We all love fruit recipes and these fruit tarts were delicious. Sweet crust pastry, filled with a silky pastry cream and topped with fresh fruit. Does it get better than this? Oh my goodness! Everyone loved these! And the fact that they were bite sized, made it even more perfect!
Preparation Time 30 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Blind Bake Time 10-15 minutes
Yield 24 mini fruit tarts/ 12 regular sized fruit tarts
Ingredients
Shortcrust Pastry
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup/ 230 grams cold butter- cut into cubes
1 tablespoons ice water
Pastry Cream
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons corn starch
2 tablespoons flour
4 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups fresh fruit (berries, mango, kiwis and grapes)
Icing sugar- for dusting
Instructions
For the dough: Pulse the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor 2-3 times.
Add the butter and pulse until you get a mixture that resembles fine bread crumbs.
Add the water and pulse the mixture a couple times until the mixture just begins to come together. Do not over work the dough.
Turn the dough out onto a sheet of cling film. Bring the dough together with your hands but do not knead it.
Form a disk then wrap it in cling film. Chill the dough for 1 hour.
When ready to roll the dough, divide the dough in half, then place 1 disk between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out to a 9 inch circle.
Cut out 3 inch circles from the pastry. Press into mini tart pans. Prick the dough with a fork and chill it for 1 hour.
When you are ready to bake, line the prepared dough with parchment paper. Top with baking beans and blind bake the crust for 10 minutes at 180c. Remove the beans and parchment paper, then bake again for 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool completely before filling.
For the Pastry Cream: Whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl for 2-3 minutes until light, pale and doubled in volume.
Add the flour and corn starch. Mix it in until smooth. Slowly add the milk and whisk until a smooth mixture forms.
Pour the mixture into a saucepan. Cook it on a low heat for 5-6 minutes until thickened and it coats the back of a spoon.
Remove it from the stove and stir in the butter, vanilla and salt. Mix well.
Pour the pastry cream into a heat proof bowl and cover the surface of the pastry cream with clingfilm. This prevents a skin from forming while it cools.
Chill until ready to fill the tart shells.
Once cooled, fill the tart shells with the pastry cream. Top with fresh fruit and dust with icing sugar.
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