Easy Fruit Tartlets with Pastry Cream
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For the perfect fruit-to-custard-to-crust ratio, look no further than these easy fruit tartlets! They’re made with buttery crust, vanilla bean-flecked pastry cream, a rainbow of fresh fruit, and apricot glaze. Ahhh they’re so pretty! I love making these for spring holidays, BBQs, birthdays, and everything in-between.
The snow outside my window tells me that it’s still winter, but the berry section of the grocery store tells me that spring has sprung. The weather is confused, as am I. I barely know what day it is and now this? SOS. Someone hand me another cup of coffee.
Anyways, this spring, I will basically be living in airplanes traveling from wedding to graduation to vacation. So while I’m home, I’ve been trying to catch up with friends over little dinner parties and casual hangs. And even though it’s chilly outside, I’m really leaning into some lighter desserts like strawberry shortcake cups or these fluffy no bake mini cheesecakes.
But these tartlets are truly always a springtime showstopper. Seriously, people freak out over them, I guess it’s all the pretty colors on top? Who knows. Either way, fruit tarts are a quintessential recipe that I learned how to make when I was a student in pastry school. And they’re still one of my go-tos but I like to make mini versions because I will always choose a higher crust-to-filling ratio. And they’re handheld so you don’t even need a fork!
Use seasonal fruit
The key to this recipe is to use in-season fruit. You want it to be juicy and flavorful since it’s the star of the show here. I like to use 3-5 fruits for variety and texture, but you can use as little or as many as you want. If you use more than 5 though, you might run out of room lol. These are some of my favorite options I’ve tried and loved!
- Berries – strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries
- Citrus – tangerines, mandarins, clementines, kumquats
- Stone fruit – peaches, cherries, nectarines, plums
- Tropical – pineapple, flaked coconut, mango, kiwi, passionfruit
Other things you need
Other than fruit, you’ll need some basic ingredients for this recipe. It starts off with these homemade mini tart shells, but feel free to go with store-bought to save some time.
For the filling, we’re using a classic pastry cream! Pastry cream has a bad rap for being finicky but it’s actually super easy to make. All you need is granulated sugar, cornstarch, Morton’s Kosher salt, egg yolks, whole milk, unsalted butter, and vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract.
Pastry cream
Let me get ahead of this real quick. I do not make pastry cream (a.k.a. crème pâtissière) the traditional way. Normally, you whisk the sugar and egg yolks and temper the mixture with hot cream. But, I just mix everything together in one pot. It’s so much easier and you don’t have to worry about scrambling the eggs.
Also, this is how my pastry teacher taught me how to make pastry cream so it’s chef-approved. And you know what? I’ve never, ever had one single person notice a difference flavor or texture-wise.
You want to cook the pastry cream over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until it reaches a boil. Let it boil for just 1-2 minutes, until it’s thick like pudding. Don’t over-cook the pastry cream or it’ll taste eggy!
Make the mini fruit tarts
Making the recipe in advance
You can fill the tart crusts the night before. But I wouldn’t add the fruit any sooner than 2-3 hours before your event. If the fruit sits for too long, it can release juices that will make the crust soggy!
Recipe yield
This recipe will make about 32 tarts depending on the size of your crusts. But it’s super easy to halve if you need less servings! You can also double the recipe. Just make sure to stir the pastry cream really well so it doesn’t burn.
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Fruit Tartlets with Custard (No Tart Pan Needed!)
Ingredients
Pastry Cream
- 100 grams granulated sugar (1/2 cup)
- 24 grams cornstarch (3 Tablespoons)
- Pinch of Kosher salt
- 4 large egg yolks, room temperature
- 480 milliliters whole milk (2 cups)
- 42 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes (3 Tablespoons)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
Fruit Tartlets
- 8 strawberries
- 2 kiwis
- 4 clementines
- 32 fresh raspberries
- 32 fresh blueberries
- 32 homemade mini tart shells or store-bought
- 80 grams apricot preserves (1/4 cup)
Equipment
- Large saucepan
- Fine mesh sieve
Instructions
Pastry Cream
- Mix the granulated sugar, cornstarch, and a pinch of Kosher salt together in a large sauce pan. Add the egg yolks and whisk the mixture until it's thickened and lightened in color, 2-3 minutes. Slowly whisk in the whole milk until smooth.
- Place the pot on the stove over medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for 1-2 minutes, just until the pastry cream is thickened. It should be the consistency of pudding.
- Immediately strain the pastry cream through a fine-mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Add the cold butter cubes and vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract. Stir until the butter is melted and the pastry cream is very smooth.
- Press a piece of plastic wrap to the top of the pastry cream to keep a skin from forming. Let the pastry cream cool at room temperature, about 1 hour. Then, refrigerate until it's completely chilled.
Fruit Tartlets
- Start by prepping the fruit. Cut the stems off of the strawberries and cut each strawberry into 4 slices. Then, peel the kiwis. Cut each kiwi into 4 slices & cut each slice into quarters so you have 32 pieces in total. Peel the clementines and separate the clementines into 32 segments. Then, wash the raspberries and blueberries. Dry the fruit very well.
- When the pastry cream is chilled, use a spoon or pastry bag to divide it evenly between the 32 tart shells. Top each tart with a slice of strawberry, slice of kiwi, clementine segment, one raspberry, and one blueberry.
- Next, microwave the apricot preserves in a small bowl until it's runny, about 20-30 seconds. Use a pastry brush to brush the fruit with the apricot glaze. Serve the tartlets immediately or refrigerate for up to 3 hours before serving. Enjoy!
