cream again.
2. If you even see cool butter pieces in the mousseline cream, just warm up the cream in a microwave for five seconds and stir the mixture. You might need to repeat this process, then whisk the cream well.
3. If the mousseline cream seems liquid, just refrigerate for a few minutes and whisk again.
4. Add a few drops of green food color to intensify the color of the cream; although, it is not necessary with a store-bought pistachio paste.

Frequently asked questions

Love tarts? Try these next!

• French Strawberry Tart
• Peach Panna Cotta Tart
• French Fig Tart
• Browse all the Tart Recipes

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The nutritional information has been calculated using an online recipe nutrition calculator and is intended for informational purposes only and should be used as a general guideline. If the nutrition information is important to you, you should independently verify it using your preferred tool. Please, read the disclaimers in our Privacy Policy.

The recipe was originally published on June 14, 2019. It has been revised to include improved content and photos. All posted pictures are mine.