Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart
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When it comes to dessert, I am always a cheesecake-first gal. My taste buds are fiercely loyal to that smooth, creamy, cream cheese filling, and they usually refuse to be swayed in any other direction. Running a close second to cheesecake is anything topped with crumbs. Dutch Apple Pie and Crumb Cake rank right up there at the top of my sweets food chain. If I can’t eat cheesecake or chocolate, you better believe I’m going after a crumb topping! So it’s no surprise that when I came across a recipe that combined a cream cheese filling with a crumb topping, I was nearly salivating. Throw in a tart crust, fresh strawberries, and virtually no bake time, and you have the epitome of what summertime desserts should be.
This recipe requires some planning ahead, as the tart crust needs to be made ahead and refrigerated before baking, but it is well worth the effort. I can say with 100% certainty that if I did not have anyone else to share this with, I could easily demolish this tart within 2 days. I have no self control when it comes to wonderfully creamy, fresh, and crumb-y desserts. I would have had the same issue with the no-bake banana split dessert from a few weeks back. It’s good for my wallet that I have willing and eager taste testers, or else I would be replacing my wardrobe every 2 months.
This tart is highly adaptable depending on the season and your personal tastes. You could easily replace the strawberries with raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries, or do a mixed berry version. In addition, fresh chopped peaches or mangoes would work wonderfully as well. Don’t you just love when you can play around with flavors and what’s in season?
One year ago: White Sangria
Two years ago: Parmesan and Thyme Crackers[/donotprint]
Strawberry Cream Cheese Crumble Tart
Ingredients
Cookie Dough Tart Crust:
- 2 tablespoons slivered almonds
- 6 tablespoons powdered sugar, sifted
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, cold, cut into 8 pieces
- 1 egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) vanilla extract
Almond Crumb Topping:
- 1¼ cups (156.25 g) all-purpose flour
- ⅓ cup (66.67 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon (0.25 teaspoon) ground cinnamon
- Pinch of salt
- ¼ cup (27 g) slivered almonds, coarsely chopped
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter, melted
Strawberry Cream Cheese Filling:
- 16 ounces (453.59 g) cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup (120 g) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) vanilla extract
- 16 ounces (453.59 g) fresh strawberries, rinsed, hulled and halved (quartered if large)
Instructions
- Make the Tart Crust: Combine the almonds and powdered sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse repeatedly until finely ground, about 1 minute. Add the flour and salt and pulse a couple of times to mix. Add the butter and pulse again repeatedly until no visible pieces of butter remain (about 10 pulses). Add the yolks and vanilla and continue pulsing until the dough forms a ball. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, shape into a thick disk, and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
- Remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow it to soften at a cool room temperature for about 20 minutes, just until it is soft enough to roll without cracking, but still firm. Unwrap it and place it on a floured surface. Use the palm of your hand to press it to a thickness of about 1/4 inch. Flour the work surface and the dough and gently roll the dough into a 13-inch disk, adding pinches of flour under and on top of the dough as needed. Transfer it to a 10-inch tart pan. Evenly fit the dough into the pan, making sure it’s flat against both the bottom and side of the pan. Trim away any excess dough at the rim of the pan by rolling over with a rolling pin or scraping it away with the back of a paring knife. Slide the tart pan onto a cookie sheet, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for several hours or overnight before baking.
- When ready to bake, arrange the racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; set aside.
- Make the Crumb Topping: In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in the chopped almonds. Use a rubber spatula to stir in the butter until all of the dry ingredients have been evenly moistened. Let the mixture stand for 5 minutes, then use your fingertips to break the mixture into ¼- to ½-inch crumbs. Scatter the crumbs on the prepared pan.
- Remove the tart pan from the refrigerator, and remove the plastic wrap. Line with a piece of parchment paper and fill the pan with pie weights. Bake the tart crust in the lower third of the oven and the crumb topping in the upper third. After 10 minutes, remove the paper and pie weights from the tart shell and place it on the upper rack, and move the crumbs to the lower rack. Continue baking the tart shell until it is dry and light golden, 15 to 20 additional minutes. Bake the crumb topping until it is deep golden and firm, 10 to 15 additional minutes. (Check the crumbs around the 10 minute mark and then go from there - my crumbs were done around 10 minutes, and the tart crust around 20 minutes.) Cool the crust and the topping on wire racks.
- Make the Cream Cheese Filling: Beat the cream cheese on medium speed just until it is smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and continue beating until lightened, about 1 minute.
- Assemble the Tart: Spread half the cream cheese filling on the bottom of the tart crust and arrange the sliced strawberries on it, cut side down. Spread the remaining filling over the strawberries. Evenly scatter the crumb topping over the filling. Right before serving, lightly dust the topping with powdered sugar and garnish with additional strawberries, if desired. Unmold the tart from the pan and place it on a platter. Wrap and refrigerate leftovers.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
Hi Michelle!
I’m in New Zealand and strawberries are in season! I can’t wait to make this for Christmas! Question though – I only have a 8 x 11.5in size tart pan, not a round one. Do you think I need to make any changes? Have a great holiday!
Hi Nat, Your pan likely has less surface area, so you may need to cut the recipe by about 1/3 or 1/2.
Hi! i was wondering if I could use almond meal instead of the slivers?
Hi Linda, I would not use almond meal; the slivers are meant to give crunch and texture to the topping on the tart; almond meal (which is more like a flour) would not accomplish that goal.
I just wanted to say thank you for the recipe and inspiration for this wonderful dessert. I made a version of it and it’s on my blog now. Absolutely delicious!
I am a professional chef and baker and as soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it! I Made this today for a work function and it was a total hit with everyone! Followed the recipe exactly and it was perfect! I found the measurements and cooking times to be right on. I personally wouldn’t change a thing! Thank you so much, will be making this again and again!
I looked up other posts on this recipe and found that you’re missing the lemon zest in the cream cheese mixture. Unfortunately I’d done my shopping based in your list of ingredients, so I’ll have a crack at this one… was there a reason why you omitted the zest?
I left it out intentionally, as I didn’t use it in my recipe. I don’t tend to like lemon flavor in my cheesecakes. You can certainly use it if you’d like.
This was DELICIOUS!!! I made it for my birthday and it turned out perfect!
My only comments… I made it in a 9-inch pie platter since I don’t own a tart pan, and it worked just as well although the presentation wasn’t as elegant. Also, I substituted walnuts for the topping and it worked fine.. you really can’t taste the nuts at all. Last comment is that next time I will double the strawberries :) They added such a burst of flavor. It looked like I was adding a lot when I was putting it all together, but then when we cut the tart, I realized I could have used more.
Hello! I made your tart, and it turned out spectacular! I made it in mini tart pans and got seven tarts. (I’m sure I could’ve gotten 8 if I hadn’t eaten so much dough:) I toasted the almonds (I couldn’t resist:) and I tried one that way, but I thought it would be better with a little lemon in the filling, so I added fresh lemon juice to taste and they were SO good! I liked them much better this way. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Hi im 11 years old and i love baking so much but my mom wants hlhateier things so i try and i bought like a 50 percent vegetable oil butter and i used it and i added the vanilla at the end and became like watery and it separated. so i put it in the freezer and it got stiffer but it is lumpy and slimy so that was wierd plus i whipped the eggs for like 10 plus minutes and it didnt like get that volume maybe i will try it with real butter next time i love the consistency of your frosting a lot and i never could get it that way.When i grow up and get in high school i wanna work in a bakery i think it will be so awesome. You should enter cupcake wars that would be really cool to watch u on that show. I think u would win. You guys are just awesome could you show more icing videos and things without your big electric mixer i dont have one and whenever i try those tings with a regular hand mixer it does come out like right but for most things it does but for some reason the frostings dont it is wierd. Kitchen Aid should like make lots of contests to get a free Mixer. I love those things but i never used one.
what a delicious combination! looks magniiificent :)
yummy yummy…just could not get the tart to slip out of the tart pan…any ideas?
Hi MamaToi, Did you use a tart pan with a removable bottom? If so, you should be able to just place the pan on something elevated, like a jar, and the sides will slide down while the bottom remains in place. If you don’t have a pan with a removable bottom you won’t be able to take the tart out of the pan.
Made this for Mother’s Day! WOW!! Huge hit with everyone! Definitely takes a bit of planning to make…but…oh so worth it!!! Will make again for sure!
Made this for Mother’s Day and it was a huge hit! This recipe is a keeper :-)
This looks so yum, its winter in New Zealand so no fresh berrys at the moment, will frozen berrys work?
Kara xx
Hi Kara, They will. Just be sure to thaw them and drain any excess liquid first.