Shortbread Tart Shell
April 12, 2009 by Culinary Cory
Filed under More
I’m sitting in my backyard taking advantage of the wonderful Easter Sunday weather. From time to time, I hear screaming and giggling dancing from my neighbor’s yard. All 12 of their grandchildren are scavenging for the brightly colored plastic eggs that were hidden in every available crevice early this morning.
Brent’s mother will be visiting us from Oregon this week and will be arriving late tonight. As a result, we opted for cleaning the house and relaxing rather than preparing a large Easter meal. Of course that didn’t stop me from cooking at least something tasty. My original plan was post a recipe for a glazed strawberry tart, but the glaze didn’t work the way I expected. I have no doubt it will be perfected in the very near future.
So on to plan “B”. A quality shortbread recipe is one of the most versatile crust recipes around. It can be used for bars, cookies or a whole host of different pie varieties. To make a perfect edge, lightly flour the exterior of a large measuring cup. Gently press along the entire edge of the tart pan for an even shape every time.
Shortbread Tart Shell
½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. salt
1 eggPreheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cream together the sugar and butter in a medium mixing bowl until well combined. Next add the egg and vanilla. Mix until completely incorporated. Finally, slowly add the flour and salt. Mix until the four is just combined. Pat the dough into a fluted 8 or 9 inch tart pan. Bake the tart shell at 400 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Be careful to not burn the crust. Allow the shell to cool before adding the filling.
Authors Note: If you do not own a tart pan, try using a 9″ X 13″ jelly roll pan.
Photo Notes: Top – This picture shows you how I use a measuring cup create a perfect edge. Bottom – While the tart looked really pretty, it didn’t taste as amazing as I wanted. Hopefully round two will be better.
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Your tart shell is literally perfect. We’re taking notes.
This looks so enticing! I love how the strawberries just glisten! Your tart shell looks perfect!
The shortbread looks amazing – buttery and delicious. The strawberries on top make it perfect. Nicely done.
As a dedicated shortbread fan, I’m fairly sure this tart would completely bowl you over. Can’t beat shortbread and strawberries — nice work!
Great recipe Cory! I really like your new look. I never commented for a while.
Awesome! Thanks for the recipe! I’ve been dying to make tarts with a short crust, raspberries and framboise. Funny enough, I made a strawberry tart yesterday, only with a pate sable crust!
I realized the other day that 75% of my tart recipes used a short crust…and combined with strawberries…well, it’s pretty darn close to bliss in tart!
Good idea using the measuring cup, I will try that next time! I made a blueberry lemon tart yesterday, but wasn’t overly pleased with it. Back to the drawing board
I saw your pic on Food Gawker. Wonderful tip about using the measuring cup. Now why didn’t I think of that one years ago? Thank you for that
Rhyleysgranny, That is so sweet of you to say. Thanks for checking out my site from Food Gawker.
I need to try a shortbread tart shell. Thanks for the recipe!
This strawberry tarte looks just amazing, Cory…it so reminds me of those
lovely tartes that I often bought at my local pâtisseries in Paris.
What beautiful work.
I like the recipe for the shortbread tarte shell very much and one that
I can easily adapt with gluten-free flour.
I hope that your Easter day with family was as lovely as mine, dear friend.
I was actually thinking of a french pastry place in the Wicker Park neighborhood in Chicago called Sweet Thang I used to visit. Their tarts always looked so radiant.
12 grandchildren visiting next door?? I’d go nuts, haha
Lovely “plan B”!!
VeggieGirl: Yep, 12 grandchildren. They were everywhere.