With Valentine's Day coming up, we all need a festive, chocolate-filled dessert in our lives. And if that chocolate comes in the form of Nutella? Major bonus points as far as I'm concerned, so if you're like me, this amaretto-strawberry-Nutella puff pastry tart with its creamy, decadent filling and perfectly flaky crust is everything you need in a Valentine's Day dessert.

The amaretto strawberry Nutella puff pastry tart with flowers and a bottle of amaretto.

I know Valentine's Day isn't everyone's favorite holiday, but I'm a fan. After the holidays, I always get into a funk. I love any excuse to celebrate and all the happy, warm vibes that come with the holiday season. But then the holidays quickly vanish, and we're left with the dead of winter. Bummer.

However, everything feels much cheerier once Valentine's Day arrives, and it gives me every excuse I need to get back into holiday mode. See? Valentine's Day is oh-so fun and the perfect cure to your holiday hangover. Besides, Valentine's Day is the ultimate chocolate lovers day, so even if you think it's nothing but commercialized nonsense, you can at least get excited about all the sweet treats that come with the holiday. True story. So let's all agree Valentine's Day is a welcome celebration.

A front view of the strawberry Nutella puff pastry.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Now that we're all pumped for Valentine's Day, let's start baking. We begin by making our delicious filling while we thaw a sheet of frozen puff pastry. For the filling, we first beat a little cream cheese until it's fluffy. I like adding cream cheese to the filling because it adds a touch of tang to balance the rich amaretto and Nutella. Plus, cream cheese is delicious and makes everything better so go with it.

With our cream cheese all fluffy, we beat in the Nutella, amaretto and espresso powder. Our simple and easy filling is now ready. Just try not to eat all of it by the spoonful before we cover our puff pastry tart. Trust me. It's harder than it sounds.

Once our puff pastry thaws, we roll it out on parchment to about 12 inches and prick it all over with a fork. As a little heads up, if you thaw your puff pastry ahead of time, make sure you don't leave it out in room temperature for too long. Just pop it in the refrigerator if you thaw the puff pastry but aren't quite ready for it. We want to keep those doughy layers chilled.

And make sure to remember the parchment paper. One time I forgot to assemble a puff pastry tart on parchment paper and transferring that filled tart to a baking sheet by hand was a mess. Even though I somehow managed, don't do that. You'll want to kick yourself, and your tart won't look nearly as pretty.

We're now ready to spread that Nutella goodness onto our puff pastry. Leave about an inch or so around the border because we then fold over the edges like so.

To finish the tart, we stir together sliced strawberries, dark brown sugar and cornstarch in a small bowl and layer them on top of the Nutella filling. Give the pastry edges a brush of egg yolk and water to help add a little color and then pop the tart in the oven.

We don't want the Nutella filling to burn, so the tart doesn't bake for too long. In the final couple minutes, we add some chopped pecans for a nice texture contrast, and then our amaretto-strawberry-Nutella puff pastry tart is ready to enjoy. Grab a fork and dig in.

A piece of the strawberry Nutella puff pastry cut into a square.

Perfect Pairing

You can't go wrong with a creamy milk stout. As the name suggests, milk stouts are brewed with lactose, so it gives the beer a velvety, thick mouthfeel that stands up well to the rich Nutella filling.

In the mood for wine? A ruby port is perfect. With chocolate, something in the port family is always a good call, and a ruby port in particular is great with this puff pastry tart because of its fruit-forward profile, which pairs beautifully with the strawberries.

When you need a little chocolatey decadence in your life, do yourself a favor and try this amaretto-strawberry-Nutella puff pastry tart. Please let me know how you enjoyed this amaretto-strawberry-Nutella puff pastry tart recipe in the comment section and don’t forget to sign up for my newsletter. You can also catch me on Instagram, Pinterest, Facebook and Twitter.

Cheers!

A aerial view of the strawberry Nutella puff pastry

A side view of the strawberry Nutella puff pastry.

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