Tarts - savory or sweet are always winners on any tea table or for any meal, but I think sweet tarts are by far more popular than their savory "cousins"! It is just because the possibilities for fillings and crusts are endless and by just using one or two different ingredients every time you will soon have quite a repertoire of tasty tart recipes!
A tart is essential a pastry case with some sort of filling, be it custard, fruit or the combination of the two. A tart does not have a pastry lid, I think then it becomes a "pie". I like to serve these dainty little fruit tarts at functions, simply because they are easy to prepare in advance, they are so beautiful and colorful and they are popular with young and old.
For me, the secret to a fantastic tart is the pastry. It has to be light, crumbly and almost "shortbread-like"! I found this easy recipe on Cook Almost Anything and because you can make this in a food processor, it was the recipe of choice for me! I do believe though, if you rub the butter and flour by hand, your result will be slightly lighter. The other important element to my fruit tarts is the custard or Crème Pâtissière . It has to be homemade and it has to be creamy and thick. The recipe I followed was the following:
500ml thick cream
125ml whole milk
4 egg yolks
125ml caster sugar
80ml flour
a pinch of salt
vanilla extract or vanilla pod - cut open and inside scraped out.
Beat the egg yolks, vanilla and sugar until light and pale in color, add the flour and keep beating until it is combined well. Heat the milk, salt and cream in a pot with the empty vanilla pod until it starts to boil. Remove the pod from the cream and mix the hot cream into the sugar mixture bit by bit. Pour the whole mixture back into the pot and stir until it thickens. Keep the heat low and watch the pot, otherwise you will be left with scrambled eggs.... Let the custard cool down, covered with cling film to prevent a skin from forming on the top. Pipe the custard into the pastry cases and decorate with fresh fruit.
I "glazed" my tarts with some passion fruit coulis that I had available.
19 comments:
Honey!! I'm coming home to eat them all up...TanFastix!!!@#$%^&
THE HUSBAND
Ooooh – those look like naughty little tarts that need to be eaten straight away! (Beautiful images btw.)
These are perfect for sharing and must taste delicious with their creamy centres.
Gorgeous tarts. They look like the beautiful tarts we saw in France in the boulangeries there. Nina, you can be our pastry chef any time.
Sam
I actually prefer savory tarts - but I usually prefer savory to sweet. These are beautiful even to a savory lover like me!
In my house we love savory tarts. These look delicious.
Your tartlets look so pretty and delicious Nina.
Stunning tarts Nina.....if there are any left after the husbands visit home for tea I wouldn't mind one......or three hehe!! Tell me if you say thick cream do you mean the one you can take out in gloopy spoonfuls??? Thanx xxx
Just beautuiful. Cane never get enough of passion fruit. The custard lloks perfect.
They look gorgeous Nina!! Beautiful little things that make me want to have one now!
Looks soooooo beautiful.. I love les petites tartes!!! Creme patissiere is something I love too ;) Well done, Nina!! Love your first pic ;)
Cute! They look gorgeous!!
Oh Nina - look at those little beauties!! Too gorgeous - and so little they couldn't POSSIBLY contain any calories, right??! ;-)
these are just perfect! I could eat them all!
Oh! Your tarts are adorable, nice to look at and so yummie combination of fresh fruits and cream!
I could eat way too many of these beauties - they look great Nina.
Hi Nina,
I'm sneaking into your blog and drooling! Ohh these fruit tarts are exactly what I want for breakfast. Sighhhh....
Laura
What attention to detail. You have the patience of an angel, Nina.
Beautiful styling!!!!!!
Visiting your blog today, I found myself perusing your home page and then getting EXTREMELY excited when I found your desserts section.
Funny how some of us are into sweet and others prefer savoury. I am a confirmed SWEET.
Thanks Nina, I'm off to explore your rice pudding next!
Lana
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