Strawberry Chocolate Tart with Dulce de Leche Filling

This show-stopping dessert is incredibly easy to put together, but it will look like you put in a lot of effort. It’s absolutely delicious, celebrating strawberry season with a chocolatey, caramel twist. You have to try it.

I developed this recipe last summer in anticipation of a pool day with my girlfriends. I wanted to bring something a little special. Something shareable, using some of the fresh berries I picked up at the market. I love me some cookies and brownies, but I wanted to experiment with something new.

I took inspiration from this Olives n Thyme recipe, but have made a few tweaks along the way. Based on my pantry ingredients I subbed all purpose flour for her almond flour and it turned out just fine (well, much more than fine!). And instead of chocolate ganache, I thought dulce de leche would be fun. A chocolatey, caramely, strawberry-y dessert! I wasn’t sure if the flavors would go well together, because I’ve never tried these flavors together. I was not expecting THIS outcome though, and my girls all agreed. Six of us wiped the tart pan clean, in one sitting. Had there been a second tart, it would have been gone too. My point is, make one or two and you wont have leftovers.

What makes this one of my favorites is HOW EASY it all comes together, and how much of it you can prep ahead of time. You can make the dulce de leche months in advance! If you add the dry ingredients to a ziplock bag you can even bring this on a trip somewhere. The most recent time I made this, I brought the ingredients to my parents house to prep there. One ziplock bag, one can, one stick of butter, one bunch strawberries, and one springform pan. Incredibly easy to transport and make fresh

I would recommend serving 6-8 in one batch. For more people, you can very easily make a second batch.

What I love about this recipe is the use of canned dulce de leche. I make mine by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for 4 hours. This will stay good in your pantry for a while, so its super easy to prep ahead of time.

Let’s Cook

Ingredients

Chocolate tart crust

• 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour (225g)
• ¼ cup cocoa powder (20g)
• ⅓ cup sugar (65g)
• 1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature (113g)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)

Dulce de leche

• 1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk or dulce de leche

Strawberry topping

• 1 lb fresh strawberries
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. If using sweetened condensed milk, we need to turn this into dulce de leche. My favorite method is to boil the can for 4 hours. Make sure the can is fully submerged in water the whole time. You will need to refill the pot 2-3 times during this process as the water will evaporate. Once complete, wait 24 hours to use the can as the insides will be piping hot and can burst out before cooled. You can prepare this, and the crust, days ahead of time. If you don’t have days to prep: instead of boiling, open the can of sweetened condensed milk and pour into an oven safe baking dish. Cover in foil, and place the dish in a larger baking dish with water. Bake at 425 for two hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a 9 inch springform pan with parchment paper (bottom and the sides). Lightly grease.
3. Make the chocolate tart. Mix the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and espresso powder if using. Combine the room temperature butter to the dry ingredients until the mixture has a uniform color. The texture will be crumbly when done, but you should be able to make a clump of dough in your hand. Transfer the dough to the springform pan. Pat the batter down into the pan and on the sides, with the sides about 1 inch higher than the bottom. Put the pan in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
4. While the tart is in the freezer, prep the strawberries. Cut the strawberries in halves or quarters depending on size. Place the strawberries in a bowl. Separately, mix the sugar and water together until combined, then pour over the strawberries and mix. Put in the refrigerator until ready to serve. 
5. Cook the crust for 25 minutes, then allow to cool
6. Just before serving, assemble the tart. Pour the dulce de leche on the tart crust, then place the strawberries on top. Cut into four, six, or eight pieces and enjoy!