Today, you almost had me at quinoa. Or rather a twist on quinoa salad of a favorite ethnic variety. A recipe I’ve been craving, with bright flavors, creating lighter lunchtime fare. But then…this happened: Berry Tart With Lemon Curd Mascarpone.
Don’t be ashamed, be real. It’s okay you too like these berries more than quinoa. Even when you’re secretly giving me fist pumps and high fives. Even when your conscience is chanting, “Quinoa! Quinoa! Quinwwwwwaaaa!!!!!!”
My little Meyer lemon bushes have been wintering indoors like retired Upper East siders who call the southern beaches of Boca Raton their snowbirding home.
So there I was with hands on hips, staring these little bushes down as I pondered whether it was time yet to subject them to the harsh reality of the wild outdoors where they belong. Like swallows heading back to Capistrano, is it time for my two little lemons that bloomed over the winter to face the outdoor elements?
What? And leave their personal furnace vent and sunny west side disposition? Or would that be west side exposure? Just so long as it’s the good side of the west side we have a deal. Wazzup Westsiiiiiide?
Gosh, that makes me almost want to come back one day as a lemon tree. But only if you’ll call me Ms. Meyer.
But then, instead of lugging my two lemon trees with two lonely lemons outdoors, I started scheming about plucking those little suckers off their branches and, GASP, cooking with them.
I mean, they’d only been percolating for 3 months. Wasn’t it time?
In my mind, yes. In my husband’s mind, it’s doubtful. In fact, he’s going to be a little on the grumpola side when he comes home and sees our two little lemons…GONE. Gone before he had a chance to strip a zest or four for a super cold, shaken martini with a twist. Or four. Because I know that’s been his plot all winter long.
I hope this lemon curd will curb his martini with a twist of his home grown lemon craving. Yeah. Wish me luck with that.
I’ve been thinking about Becky’s lemon curd ever since I saw it come up in my RSS feed a few months back. I’ve bought it before at Trader Joes, but I’ve never made it myself. That is until I had thoughts of lugging those two lemon trees outside and getting my pants dirty. I’d rather get my pants dirty with lemon and sugar instead of wintered, lemon-ed soil. And thus, sugar and plucked lemons and lemon curd it was.
The crust is based on a recipe from Sweet Paul’s new cookbook Eat and Make, a cookbook I’m totally digging into. The recipe calls for almond meal and regular flour, for a bit of an almond flavor. That I also dig.
Instead of leaving the puckery-sweet lemon curd all alone in my almond crust, I headed for the fridge to scout about for cream cheese and discovered Mascarpone. Double bonus points for ingredients that lurk in the shadows. Whip cream? Check. Powdered sugar? All over my pants and thus check. Berries? Got those in droves thanks to yesterday’s Costco power shopping trip.
I even plucked the season’s first mint leaves from my garden. Maybe my lemons need to take a lesson from the mint, and head outside a little earlier. Then maybe they’d still be here. Shaken and being enjoyed in a very cold martini glass.
But then, you would have had quinoa today. Instead you’ll be chanting “Berries. Berries. Berrrrrrreeeeez!”
Berry Tart With Lemon Curd Mascarpone
Ingredients
For the tart crust
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup almond flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons powdered sugar
- ½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick, very cold and diced into ¼ inch pieces
- 1 egg yolk
- 1-2 tablespoons cold water
For the mascarpone filling
- ¾ cup whipping cream
- 1 8 ounce container mascarpone cheese at room temperature
- 1 heaping tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1 cup lemon curd store bought, or I used this recipe
- 1 pint strawberries hulled and sliced
- 1 pint raspberries
- ¼ cup strawberry preserves
- Mint leaves for garnish
Instructions
For the tart crust
- Mix the all purpose flour, almond flour, kosher salt and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add the unsalted butter pieces and work into the flour, creating thin sheets of butter in the flour. Mix the egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl and add to the flour and butter mix. Continue to work with your fingers until the mixture sticks together when pinched. Add another tablespoon of water if needed.
- Press the dough into a buttered tart pan with a removable bottom (I used a long tart pan but you can use a 10-inch round pan) or 4-6 individual tart pans with removable bottoms. Prick the bottom with a fork and then refrigerate for about an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Bake the tart for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely before filling with mascarpone filling.
For the mascarpone filling
- Whip the cream on high with a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Add the softened mascarpone cheese and powdered sugar and beat to mix well. Fold in the lemon curd with a wooden spoon.
- In a separate bowl, mix the raspberries and sliced strawberries. Heat the strawberry preserves until thinned and mix into the berries. Spoon the mascarpone into the cooled tart crust and top with the berries. Garnish with mint leaves if desired.
Recipe Notes
Tart crust adapted from Sweet Paul's Make and Eat
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Nazia @ This Baker Girl Blogs says
Such a gorgeous looking tart! I’ve been looking forward to berries all year and can’t wait to turn a few of them into this :)
Kathryn says
This is beautiful Heidi! So bight + vibrant.
Lily (A Rhubarb Rhapsody) says
As much as I love quinoa, it has nothing on this beauty. Wise choice!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan says
I’m jealous of your first mint leaves, it’s been too cold to even put out my mint plant yet! Love the beauty of this tart and look at your Smudge getting in on the action : )
heidi says
Smudge was more than happy to help since it averted homework for a bit. I don’t know where she learned that. HA.
Christine from Cook the Story says
This is absolutely beautiful!
Sommer @ASpicyPerspective says
Love, love your gorgeous pictures! Your tart is on my list for must try recipes for sure! Pinned!
Ali | Gimme Some Oven says
GORGEOUS!!! And I’ll take a piece of this with the quinoa you mentioned, please. :)
heidi says
It’ll be coming at you soon. But minus the tart :)
Sandi says
I have chocolate mint in my garden, and our red raspberries are just beginning to ripen…. this baby is going to take center stage at the “proper British tea” I’m hosting for a few friends, right alongside the homemade scones and clotted cream! (I’m obsessed with the whole tea thing since a 2018 UK trip…) Thanks so much for posting this!
Amanda says
Beautiful tart! Those strawberries…. perfect! :)
[email protected] says
Oh my gosh what a gorgeous spring-time tart! Love how bright and fresh those beautiful berries look! Pinned!
Jessica @ A Kitchen Addiction says
Gorgeous tart! I can’t wait to get my hands on some good, fresh berries!
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
So gorgeous! Love the lemon curd mascarpone (and I’m not mourning the quinoa ;)).
Annalise @ Completely Delicious says
I bet this tastes like spring! And I’d give almost anything for a slice right now post-lunch. Jealous of your lemon tree, maybe I’ll have to get one too. 2 home grown lemons are better than none!
Kasha @ The FarmGirl Cooks says
As much as I love quinoa, I’d gladly give it up for a slice of this tart.
Meg @ The Housewife in Training Files says
This is seriously gorgeous! And looks absolutely delish. Once strawberries are at their peak, I cannot wait to make this. And devour it all!
Phi @ The Sweetphi Blog says
haha, yum, I’m totally not ashamed to say I’d rather have this beautiful berry tart with lemon curd over quinoa !
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
That mascarpone is such a fabulous idea! I love this tart!
Cecile @ My Yellow Farmhouse.com says
What a beautiful presentation! I love this recipe and I love the idea of adding marscapone to the lemon curd. (I’m glad you didn’t go for the quinoa today..)
Tieghan says
Love these colors and flavors! So pretty!
Denise | TLT says
Move our quinoa and welcome berry tart! Seriously: this is such a gorgeous tart! And anything with mascarpone and lemon curd is good in my opinion. Seriously, I could eat spoonfuls of those two. But you do things elegantly of course, with this stunning tart. I know what I will be making this Spring!
xoxo
Laura (Blogging Over Thyme) says
Oh yes. This is definitely a faceplant dessert ;)
Crista says
whoa. looks AMAZING.
Madonna/aka/Ms. Lemon says
I have to make this, it has all my favorite ingredients. Pinned.
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you have a killer camera and you know how to use it. and the recipes looks pretty awesome, too.
shawn says
*recipe (oops)
Mary Ann says
Hi. Do you let the tart crust cool in the pan or remove it after taking it out of the oven? Looks great – going to give it a try this weekend.
Jerri says
Made this last week and it IS as delicious as it looks. I have one question though… For the filling you say to whip the cream on high and add the mascarpone. This may seem like a silly question, but how long should you whip the cream? I whipped until stiff peaks and it worked, but wasn’t sure if whipping to that stage was what you meant. Just curious.
Although I love quinoa too, this tart was awe.some! Glad you went with it.
Mary Ann says
That was delicious.
Kelly says
Made this for Mother’s Day and it is delicious! Thank you for sharing! I added a tsp of white balsamic to my preserves for berry enhancement.
Julie says
This looks great and just in time for strawberry season! Happy I found your site!
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this is so beautiful, a must try for me this weekend.. Thnx for sharing
Liane says
I made this tonight for dessert and was soooo excited to try it. I made the lemon curd that you linked to which was DElicious (the perfect balance of tart and sweet) and the tart was fairly easy to make. I’m not sure though if it was my error or maybe how it is supposed to be but I found that the lemon deliciousness was overtaken by the less flavourful whipping cream and mascarpone cheese. In fact some of my guests mentioned that they were surprised I had any lemon in there at all. I doubled the recipe so maybe shouldn’t have exactly doubled those two items. I’d be interested to try it again to see how it is with a single batch. Also, I only added enough jam to coat half of the strawberries and with the other half just added some powdered sugar because I didn’t want the jam to take over the flavour of the strawberries – even though it was homemade it still doesn’t have the flavour that fresh fruit has. Overall this was such a yummy and fresh dessert and I’ll definitely be making it again! I also can’t wait to try it with other berries and fruit.
Alexandra says
Made this for an Easter dessert. It was really, really good. I ended up kind of tweaking the recipe by tasting the mascarpone cheese mixture and adding a little more of this and that until it tasted to my liking. Made fresh strawberry preserves, and drizzled it on top before serving.
The only thing I wasn’t quite sure about was the tart – I found it to be just slightly too salty. Otherwise, it turned out great!
heidi says
Hi Alexandra. Glad you tweaked it to make it your own. Maybe you used salted butter rather than unsalted and that made it saltier for you? Or could be I like salt :) so it tasted good to me. Thanks for the comment.
Cyndy says
I just made this and it’s out of this world delicious. I saw if first on Pinterest and knew I was going to make it. I used a graham crust and while it was good, the pastry crust would of been a better choice. Thanks for an amazing dessert, can’t wait to make the blueberry buckle!
I did a guest post on my friend Linda’s blog.
http://bestoflongislandandcentralflorida.blogspot.com/2015/06/berry-tart-with-lemon-curd-mascarpone.html
Rachel Page says
Beautiful and must taste so refreshing!
Mary Chancellor says
How beautiful! What dimensions are your rectangle tart pan? I ask because you also recommend a 10″ pan which has an area of 78.5 square inches, the rectangular tart pan I found on line boast of 13.75 inch by 4.25 inch dimension (although the base is smaller than the top) giving it an area of approximately 58 square inches. Did you have to make any adjustments for the lesser capacity of the smaller pan?
Beth-Ann says
Microwave lemon curd is the way to go http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/easy-microwave-lemon-curd-recipe
Deanne says
Omg! Just made this. I’m now at peace with myself and soon everyone that will be having some after dinner tonight will be too. The lemon curd was 10 stars, especially when I had a little spoonful the next morning. Wow. I did make it with cream cheese cause already had some . Can hardly wait to show it off and eat it!!! Thanks!
Lauren says
Hi, I was wondering about the whipping of the cream. What are we looking for in the cream before adding the marscapone? Should there be soft or firm peaks before adding the marscapone or just slightly thickened cream?
Katharine says
I would not recommend beating the cream for too long before adding the marscapone. A slightly thickened cream worked perfectly for me. It will counting to whip up as you add the other the ingredients.
heidi says
Thanks for the whip cream tip Katharine. Glad you enjoyed it.
Debbie says
Wondering how to store the tart crust if I make a day ahead. Also wondering if I can make the filling a day ahead? This would make a wonderful addition to a bridal shower dessert table. But I would need to make 4 or 5 and won’t have time the day of.
Larcher says
Made this tonight for a dinner party. I made the crust exactly, used a 9″ pan. I made a quick lemon curd “finecooking” recipe, which was great because I didn’t have a lot of time. I started making this at 1:00 in the afternoon and was still able to zip out the door to my BBQ at 5:00. Great recipe! Will definitely make again!
Katharine says
Very delicious. A few things-do not let the cream beat for too long before you start to add the other ingredients as it can easily be over whipped. Also the one cup of lemon curd that was called for was not nearly enough in my opinion so I added the entire three cups that came out of the recipe I used. Turned out beautifully.
Rebekah Moore says
I made this recipe and it was fantastic!! I generally prefer deserts to be more tart than sweet so I used the full lemon curd recipe in the filling (about 1 1/3 cups) and did not coat the berries with preserves. Everyone loved it and I will be making it again!
heidi says
I’m so glad you liked it Rebekah, it’s one of my favorites too.
Lynne says
I was so excited to try this as it looks beautiful. I am trying to figure out where I went wrong though as I beat the whipping cream to soft peaks and added the mascarpone and powdered sugar and the whole thing liquified and curdled :-( . Where did I go wrong? I am saving the tart and trying again tomorrow, but any advice is appreciated.
Biljana says
I would like to know as well which whipping cream to use, as this happend to me as well a while ago… And also i would apprecuta if someone told me how much butter is that in grams?! ☺ Never use cups in Europe… Always weighting. Thank you so much….
Ana says
This was a yummy tart! I think that I may not have whipped the heavy cream long enough as it significantly watered down after the addition of the marscapone and the lemon curd. We had a bit of an overflow situation, but overall most of the cream stayed on the crust. Looking forward to making this again!
Sarah Timmer says
This is my new favorite. The only Chang I have made is using a shortbread crust with pre-made shortbread cookies and butter. Other than that, this recipe is Amazing!!!
heidi says
I’m so glad you liked it Sarah, it’s one of my favorites too.
Rachely says
I made this tart last weekend for my house party and it was so amazing! Everybody loved it!
Deborah Copithorn says
Looks great way more filling than necessary for this size tart
Fandangle says
I made this tart last weekend and I’m making it again now. It was super. I used a whole jar of lemon curd in my topping. It’s my new favorite. Thank you for the recipe!
xx
nancy says
1 cup butter is 227 grams, so use about 110 g for this recipe.
1 cup flour is 113 g, so use about 170 g for this recipe.
Liz says
Can I substitute the almond flour and use all regular flour in this recipe?
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Cynthia says
This dish was mentioned in the New York Times which is why I think it got so many hits today, if you were wondering.