little fruit tarts or tartelettes aux fruits

So… as you know my sister gave me all of her French cookbooks. A real treat for moi! The first thing I made from one of them were these tarts.  Now, the book said they could be time consuming- but really…. nothing is more time consuming than housework. Cooking is never a burden on my time.  Theses are not that bad- especially if you do the tart shells a day ahead.

*completes recipe at the end

Now- I only had 4 mini tart pans. So.. I improvised. I’m sure a French pastry chef would gasp and have choice word s for my “American” mini tart shells…..but they worked just fine for this lil American girl.

A biscuit cutter and a muffin pan! WoooHooo. There’s MY mini tart shell.

I love to tell y’all how I mess things up…. with this recipe it was TWO things. Line the shells with parchment BEFORE you put your beans/pie weights in there. Me? Whoops. I forgot. Lunar surface bottoms. (The French chef is REALLY cursing me now…) Second thing? Well, the recipe called for currant jam to glaze. Me? I called for strawberry- because that’s all I had and although I would prefer apricot ( least color) I was not about to go out in the rain with a 2 year old for one thing.

I bought a strawberry plant last month and got (gasp!)  a strawberry. Can you imagine? The blackberries came from a friendly alien. Just kidding. Produce stand. They rock.

I can see how you could EASILY turn this into a instant dessert. I will post that at the end too.

The custard was “tricky” the book said to heat the milk until small bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Huh? This is what I assumed it was: ( I needed my angry French chef there)

But, I’m not sure. It came out yummy though.

yes, I wanted to lick the pot. But it was too hot.

Ok here is the recipe – at the end I will also post the cheap and easy low cost low time possibility too. But- the latter has NOT been tested.

From Savoring France by Georgeanne Brennan

Tartelettes aux Fruits

Pastry crust:

2 c flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp milk

7 tbs butter cut into chunks

6 tbs ice water

mix the flour and salt. Add the butter until you have a meal with pea sized balls.

Add the ice water 1 tbs at a time, while mixing lightly. Gather the mass into a ball, (it’s okay if it’s crumbly) wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 15 minutes

Preheat oven to 425º

Roll out dough to 1/4″ and cut with a 2″ biscuit or cookie cutter

Place in a nonstick muffin pan and line with a square of parchment, add dry beans or pie weights and bake for 10 min.

Remove the parchment and weights- prick with a fork and bake another 4-6 minutes

Allow to cool

Melt 1/2 cup jelly in the microwave- (30 seconds) brush over cooled shells. Reserve remaining.

For the custard:

Beat 1/2 c sugar and 3 egg yolks until creamy. Add in 1/3 cup flour.

set aside’

1 cup milk into a saucepan over med heat. Heat until small bubbles form along edge.

gradually pour the hot milk into egg mixture- beating continuously.

Place mixture back on heat (med-high)stirring- when it begins to thicken after 2-3 minutes- remove from heat and add 1 tbs butter and 1 tsp vanilla, stir and allow to cool off a bit.

Spread into pastry shells and top with berries. Brush remaining glaze over berries to seal. Store in fridge.

Another (possible ) way:

frozen pastry shells

instant pudding/pie filling

same berries and glaze.

How bout that? 🙂

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