With Rhubarb Season in full swing and the local strawberry season just being around the corner, it was a given that I have to share my recipe for a gluten-free strawberry rhubarb tartlet. A delectable crust made with Gluten-Free Pâté Sablée filled with strawberries and rhubarb and topped with a scrumptious streusel topping. This tartlet can be served on its own or with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream. Personally, I choose to reheat my tartlets for a few minutes in the oven before serving.
Recipe Ingredient Notes
Flour: For the streusel, please use your favorite gluten-free flour blend like Bob's Red Mill 1-for-1 or Cup4Cup. If your blend does not contain xanthan gum, please add 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum.
Tart Dough: For the tart dough, please follow my recipe and instructions for my Gluten Free Pâté Sablée.
Recipe Equipment Notes
Tart shells: I prefer baking those gluten-free strawberry rhubarb tartlets in individual tartlet pans. First of all, they look cute, and second this way we avoid a soggy middle. A lot of times large tarts don't bake all the way and you end up with an under-baked middle part no one wants to even consider eating. This recipe is for 6 tartlets (you may have some extra tart dough and filling. You can always bake off more). The tart shells I use are 4".
Rolling pin: you will need a rolling pin to roll out the gluten free tart dough
What’s a Streusel Topping?
A basic streusel topping is just made of brown sugar, flour, and butter. Sometimes you see streusel toppings with added oats and nuts. I like to stick with the basics for my streusel topping – the only thing “fancy” I add is cinnamon.
Streusel can be made easily in just one bowl. Combine the dry ingredients (sugar, flour, salt, and cinnamon) and with a fork or your hands work in the room temperature butter until it resembles crumbles. Store the crumble in the fridge until you are ready to use it. You can also make a bigger batch and freeze it. It’s a great addition to quickbreads and muffins.
Combine dry ingredients and butter 
With your hands turn it into a crumble topping
How to assemble the tart shells
If you would like to see a visual guide - here is a reel I put together on how to make your tart shells
To make tart shells, roll out your chilled Gluten Free Pâté Sablée between two sheets of parchment paper. If the dough is too cold to roll out, allow it to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. The best way to roll out any dough is by starting in the center and rolling outward. To ensure your dough rolls out even, rotate your parchment paper 90 degrees every few rolls and repeat (this will also prevent the dough from cracking). If the dough feels stuck or very sticky, dust it with some additional gluten-free flour.
If the dough softens, refrigerate for a few minutes before cutting and placing it into the tart shells.
Remove the parchment paper and use a cutter or plate slightly larger than your tart shells to cut it into circles. They do not have to be perfectly round but bigger than our tart shells.
Lay your dough circles over your tart shells and gently press into the shell. Use your fingers to gently press the dough into the bottom of the pan and up along the edges. Don't worry if excess dough hangs over the edges. Take a small paring knife or use your fingers and trim off the dough that's hanging over the edges of each tart pan. It's okay to leave a little bit of extra dough (like ¼" or 2-3mm) in case the dough shrinks a little bit while we blind bake it.
lay your pastry dough in your tart shell 
it's okay if there extra dough 
use your fingers or a knife to remove extra dough
Allow your prepared tart shells to sit in your fridge for 30 minutes before blind baking them. You can shape the tart shells up to 3 days ahead of time before baking them. You may also freeze them up to 3 months.
Yes, you can re-roll all your dough scraps but I wouldn't reroll them more than 2 - 3 times top or your dough will be very tough!
How to blind bake tart shells
Before we can fill our tart shells for our gluten free strawberry rhubarb tartlet with our strawberry rhubarb filling, we have to blind bake them. This step does not fully bake the dough. It just gives it a head start!
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper into 6 pieces
- When your oven is preheated, line your prepared tart shells with the cut parchment paper and fill them with dried beans
- Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven.
- Remove the parchment paper and dried beans (just grab the edges and remove them)
- With a fork gently poke each tart shell 3 times (this helps to release any air that might be trapped)
- Return tart shells to the oven and bake an additional 4 minutes.
How to make your fruit filling
You may wonder why I peel my rhubarb - pretty simple: without it's very fibrous skin and therefor it cooks a lot faster.
- Peel and chop your rhubarb into small pieces
- chop your washed and cleaned strawberries (use a paper towel to dry your washed strawberries)
- combine rhubarb and strawberries in a small bowl with the zest of half a lemon and vanilla extract
- add your cornstarch and sugar mixture
- stir to combine and allow to sit for a few minutes
Important: depending on how watery your strawberries are, they may release a lot of juices at the bottom of your bowl. Therefore I do not recommend adding all of those juices to the tarts because this may result in a very soggy tartlet crust.
combine your fruit 
add sugar and cornstarch 
allow the filling to sit for 10 minutes
How to assemble your tartlets for baking
- place 1 teaspoon of your sugar flour mixture to the bottom of your tart shell. This will avoid a soggy bottom
- add a generous heaping of filling. It will cook down so be generous
- top with streusel topping
dust the bottoms of your tart shells with flour sugar mixture 
fill with fruit filling 
top with streusel topping
Baking in grams
I share my recipes in grams and by weight since baking by weight is the most accurate way to bake. Digital Scales are very affordable and very affordable. You can purchase them on Amazon for less than a set of measuring cups. Measuring cups are very inaccurate and can cause significant errors when it comes to gluten-free baking or baking in general. Especially since I bake with gluten-free flours which weigh differently than “regular” flours. I do provide some ingredients like spices and leavening agents in measuring spoons. To learn more about Baking with a digital scale, make sure to check out my post about Baking by weight.
Note about Ovens and Oven Temperatures
All my recipes are tested and developed with a conventional oven. I always bake my baked goods on the rack placed in the MIDDLE of my oven. This way the heat coming from the bottom will not burn my baked goods.
If you are baking with convection (fan-forced), please adjust the recipes accordingly. Be also prepared that the convection oven can cause your baked goods to dry out quickly and still be raw inside. Be aware that it takes at least 15-20 minutes for a standard American Oven to be fully preheated. I highly recommend investing in an Oven Thermometer.
Substitutions and Modifications
Any dietary or ingredient modifications/substitutions to this recipe may alter the end result in appearance and taste. I test my recipes several times as published in this post and The Gluten Free Austrian Blog is not responsible for the outcome of any recipe you find on our website.
📖 Recipe
Gluten Free Rhubarb Strawberry Tartlet
Ingredients
For the Gluten Free Pâte sablée
- 240 grams Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour
- 40 grams fine ground almond flour
- 75 grams powdered sugar
- ⅛th teaspoon kosher salt
- 113 grams butter, room temperature, cut into smaller pieces
- 1 large egg, room temperature (around 60 grams)
For the Streusel Topping
- 140 grams brown sugar
- 200 grams Gluten-Free Multipurpose Flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 85 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
For the Tart Filling
- 400 grams washed and diced strawberries
- 200 grams peeled and diced rhubarb
- Zest from half an organic lemon
- 30 grams Cornstarch
- 50 grams granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Crust Dust to avoid a soggy tart bottom
- Combine 1 tablespoon gluten free flour and 1 tablespoon granulated white sugar
Instructions
Make your Gluten Free Pâté Sablée
- Combine your gluten-free flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, and salt in your food processor and pulse to combine 10-15 times.
- Add your room temperature butter and pulse 10-15 times until it has a crumbly texture.
- Turn your food processor to blend and blend for 10 seconds and add your whole egg through the feeder.
- Blend to combine (5-10 second)
- Remove the dough (which will be very soft) from the food processor bowl onto a parchment-lined sheet pan. Using the parchment paper, compress it into a disc and wrap it with the paper. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before rolling out.
- This dough can be made for up to 3 days ahead and be frozen for up to 3 months.
Make your Gluten Free Streusel Topping
- Combine dry ingredients in a small bowl, add butter, and with a fork or your hands crumble together until it resembles a streusel topping
- Store in the fridge until ready to use. This can be made ahead and stored in the freezer.
Make your Rhubarb Strawberry Filling
- In small bowl mix together cornstarch, granulated white sugar and salt and set aside.
- Combine your peeled, diced rhubarb and diced strawberries in a bowl
- Add lemon zest and vanilla to your fruit and stir to combine
- Add your cornstarch sugar mixture to the fruit and mix to combine
- Allow to sit before assembling your tarts.
How to make your gluten free tart shells
- To make tart shells, roll out your chilled Gluten Free Pâté Sablée between to sheets of parchment paper. If the dough is too cold to roll out, allow it to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes. The best way to roll out any dough is by starting in the center and rolling outward. To ensure your dough rolls out even, rotate your parchment paper 90 degrees every few rolls and repeat (this will also prevent the dough from cracking). If the dough feels stuck or very sticky, dust it with some additional gluten free flour.
- If the dough softens, refrigerate for a few minutes before cutting and placing it into the tart shells.
- Remove the parchment paper and use a cutter or plate slightly larger than your tart shells to cut it into circles. They do not have to be perfectly round but bigger than our tart shells.
- Lay your dough circles over your tart shells and gently press into the shell. Use your fingers to gently press the dough into the bottom of the pan and up along the edges. Don't worry if excess dough hangs over the edges.
- Take a small paring knife or use your fingers and trim off the dough that's hanging over the edges of each tart pan. It's okay to leave a little bit of extra dough (like ¼" or 2-3mm) in case the dough shrinks a little bit while we blind bake it.
- Allow your prepared tart shells to sit in your fridge for 30 minutes before blind baking them. You can shape the tart shells up to 3 days ahead of time before baking them. You may also freeze them up to 3 months.
How to blind bake tart shells
- Preheat your oven to 350F
- Cut a sheet of parchment paper into 6 pieces.
- When your oven is preheated, line your prepared tart shells with the cut parchment paper and fill with dried beans
- Bake for 10 minutes and remove from the oven.
- Remove the parchment paper and tried beans (just grab the edges and remove them)
- With a fork gently poke each tart shell 3 times (this helps to release any air that might be trapped)
- Return tart shells to the oven and bake an additional 4 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before filling them
To assemble your tarts and bake them
- Add ½ teaspoon of your "crust dust" to the bottom of your pre-baked tart shells. This will help to avoid a soggy bottom.
- Divide your rhubarb strawberry filling between your tartlet shells. Add a generous heaping of filling. It will cook down so be generous.
- Top with streusel topping. You can really pack on the streusel, it will all bake together
- Place in your 350F oven and bake for 30 -35 minutes. The streusel should be golden brown and you may see some juices running from the tartlets.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing from the tart shells.
Notes
- You will most likely have extra tart dough. If you have more than 6 tart shells, feel free to bake all of them.
- The Tartlets will clearly be the best the day baked but you can store them in your fridge for up to 5 days. Serve them at room temperature (or go crazy and nuke them in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm them up).
Alene says
I live in Florida and I believe we have passed the rhubarb season here. What would you suggest for filling? Just strawberries? Or something else? Thanks! I love your sablée recipe! It is exactly the way I would make my pie crusts before I needed to be gluten free, either egg or ice water. I miss those days of perfect, easy pie crusts.
Daniela Weiner says
Alene, this is a great question. I am actually working on a list of fillings but here are a few ideas: Peaches! I love a good peach tartlet. Or blueberries? You can't go wrong with blueberries or just strawberries.
Michelle says
Highly recommend this recipe. Thank you for explaining everything step by step
Lorraine says
hello! what size tart dish would you recommend for making one large tart?
Daniela Weiner says
Lorraine, this is an excellent question. I prefer a 9" tart shell for a large tart. I feel like if you go bigger than that, your middle part of the tart will be soggy. I hope this helps
Lorraine says
Great, thank you so much!