If you guys knew me you’d know my unconditional love for the vanilla custard/strawberry pie. Up until now I had never made anything else and though I kinda chickened out with the basil situation this one is still very different. And it’s wow. Wow. OH WOW. The crust is delicate with a touch of saltiness, the rum flavored almond cream is voluntarily under baked, the cocoa butter in the custard gives it this rich velvety entobing texture with a note of white chocolate which pairs perfectly with the strawberry jelly. All that to sublim the fresh fruit sitting on its creamy throne. It is really really good and though I still prefer a less sophisticated strawberry pie this one definitely is worth trying.

In the original recipe there is a basil pistou which I decided last minute not to incorporate (cock-a-doodle-doo). I made the pistou, the tart was assembled, all I had to do was marble the pie with that green sauce but I just couldn’t do it. I did try it with a strawberry and was a little taken aback. Anyway… for the braver of us here is the recipe how it should be with the basil yes yes you can!

The crust

Soften 115g of butter. The best is to have taken it out of the fridge beforehand but if like me you forgot, you can soften it using the microwave in 10 seconds increments, stirring it each time. Be careful not to melt it.

Add 70g of powdered sugar. For such small quantities you can easily do it by hand. You can also use the stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.

Add 20g of almond flour and 1g of salt and mix well.

Add 45g of eggs and mix.

Add 190g of flour and start combining with the whisk. Quickly finish to combine with a spatula smashing the dough against the sides of the bowl until well incorporated. Do not over mix it.

At this point the dough will be very sticky it’s normal. Spread to 2mm thick between two guitar sheets or two sheets of parchment paper and let it rest in the refrigerator overnight (or at least two hours).

The next day, butter your cake ring and cut a disc of dough about 2cm larger than the ring you intend to use. Then carefully place the dough inside of it.

Using the rolling pin, roll over the ring to cut the excess dough. Then using the back of a knife, cut the remaining excess pushing against the edge of the ring to create edges.

Place the baking tray back in the refrigerator for at least an hour but preferably longer (overnight to optimize the results).

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 320F 350F at home and using a fork, poke the dough all around. This is to allow the steam to escape without it puffing up the pie crust.

Bake for 20 minutes. When out of the oven, brush the crust with 25g of egg yolks and 5g of heavy cream to make protect it from the humidity of the different creams and preserve the crunchiness. Do it on a very hot crust straight out of the oven so the egg wash can dry up on immediately.

The almond cream

Soften 40g of butter making sure the butter is not melted as it would change entirely the structure of the almond cream once baked.

Add 40g of sugar and whisk. Do not over whisk it so that the sugar doesn’t fluff the butter up too much. This would result in the cream really puffing in the oven which is not what we want here.

Add 40g of almond flour and mix until smooth and combined.

Add 40g of eggs which should be at room temperature. In France we never keep our eggs in the fridge and when you go to the store the eggs are not kept in the refrigerated section. If your eggs are cold, I suggest mixing them with a fork and popping them in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time until they are at room temperature. Cold eggs will make the cream separate meaning the fat and the water contained in the butter will separate.

Add 9g of rum and stir. Transfer into a pipping bag and reserve in the fridge.

When the almond cream has regained a little bit of firmness, pipe some in the pie crust to about 1cm (it will slightly puff up in the oven and we need a little bit of room over this to spread the custard cream and the strawberry jelly).

Cut 10g of fresh strawberries in small pieces and spread them over the almond cream.

Bake for 6 minutes 10 minutes at 350F.

The custard cream:

With a precise scale, measure 3g of gelatin and 15g of cold water. I know you’re seeing 9g on the picture that’s because I needed to make several pies so I multiplied the recipe by 3. Leave to set in the fridge.

On the stove, warm up 180g of milk, 20g of heavy cream and 1 vanilla bean. Meanwhile whisk 35g of egg yolks and 20g of sugar. Add 10g of corn starch and 10g of flour and whisk once more. Once the milk boils, pour it onto the egg yolk/sugar mixture and whisk.

Return the cream to the stove on medium and high and cook whisking continuously until it thickens and enters the boiling stage (you should see bubbles forming). From that point cook for 2 minutes or so to cook the flour.

Once the cream is cooked, add 10g of cocoa butter and whisk. It would be a shame not to add the cocoa butter, it gives the cream such a nice velvety texture that’s just divine. Add the gelatin mass, whisk.

Add 20g of butter.

Add 10g of mascarpone and whisk one final time. At this point you can blend it with an immersion blender to perfect the emulsion.

Transfer to a prepared clean filmed dish and send to the fridge to cool down rapidly.

The strawberry jelly:

Like for the custard, start by combining 3g of gelatin and 15g of cold water. In a pot on medium, place 125g of strawberries with 62.5 g of sugar (half of 125g) and bring to a boil.

Mix 2.5g of pectin NH with the other half of sugar and add it to the strawberries. Mix.

Boil for 1 minute before adding 5g of lemon juice and the gelatin mass outside of the heat. Using an immersion blender, blend the jelly and store.

The basil pistou:

Blend 125g of basil, 15g of almond paste, 20g of honey and 10g of lemon juice, in the recipe it is said to do it with ice to “preserve the chlorophyll”. I am not sure whether this means to add ice to the blender or not. Whisk the 75g of olive oil as if making a vinaigrette (recipe’s words not mine). I obtained somewhat of a paste with still chunks of basil and though it tasted pretty good I didn’t feel like adding it to the strawberry pie…

The assembly:

If you’re going with the basil option you will need to marble the pie with the basil pistou on top of the jelly. Pipe some basil pistou here and there and chop some basil leaves so place on top as well.

Cut the strawberries and place them on the pie.