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I am super excited to bring you this Gluten Free Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart recipe. It was one of my lightbulb moments (they happen once in a while) as to the ideal ingredients to get a crème pâtissière that was dairy and egg free, therefore a vegan crème pâtissière!
Not intolerant to eggs or dairy? Fear not this traditional Crème Pâtissière Recipe on the BBC Recipes website will suffice and give you the correct amount needed for this Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart
Skip to the good bit
- How do you make a vegan crème pâtissière?
- Fresh or canned gooseberries?
- How do you prepare gooseberries?
- How to make the tart base
- Can I make a gluten free pastry case instead?
- Ingredients you will need
- Equipment you will need
- How to store this Gluten Free Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart
- What can I do with lots of gooseberries?
- Gluten Free Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart Recipe
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How do you make a vegan crème pâtissière?
This was my light bulb moment! Egg is a key ingredient in crème pâtissière, it is a rich custard made with the intention of adding to desserts, flans, pastries and the likes.
I knew I needed to mimic the elasticity and fat of the egg and so I added dairy free butter and arrowroot. The rest of the recipe is much like the original crème pâtissière.
Imagine making a custard from a custard powder. You begin by making a paste (otherwise it’s lumpy disaster time!).
To make a vegan crème pâtissière simply measure out the cornflour, arrowroot and sugar and add melted butter whilst whisking rapidly (not the other way round). You will get a cornflour lumpy mess!
Next add a little of the already measured milk. Whisk like crazy again to make a paste. Then add the rest of the milk, the butter may form little lumps (see below) but not to worry.
Finally heat the crème pâtissière gently whilst continually whisking. As soon as the custard comes to the boil, count 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 and remove from the heat.
You have just made vegan crème pâtissière!
Fresh or canned gooseberries?
Well the question really is can you source fresh gooseberries? If the answer is yes, then 100% go for fresh if you want your tart to look the same and have a pretty table-side appeal! With fresh gooseberries you get better authentic green/yellow/pink colours, you also get lovely little beads of berries .
Tinned fruit is a whole lot simpler as the fruit has been prepared for you and soaked in syrup so, in theory, no need to sweeten at all. However, the gooseberries will have lost their vibrant colour and lost their shape so not so pretty for the purpose of this recipe.
How do you prepare gooseberries?
Preparing fresh gooseberries is not much different to rhubarb or Bramley apples. To prepare the fruit you can nip the stalks with your fingernails and take off the remnants of the flower (that crispy dry bit on the bottom of the berry). for this recipe I steam the berries in a lidded microwave proof dish.
I don’t bother to add any water, simple sprinkle with sugar, add a lid (or a plate that covers the dish) and steam for 1 minute. Checking on the fruit after this time, and if necessary heat again for another minute, times will vary depending on your microwave wattage (mine is 900W).
I find this is the BEST method to keep the fresh berries looking intact but still softened enough to eat.
Other ways to pre-cook your gooseberries
Hob – keep the berries whole and add to a saucepan with a tablespoon of water and sugar to taste. After that you simply heat gently until the berries go soft and you achieve the stewed fruit consistency of your liking. This method is quite a fierce way of cooking the berries so you run more of a risk of loosing their shape.
Oven – as above add the berries to an oven proof dish, and cook in a hot oven for about 8-10 minutes. This is my preferred method if you don’t have a microwave.
How to make the tart base
This base is a bit of a cheat but I’m all for making things simple in the kitchen. It is actually similar to my Easy Gluten Free Rhubarb and Custard Tarts (another delicious summer ‘fruit’).
All you need is two packets of gluten free biscuits; I opt for the humble digestive and some ‘butter’ to hold the crumbs together.
I use a 24cm fluted flan tin for this recipe so in the pictures above you can see me taking a 20cm cake tin to press into the crumble mixture to make an indent. This works as a great starting place for me to gently tease the crumbs up the sides of the tin to make a tart case.
Can I make a gluten free pastry case instead?
Got a bit more time on your hands or don’t fancy this cheats crumble tart base? Then why not make a gluten free pastry crust like t he one I make for my Old Fashioned Gluten Free Apple Pie. The same quantities should apply.
Ingredients you will need
For the tart base
- gluten free digestives 2 160g packets
- butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter)
For the egg-free crème pâtissière
- caster sugar (I use my vanilla caster sugar for extra taste)
- cornflour/cornstarch
- arrowroot
- butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter)
- dairy free milk (I use soya milk)
For the gooseberry topping
- gooseberries (ideally fresh)
- caster sugar
Equipment you will need
- Kitchen Scales
- fluted flan tin 23cm
- baking paper
- mixing bowl
- 2L oven proof glass dish or another lidded dish
- medium saucepan
- whisk
- silicone spatula
- set of measuring spoons
How to store this Gluten Free Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart
Once made, you will need to keep this in the fridge. It should keep for up to 3 days no problem so you could consider making it in advance of a party.
What can I do with lots of gooseberries?
Ah! so you are a HUGE fan of gooseberries too then? Well that makes two of us so you’ll be please to know that I have a few recipes on the website and more in the pipeline (a great tip is to sign up to my Newsletter so that you never miss a new recipe).
Gluten Free Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart Recipe
If you make it and like the recipe I would be eternally grateful if you popped back and commented leaving a star rating as this will tell search engines that this recipe is worth checking out and others will get to find it in searches.
Gluten Free Gooseberry Crème Pâtissière Tart
Equipment
- 2L oven proof glass dish or another lidded dish
Ingredients
For the tart base
- 320 g gluten free digestives 2 160g packets
- 100 g butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter)
For the egg-free crème pâtissière
- 100 g caster sugar I use my vanilla caster sugar for extra taste
- 2 tbsp cornflour/cornstarch
- 2 tsp arrowroot
- 30 g butter or butter alternative (I use Flora plant butter)
- 300 ml dairy free milk I use soya milk
For the gooseberry topping
- 300 g gooseberries ideally fresh
- 100 g caster sugar
Instructions
To prepare the tart base
- Either break the digestives up into a bowl and crush with a kitchen tool or add the biscuits to a blender and blitz into fine crumbs.
- Melt the 'butter' and pour over the biscuit crumbs, mix thoroughly.
- Tip the crumble mixture into a lined flan tin and tease the mixture to the sides of the tin. Next, using a smaller cake tin, press the crumble mixtured own to create an indent template to work from.
- Finally, using the back of a spoon, press the biscuits crumb mixture into the bottom and sides of the tin until you get a shape resembling a pie crust. Pop into the fridge to harden.
To pre-cook the gooseberries
- Add the gooseberries and sugar to an oven/microwave proof lidded dish (no need to add water). Pop into the microwave for 1 minute, remove, give the dish a shake and heat again for another minute. [For oven method see notes]
- Leave the steamed gooseberries to one side to cool, you can test a berry when cool enough to see if you wish to add more sugar.
To make the egg-free crème pâtissière
- Add the sugar, cornflour and arrowroot to a non-stick saucepan.
- Melt the butter separately in the microwave and add this to the dry ingredients beat well with a whisk. You will get a crumbly sugary mess!
- Now add a bit of the pre-measured 'milk' and return to whisking to make a paste. Finally add the rest of the milk.NOTE: your butter may form tiny lumps on contact with the 'milk' if it's cold, don't worry it will melt on heating.
- Over a medium/high heat on the stove, continually whisk the crème pâtissière until it starts to thicken and begin to gently bubble. Once you have reached this stage count to 10 (this ensures the flour is cooked). Now remove from the heat and continue to stir for a minute.
- Set the crème pâtissière aside to cool slightly then begin to build your Gooseberry Tart.
To build the tart
- Remove the tart case from the fridge and pour the crème pâtissière into the centre, you will need a silicone spatula to smooth the crème pâtissière to the edges of the tart.
- Next spoon your sweetened and softened gooseberries over the top of the crème pâtissière making sure they are evenly distributed.
- Finally, spoon any excess sugar syrup over the gooseberries, this adds a beautiful shine to the dessert.
- Pop back into the fridge and chill for at least an hour to allow the crème pâtissière to set.
Nutrition
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