Easter calls for a fresh, light dessert. Flaky pastry filled with vanilla pastry cream and topped with fresh fruit will make a great finale after a special dinner. Fruit tarts are quite easy to make and you have a variety of options; make from scratch, or buy some products and put it together that way. Try the scratch version; really it’s not much work, is very easy, and eliminates all the additives, sugar, and food colourings that are in the boxed versions.
Ingredients:
12-15 frozen tart pastry shells, thawed (as a cheat, buy them. You can find good quality ones)
1 lb of mixed berries; blueberries, strawberries, or a combination
4 tsp apple jelly or apricot jam
1 cup whipping cream
Vanilla Pastry Cream (or you can sub a small package of Jello instant vanilla pudding, prepared, bake the tart shells, and skip to the assembly step.)
1 cup of milk (any kind except skim, but 1% worked well)
1/4 cup sugar
2 Tbsp flour
1 tsp cornstarch
2 tsp butter
1 tsp vanilla
In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, flour, and cornstarch until thickened slightly and pale. Set aside. Heat the milk in a small saucepan over medium heat until it’s steaming and there’s bubbles clinging to the side of the pan.
Slowly pour the heated milk into the egg mixture bit by bit, whisking constantly as you go. Once you have whisked in all the milk, pour the mixture back into the pan and put it back over medium low heat.
Whisking constantly, heat the milk until it thickens. This should only take about 5 minutes or so, just until the mixture starts to bubble. If the mixture thickens up before it bubbles, don’t worry-it’s all good.
Continue to cook the pastry cream, whisking, until it will mound on a spoon, like pudding. It should only take about 2 minutes more. Remove the pan from the stove and whisk in butter and vanilla until smooth. Pour the mixture into a clean bowl and top with cling film, laid right against the surface of the pastry cream. Chill in the fridge for about 3 hours.
Bake your tart shells:
Pre-heat oven to 400 F.
Set the tart shells on a baking sheet and gently prick them with a fork. Bake them for about 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
To assemble your tarts:
Fill the tarts about 1/2-3/4 full of pastry cream. If you don’t use it all, don’t worry, it makes a tasty snack. Top with sliced strawberries, whole blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, or a mixture.
Spoon the jelly into a small saucepan and melt, stirring, over medium low heat. You can add about 2 tsp or a bit more of water to thin it out a bit before dabbing all over the berries to coat. The jelly will glaze them nicely and set up while you let the tarts chill in the fridge for an hour.
These tarts don’t last long and are best consumed the day they are made, but can be made a day ahead if you wish. They will last about 2 to 3 days, max. I doubt you’ll have a problem with leftover tarts, as they were consumed very greedily at my house. You could, if you need to make things ahead, make the pastry cream the day before and have it in the fridge ready to go for when you need it. When you serve the tarts, you can top each with a small dollop of whipping cream to make them extra special.
Makes about 15 tarts
Pastry Cream recipe adapted from Canadian Living
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