Nothing says spring like these easy (gluten-free) strawberry tartlets. I’m actually in full-on springtime mode, because spring is my favorite season ever!
These sure-to-please strawberry Dulcey tartlets are simple in flavors as much as in the making. Simple as a buttery and flaky gluten-free shortcrust pastry, fluffy gluten-free very berry strawberry sponge biscuit, smooth and creamy Dulcey chocolate filling and fresh strawberries topping.
Really, these tartlets have everything you’ll need for a touch of sweet pleasure! They’re bursting with freshness, have a hint of creaminess, are perfectly sweet and ever so brittle.
Easy and so delicious.
These are all the components:
- Gluten-free and egg-free hazelnut and vanilla shortcrust pastry
- Gluten-free and natural colored strawberry, almond and lemon sponge biscuit
- Dulcey chocolate, hazelnut praline paste and vanilla crémeux
- Strawberry Inspiration crunchy coating
- Fresh strawberries topping
If you make this recipe, don’t forget to leave a comment or tag me on Instagram. I’d be more than happy to hear from you all. Seeing your creations makes me the happiest person beyond everything!
And, of course, if you have any questions or doubts about this recipe and/or pastry techniques in general, feel very free to write me. I’ll do my best to respond you as quickly as possible ♡

Ingredienti
Gluten-free and egg-free hazelnut and vanilla shortcrust pastry
84 g farina Bóna (toasted cornflour) (sub it with brown rice flour or the gluten-free flour of your choice)
84 g rice starch (or cornstarch or potato starch)
120 g butter, cold and cubed
80 g (vanilla) icing sugar
32 g toasted hazelnut flour
5 g (1 tsp) vanilla powder
1,25 g (¼ tsp) Maldon salt
40 g raw hazelnut paste
36 g unsweetened almond milk (or cow's milk or the plant-based milk you prefer)
Gluten-free and natural-colored strawberry, almond and lemon sponge biscuit
145 g strawberry puree, at room temperature
65 g caster (superfine) sugar
14 g albumin powder (powdered egg whites)
10 g (2 tsp) Red Beet (natural food coloring)
10 g (2 tsp) Fuchsia Hibiscus (natural food coloring)
23 g egg yolks, at room temperature
50 g white almonds flour
35 g white rice flour (or the gluten-free flour you prefer)
15 g rice starch (or cornstarch or potato starch)
1,5 g gluten-free baking powder
23 g butter, melted and lukewarm (40-45°C)
6 g lemon zest (1 lemon)
1,25 g (¼ tsp) Maldon salt
Dulcey 32% chocolate, hazelnut praline paste and vanilla crémeux
125 g unsweetened almond milk (or cow's milk or the plant-based milk you prefer)
125 g heavy cream 35% fat content
52 g egg yolks
250 g Dulcey 32% blond chocolate (replace it with white chocolate, in lack)
2,5 g gelatin sheets Gold strength (200 Bloom)
13 g cold water to soak the gelatin sheets
52 g vanilla hazelnut praline paste 60%
1 vanilla bean
Strawberry Inspiration crunchy coating
450 g Strawberry Inspiration couverture
45 g grape seed oil (or the vegetable oil you prefer)
Assembly and decoration
fresh strawberries
edible flowers
Procedimento
Gluten-free and egg-free hazelnut and vanilla shortcrust pastry
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment combine flour, starch, butter, hazelnut flour, icing sugar, vanilla powder and salt and work until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.
- In a small bowl combine together almond milk and hazelnut paste and mix until smooth. Add this mix to the stand mixer and beat on low speed until a dough is formed.
- Once the pastry has come together, press into a neat flat square and cover in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge overnight.
- Preheat the oven to 160°C, ventilation mode. Line a perforated baking tray with perforated silicone mat. Grease generously with butter 6 tartlet squares (8x8 cm x h 3,5 cm, but you can surely use some tartlet rings) and place them onto the prepared baking tray.
- Roll the chilled shortcrust pastry on a lightly floured surface to approximately 2-3 mm in thickness, adding flour when needed so it doesn't stick.
- Cut out the rolled pastry with the tartlet square to obtain the base. Place the pastry base onto the prepared baking tray.
Cut out 4 pastry strips of 8 cm long and 4 cm high and line each side of the square. Join the ends of the pastry strips and trim some of the excess pastry that is overhanging the side of the square, using a knife.
Place the square over the pastry base, so that the pastry base is perfectly inside the square and ensure that the edges of the pastry base stick well to the pastry sides. Freeze for at least 1h. You don't have to prick the pastry base with a fork before baking. - Line the frozen and unbaked tart shells with heatproof plastic wrap and fill it firmly to the top with uncooked rice (any type of legume or cereal also works well). Bring the sides of the wrap together at the top like a parcel, so it is easy to remove.
- Put the tartlets in the oven, reduce the temperature at 150°C and pre-baked for about 15 minutes. Remove the rice and bake for a further 12 minutes at 160°C to finish baking.
- Remove the tartlets from the oven and dust with cocoa butter powder (Mycryo) while they're still hot. This prevents the pastry to get soggy. Allow to cool down completely before removing the tartlet square. Do not worry if you don't have the cocoa butter powder, because the baked and cooled tartlet will be covered with a thin chocolate layer (see below).
- Melt some Strawberry Inspiration couverture in the microwave to 45°C. Brush the melted couverture all over the base and the sides of the baked pastry shell, into a thin layer. The chocolate makes a barrier which prevents the pastry from moisture, as making the tartlet even crispier and tastier. The white chocolate can be used instead of Strawberry Inspiration couverture. Allow the couverture to harden at room temperature or in the fridge eventually.
Gluten-free and natural-colored strawberry, almond and lemon sponge biscuit
- Preheat the oven to 170°C, static mode. Grease a 32,5 x 32,5 cm silicone swiss roll mat (Silikomart tapis roulade) and place it on a baking tray.
- Melt butter in the microwave, then add lemon zest and salt and combine with a rubber spatula. Allow to cool down at room temperature.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment combine together strawberry puree, sugar, albumin powder and natural food colorings and whip at high speed for about 5 minutes, until obtain a light and thick meringue (stiff peak stage), which is rose in color.
- Turn the speed down and add the egg yolks, slowly and to wire. Stop whipping as soon as the yolks are incorporated.
- In a bowl combine almonds flour, rice flour, rice starch and baking powder and mix by hand with a fine whisk. Sieve this mix over the strawberry meringue in 3 times and incorporate the dry ingredients into the meringue with a scooping-and-folding motion. You will get with a light, fluffy and homogeneous meringue.
- Add finally the lukewarm butter and fold gently.
- Pour the batter into the greased silicone mat and spread it out evenly with a palette knife, so that it is level with the top of the mat (I mean, 1 cm high, as the height of the silicone mat). The batter will cover only halfway the silicone mat.
- Bake for 15 minutes, until the sponge biscuit is puffed, lightly golden in color, soft and slightly springy to touch.
- Remove from the oven and cover immediately with clingfilm to keep the sponge biscuit from drying out and to preserve the moisture. Allow to cool completely before cutting 6 squares with a 7x7 cm cookie cutter.
I suggest to put the baked and still warm sponge biscuit in the freezer for 1h before cutting. In this way it will be cold but not fully frozen and you can cut it without ruining it. - Place a sponge biscuit square into each tartlet.
Dulcey 32% chocolate, hazelnut praline paste and vanilla crémeux
- Soak the gelatin sheets in the cold water.
- Melt Dulcey chocolate in the microwave to 45°C.
- In a saucepan combine almond milk and heavy cream and bring to simmer. In a bowl whisk together egg yolks and vanilla seeds.
- When the liquids are simmering, pour them over the egg yolks in 3 times and mix with a fine whisk at each addition of liquid.
- Place everything back into the saucepan and reheat to 82-85°C, stirring continuously with a rubber spatula over medium-low heat.
- Remove the saucepan from the heat, add the soaked gelatin sheets and stir to dissolve.
- Add the cream to the melted chocolate in 3 times, stirring vigorously with the spatula at each addition of liquid, in order to obtain a smooth, fluid and evenly cream.
- Transfer the crémeux into a mixing glass and blend to stabilize the emulsion and to obtain a shiny and silky-smooth texture.
- Add finally the hazelnut praline paste and blend once again.
- Divide the crémeux into the pastry shells, covering the sponge biscuit and leaving 1 cm space from the high for the strawberries topping. Freeze for about 1-2h in a domestic freezer or 1h in a blast freezer.
Strawberry Inspiration crunchy coating
- Melt Strawberry Inspiration couverture in the microwave to 45°C and mix through the grape seed oil.
- Transfer the glaze to a jug with a diameter just slightly wider than the tartlet. Let the glaze to cool down to 35°C.
- Insert the tip of a knife in the centre of the frozen tartlet (I mean, in the centre of the crémeux) and gently dip it into the glaze.
- Wipe off the base of the tartlet on the side of the jug, then wipe off the base on a parchment paper to remove any excess glaze. Place the tartlets in the fridge.
Assembly and decoration
- Divide strawberries into quarters, then halve each quarter to obtain thin slices.
- Arrange the thin strawberry slices on top of the crémeux and garnish with edible flowers.
2 Comments
Hi Chiara!
What is the name of the edible purple flowers (that look a bit like leaves) you used to decorate your strawberry tart ?
Hi Amuche!
They’re Oxalis Redwood sorrel