Fresh Fruit Tartlets Recipe

#A crisp, sweet pastry shell lined with vanilla pastry cream is the ideal way to display the best of fresh fruit. Finished with a jam glaze, contrasting colors, such as red raspberries, golden peaches, and green kiwi fruit, look especially good. All fruit will look attractive, though; choose whatever is in season. “Plus 1 hour chilling time”# Make the Sweet Pastry Dough: Sift the flour onto a work surface and make a well in the center.

Put the egg yolks, sugar, salt, and vanilla essence in the well in the center of the sifted flour. “Side of well must be high enough to contain ingredients in center”

Using the rolling pin, pound the butter to soften it slightly and add it to the well. “Softening butter makes it easy to blend with other ingredients.”

With your fingertips, work the ingredients in the well until thoroughly mixed. Draw in the flour with the pastry scraper. “Work ingredients together before mixing in flour.”

With your fingers, work the flour into the other ingredients until coarse crumbs form. Press the dough into a ball.

Lightly flour the work surface, then blend the dough by pushing it away from you with the heel of your hand. “Gently knead dough just to mix it”

Gather up the dough with the pastry scraper and blend until it is very smooth and peels away from the work surface in one piece, 1-2 minutes.

Shape the dough into a ball, wrap it tightly, and chill until firm, about 30 minutes. Take Care: “Pastry doughs made with this quantity of sugar are particularly delicate. Be sure to give the dough enough time to chill.” #Make the Pastry Cream# Bring the milk to a boil in a saucepan with the split-open vanilla pod, if using. Remove the pan from the heat, cover, and let stand 10-15 minutes. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, and flour just to mix. “Milk is flavoured with vanilla pod”

Whisk in the hot milk until thoroughly combined. Return the mixture to the pan and cook over low heat, whisking constantly, until the flour has cooked and the cream is thick, 2-3 minutes. Simmer the cream over low heat 2 minutes. A note from Eatopic: “Simmering the pastry cream cooks the flour so it leaves no aftertaste.” “Use large bowl to whisk mixture”

Transfer the pastry cream to another bowl and remove the vanilla pod if using, or stir in the vanilla essence. Rub the butter over the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Let cool. #Line and Bake Blind The Tartlet Shells# Melt a little butter and use to brush the tartlet tins.

Lightly flour the work surface. Roll out the dough to a 3 mm (l/8 inch) thickness. “Unroll dough over tartlet tins”

Group the tins together, with their edges nearly touching. Roll the dough loosely around the rolling pin and drape it over the tins so all are covered.

Tear off a small piece of dough from the edge, form it into a ball, dip it in flour, and use it to push the dough into the tins. A note from Eatopic: “Brush off any excess flour from the dough.”

Roll the rolling pin over the tops of the tins to remove excess dough. With your fingers, press up the dough edges to form a deep shell. A note from Eatopic: “Excess pastry dough can be rolled out again and used to line any remaining tartlet tins.” “Neat, flat edge will be cut this way” “Cut off excess dough with rolling pin”

Set the tartlet tins on the baking sheet and prick the dough with the fork. Chill the tartlet shells until firm, about 30 minutes. Heat the oven to 200°C (400°F, Gas 6).

Line each tartlet shell with a piece of foil, pressing it down well.  A note from Eatopic: “Alternatively, omit the foil and line each tartlet shell with a tin of the same size, baking the dough in 2 batches.” “Foil ensures that tartlet shell keeps its shape during baking”

Bake the shells in the heated oven until the pastry is set, 6-8 minutes. Remove the foil and continue baking until thoroughly cooked, about 5 minutes longer.

With the pie slice, transfer the tartlet tins to the wire rack to cool. When cold, remove each tartlet shell from its tin. “Handle tartlet shells with care so you do not damage them” #Prepare the Fruit and Glaze# Peel the skin off the kiwi fruit in strips, working from top to bottom following the curve of the fruit Slice the fruit, then cut the slices into quarters. Pick over raspberries. A note from Eatopic: “If using strawberries, hull them and wash them only if they are dirty; cut any large berries in half. Peel and segment tangerines, discarding any pips.”

Remove stalks, then wash and dry the grapes. If the grapes are not seedless, remove the seeds with an opened paper clip (Click here to see the technique). Immerse peaches in a pan of boiling water, leave 10 seconds, then transfer with the slotted spoon to a bowl of cold water. Cut each peach in half, remove the stone, and peel off the skin. Cut the halves into slices.

Make the jam glaze, using apricot jam if the fruits are mixed in color or redcurrant jelly if they are all red fruit Melt the jam or jelly with the water in a small saucepan. Work it through the sieve and melt again over low heat. A note from Eatopic: “If using jelly, it will not need to be sieved.” #Assemble the Tartlets# Brush the inside of each tartlet shell with the melted jam glaze.

Half fill each shell with the cooled pastry cream, smoothing the top with the back of the spoon.

Arrange the fruit on top of the cream. Brush the fruit with the jam glaze. “Make decorative pattern with fruit” “Green fruit contrast with red and golden fruit” “Jam glaze makes fruit glisten like jewels” #Getting Ahead# The tartlet shells can be baked 2 days in advance and stored in an airtight container. The pastry cream can be made 1 day ahead and refrigerated, tightly covered.