Monday, April 5, 2010

Mini Fruit Tarts

I wanted to offer something a little different for the Farmer's Market this weekend since it was a Holiday. I decided to keep the tartlette idea going and chose to make these sweet pastry crust mini fruit tarts.
The crust was easy to make and easy to handle and the filling went together in no time. I actually had fun creating different designs out of the berries. I found the recipe here and used cream cheese, rather than mascarpone cheese. The recipe made 4 mini tarts.
I read, somewhere online but I can't remember where, about pouring a layer of chocolate onto the baked crust before you fill the tart with the cream cheese filling, to keep it from becoming soft. That's what I did and these were so good!

Fresh Fruit Mini Tarts( adapted from joyofbaking)

Sweet Pastry Crust

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temp.
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Filling:

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese or cream cheese
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla

1. To make crust: Sift or whisk flour and salt. Set aside.
2. Place butter in mixer bowl and beat til softened.
3. Add sugar and beat til light and fluffy.
4. Gradually add beaten egg, beating just til incorporated. Don't overmix.
5. Add flour mixture all at once and mix on low til it forms a ball of dough. Don't overmix dough or it will be hard when baked.
6. Place dough on plastic wrap and shape into a disc and refridgerate til firm, approx. 30 minutes.
7. Roll dough out to 1/8" thick. Place dough into fluted tart pan with removable bottom and prick all over bottom with a fork.
8. Place back in fridge 20 minutes.
9. Preheat oven to 400 and, when chilled, line crust with foil and fill with dried beans or rice.
10. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or til golden. Cool completely before filling.
**At this point, if you'd like, you can melt some semisweet chocolate in a double boiler and pour and spread a thin layer of chocolate onto the baked cooled crust.
Filling:

1. Place all the ingredients into a mixer bowl and beat til smooth.
2. Fill tart with filling and decorate with fresh blueberries, raspberries, strawberries or any other fruit you like.
3. Warm some fruit jam, such as apricot, peach, blackberry, etc. and brush over fruit to give a nice shiny look. Refridgerate til ready to serve.

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