Tart aux Fraises - French Strawberry Custard Tart

Making the Sweet Pastry Dough

1. Place the flour, butter, icing sugar, salt, and almonds in a mixing bowl.
2. Work the dough by rubbing it between your fingertips.
3. Add the egg and mix using a fork.
4. Turn the mixture out on a work surface and knead to form a smooth dough without overworking it.
5. Flatten the dough out slightly, wrap it in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days.
6. Once the dough is chilled, preheat the oven to 180°C and let the dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes until soft enough to roll but not too soft.
7. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface to ½ cm thickness / 23 cm (9") circle and line a 20 cm (8") fluted, loose-bottomed tart tin.
8. Press the dough firmly against the sides and bottom without stretching it and trim off the excess dough.
9. Prick the dough all over with a fork, cover it, and place it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before blind baking.
10. Preheat the oven to 175° C - 350° F (fan oven).
11. Line the tart tin with parchment paper or tin foil, covering the edges to avoid them from burning.
12. Fill with dried chickpeas or rice to prevent the dough from rising and bake for about 15 minutes, remove the chickpeas or rice and cook for another 10 minutes until golden brown.
13. Let it cool down on a wire rack before filling it with the pastry cream.

Preparing the Diplomat Cream

1. Place the milk, vanilla paste, and butter in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture becomes pale and thick. Add the flour along with the cornflour and whisk to combine.
3. Add half of the hot milk into the flour-egg mixture, whisking well, and return the mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the milk.
4. Return the saucepan to heat and cook until it thickens, whisking continuously. Let it boil for a minute constantly stirring then remove it from the heat. Let it cool down to room temperature.
5. When the pastry cream has reached room temperature, start whipping the double cream or whipping cream until you reach stiff peaks.
6. Whisk the pastry cream to loosen then fold in the whipped cream gently in 2 stages.

Assembling the Tart

1. Spoon the diplomat cream into the baked sweet pastry shell, and level the top with the back of a spoon or a spatula.
2. Arrange the strawberries over the pastry cream and brush them with nappage.