This light and delicious berries and cream tart is like a giant cookie filled with vanilla pastry cream, and piled up with fresh berries. Perfect for when you’re craving something lighter!

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top view of baked tart filled with vanilla cream and topped with berries this recipe

Make the crust

This crust isn’t difficult at all. With butter in the base, the dough bakes up in the tin until it’s crisp and golden. Don’t make the mistake of thinking that this is a pie crust. It isn’t. Where pie crust is flaky, tart crust has more of a shortbread feel to it. Almost like a giant cookie, which I won’t complain about! While it might be tempting to mix the dough until it forms a ball, stop mixing when it looks like big chunks of wet sand. From there, press it into a ball on a floured work surface and shape it into a thick disc.

After forming the crust into the pan and before baking, freeze the raw crust for a half hour. Frozen dough doesn’t expand as much when baking! It’s still a good idea to lightly dock the sides with a fork and line the bottom with parchment and pie weights.

Make the filling

This vanilla cream is my favorite favorite of all the favorite fillings. I use it for donuts, banana pudding, eclairs, and pretty much anything else I can stuff stuff in. It goes without saying, at least I think so – that because the pastry cream is the main part of the dessert, it needs to be really really good. As in, eat it by the spoonful with no self control – good.

If you can, get some whole vanilla beans you can split and scrape, or do what I do and use vanilla bean paste. Just something about those little black flecks. It really makes this berries and cream tart stand out!

Add the berries

Use any type or blend you like. You could easily just make this a strawberries and cream tart, but I like the color of different berries.

Print
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top view of baked tart filled with vanilla cream and topped with berries

Berries and Cream Tart

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  • Author: Megan
  • Prep Time: 45 minutes
  • Chilling & Resting Time: 3 hours
  • Cook Time: 30 minutes
  • Total Time: 4 hours + 15 minutes
  • Yield: 8 servings 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Oven, Stovetop
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

A cookie-like crust piled with rich vanilla pastry cream and loaded with fresh berries.

Ingredients

Units Scale

For the crust:

  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar (plus more for dusting)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 cups whole milk
  • 1–2 vanilla beans or 1 1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste
  • 4 TB cold unsalted butter, cubed

For the berry topping:

  • 16 oz strawberries
  • 6 oz blueberries
  • 6 oz raspberries

Instructions

  1. To make the crust, whisk the flour, sugar and salt together in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and use a pastry blender or two forks to cut the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Lightly beat the egg together with the vanilla extract in a small bowl, and add to the butter/flour mixture.
  2. Using a fork, stir everything together until it starts to clump up with some flour mixture still on the sides. Clean off the fork with your fingers and use your hand to finish incorporating everything. Do not form a dough ball yet. There should be no traces of white flour left and large, craggy chunks should be formed. When you press the dough chunks between your thumb and forefinger, it should hold together well but not stick to you.
  3. Lightly flour your work surface and add the dough crumbles. Tightly pack them into a ball, and flatten the ball into a disc about 2-3 inches thick. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. While the dough is chilling, make your vanilla cream.
  4. To make the vanilla cream filling, combine the egg, yolks, cornstarch, sugar and salt in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk until thick and pale – a couple minutes. Set aside and add the milk to a saucepan.
  5. Split the vanilla beans down the middle with a paring knife, and use the back of the blade to press down and scrape the length of the bean to get all the seeds out. Add the seeds to the milk in the saucepan. I like to add the empty beans to the milk also, to get maximum vanilla flavor. Just remove them before you temper the eggs with the milk.
  6. Heat the milk and vanilla over medium heat until just before it simmers. Remove from the heat and slowly stream the hot milk into the egg mixture, whisking quickly and constantly. Do not pour it in too quickly or you can scramble the eggs.
  7. When all the milk has been added, return the entire mixture to the saucepan and continue to cook over medium heat, whisking constantly. In about 5 minutes, the custard should thicken to the consistency of set pudding. At first, it may look as though it’s curdling. It’s not, just keep whisking until everything is nice and thick.
  8. Remove from the heat, add the butter and stir until melted and incorporated. Pass the cream through a fine mesh sieve and into a clean bowl, and cover the surface with plastic wrap. Chill the custard in the fridge for 2 hours, or until completely cooled. 
  9. Once the vanilla cream is in the fridge, the 30 minutes should be up, or close to it. When it’s time, remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. This makes it easier to roll out. Lightly flour your workspace and roll out the dough to a circle that’s about 11 inches in diameter.
  10. Line the tart pan with the dough, making sure it’s flush with all the sides and pressed firmly into the edges. Trim any excess from the edges. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and rest in the freezer for 30 minutes. Once you place the crust in the freezer, preheat the oven to 375F.
  11. After 30 minutes, remove the crust from the freezer and use a fork to lightly dock the sides. Don’t push all the way through to the pan. Line the bottom of the crust with parchment paper, and add rice, beans or pie weights, making sure to evenly cover the bottom.
  12. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Remove from the oven and take the weights and parchment off. Bake for another 5-7 minutes, or until the bottom of the crust is beginning to brown. Allow the baked crust to cool to room temperature.
  13. Once the crust is at room temperature and the pastry cream has chilled, you can assemble the tart. Fill the baked shell with all of the pastry cream, and then arrange the berries on top however you feel like. If desired, dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 422
  • Sugar: 29.3 g
  • Sodium: 412.5 mg
  • Fat: 21.4 g
  • Saturated Fat: 9 g
  • Trans Fat: 0 g
  • Carbohydrates: 52.2 g
  • Fiber: 3.6 g
  • Protein: 7.2 g
  • Cholesterol: 124.3 mg

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