mascarpone tart with strawberries

This Mascarpone Tart with Strawberries gives your freshly picked berries a place of honor. A stage to show off their natural beauty. And the combination of texture and flavor is unbeatable.

Most of us have access to delicious berries from California and Florida throughout most of the year. But you can’t beat the flavor and freshness of fruit that’s just been locally harvested. 

Let’s start with the crunchy chocolate base…

The chocolate wafer cookies pictured here are made by Nabisco and can be found on most grocery store shelves. The cookies must be broken down to fine crumbs. As instructed in the original recipe in Sunset Magazine, you can break the cookies into small pieces, place them in a sturdy plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. I depend on my Cuisinart mini food processor for this task …it does the job nicely.

Need a gluten-free option?

• Substitute with your favorite dark chocolate gluten-free cookies.
• Use your preferred GF flour to make a batch of homemade Dark Chocolate Wafer Cookies.
• Or some Ultra-Dark Chocolate Crackle Cookies.

Save those excess cookie crumbs…

If you crush the entire box of cookies, you will have a small amount of crumbs leftover. Don’t discard them! Put them aside in a small covered container. The next time you enjoy a bowl of ice cream, sprinkle some of that chocolate crunch on top. So good.

It is important that you use a tart pan with removable rim for this recipe. The recommended size is 10-inch. If you try to make this using a regular pie plate, the cookie crust would most likely break apart as you try to lift each piece as you serve. Besides, the finished product with the tart pan is simply gorgeous!!

• Add the mascarpone, honey, and vanilla to a medium-size bowl.
• With a mixer set on medium, beat until smooth.
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Mix in the flour and salt.

Important Note – When adding the mascarpone filling, pour it into the center of the prepared crust. Then carefully spread the filling from the center to the outer edges. If you pull the filling from the outer edge to the center, you’ll end up with chocolate crumbs in the mix.

When baking the tart, be sure to place the pan on a larger rimmed baking sheet to catch the drips.  Please, please, please don’t skip that step!  I’m sure you would rather not have a puddle of melted butter on the floor of your oven!

• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.
• The filling should be pale golden and barely set in the center when you gently shake the pan.

• Remove the tart from the oven.
• Allow it to cool on a rack for about 30 minutes.
• Then chill until cold for at least one hour.
• Can be chilled for up to one day, covered in fridge.
• Don’t add the strawberries until just before serving.

• Shortly before serving, remove the rim from the pan.
• Rinse, stem, and thinly slice the strawberries.
• Try to choose strawberries that are uniform in size.
• Arrange them in a circular or spiral pattern on top of the tart, overlapping slices slightly.

This Mascarpone Tart with Strawberries is a stunning dessert.

And delicious, just as shown here.

But …if you want to get adventurous, you could pattern several different fruits along with the strawberries. Maybe some sliced kiwi, a ring of blueberries, or raspberries.

You get the picture.

Print

mascarpone tart with strawberries

Adapted from Sunset Magazine

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 35 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes

Servings 10 servings

Author Rosemary Stelmach

Ingredients

• 9 ounces chocolate wafer cookies, broken into 1/2" pieces
• 1/2 cup melted butter (1/4 pound)
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
• 16 ounces mascarpone (or cream cheese)
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups strawberries (14 ounces)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.  

2. Place cookies in a 1-quart zip-lock plastic bag and seal. With a rolling pin, crush cookies into fine crumbs. Pour 2 cups of the crumbs into a bowl and mix with melted butter, sugar, and espresso powder. Press mixture evenly into bottom and up sides of a 10-inch tart pan with removable rim.

3. In another bowl, with a mixer on medium, beat mascarpone, honey, and vanilla until smooth. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour and salt.

4. Place tart pan on a 12- by 16-inch rimmed baking pan and set on center rack of preheated oven. Pour filling into chocolate crust. 

5. Bake until filling is pale golden and barely set in the center when you gently shake the pan, 30 to 35 minutes.
6. Remove tart from oven and let cool on a rack about 30 minutes, then chill until cold, at least 1 hour, or up to 1 day (cover tart once cold).
7. Shortly before serving, remove rim from pan. Rinse, stem, and thinly slice strawberries. Arrange in a circular or spiral pattern on top of the tart, overlapping slices slightly.

Disclosure: Please note that some of the links above are affiliate links, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase after clicking through the link. I have personally experienced all of these products, and I recommend them because I have found them to be of superior quality.

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