I LOVE berries!
Berries can always be used for simple decoration and are common in a lot of fillings. I also like to use berries when I make my icing for cakes. However, there is no other way to enjoy fresh berries in extraordinary way than a fruit tart! You have to make a tart shell and pastry cream, but they are not that hard!

Do you have fresh berries in your refrigerator? How about making an individual fresh berry tart with me?

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

Pastry brush

Ingredients for Fruit Tart

Baked tart shell (Click here for the recipe)

Pastry cream (Click here for the recipe)
Desired chocolate (I always prefer dark chocolate.)
Fresh berries (washed and dried)

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Glaze

1. Usually, apricot jam is often used for making glaze (I haven’t look up why yet.) But, any kind of jams will work for glaze. Since I am making fresh berries tarts, I picked a raspberry jam to make my glaze. Boil the jam in a sauce pan and pour over a strainer.
2. Use a wooden spoon and separate seeds and any chunks from boiled jam.

Coating & Filling

3. Melt the chocolate you picked and brush the tart shells (the bottom and side) with the melted chocolate. This step helps you to prevent tart shells becoming soggy and it also upgrades the taste! =]
4. Spread the pastry cream in the tart shells in an even layer.

Arranging Berries & Finishing

5. Arrange the berries over the surface of the pastry cream. Make sure that you try to fill the entire tart shell as the pastry cream is invisible.
6. To coat berries, lightly brush with the raspberry glaze that we prepared earlier. This
gives a shinny delicious look.

Garnish with fresh mint and serve or eat within 12 hours!

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Do not put components together more than 12 hours before you serve. Although we brushed the shell with melted chocolate to keep it from becoming soggy, the shell won’t be as crispy and the fruit won’t be fresh anymore.
2. Store in a refrigerator. Remember, they are fresh fruits! =]

Love the color of berries and mint!

Some people use ‘Pate Sucree,’ also known as sugar dough for tart shell.
Some people use short dough for their tart shell.
This recipe is a short dough recipe that you can easily make.

INGREDIENTS & EQUIPMENTS

Equipments

4-inch individual tart pans
Stand mixer
Rolling pin

Ingredients for Tart Dough – Makes 6 4-inch shell

8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 cups cake flour, sifted,

HOW TO MAKE

Making the Tart Dough

1. In a stand mixer (A hand mixer will work fine as well.) attach the paddle attachment, and add the butter, sugar, and vanilla extract.
2. Mix them on medium speed until you reach the cream stage. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula while mixing. Always!
3. Add the egg yolk and blend until smooth about 1 or 2 minutes.
4. Add the cake flour all at once, and mix on low speed until just blended.

Chilling the Dough

5. The dough will be very crumbly as you see on the photo. Just gently press the dough into a disk with your hand. Be careful not to knead the dough as it can become tough.
6. Wrap the dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 20 to 30 minutes.

If you’re making a fruit tart, this will the perfect time for you to make your pastry cream.

Rolling out the Dough: Preheat the oven to 400 F before you start rolling out.

7. Since I am making 6 small tart shells, divide dough into 6 equal disks.
8. Flour the work surface, scatter a little flour over the top of the dough, and roll it out
into even rounds about 2 inches larger in diameter than your tart pan.
Preheat the oven to 400 F before you start rolling out.

Transferring & Forming

9. To transfer the dough to the tart pan, fold it loosely around the rolling pin, and gently lift and position it over the pan. (No need to grease the pan – tart shells will come out
easily.
10. Gently press down to the inner edge and trip the dough by using your fingertips to press the dough against the sides and bottom of the pan.

Blind Baking

11. Poke holes in the bottom and sides of the dough by using a fork. This will help the dough from puffing up as it bakes.
12. Line with parchment paper or aluminum foil in circle shape.
13. Add enough pie weights (Like most of people, I do not have this special tools, so I used dry beans. Dry beans or rice works just as well.)
14. About 8 – 10 minutes until the dough is just set and the edges look dry. (I think I over baked a little bit, but it was totally fine – I love crispy tart shell!)

Cooling

15. Remove the pan from the oven and remove dry beans.
16. Remove parchment papers.
17. Just push up the bottom of tart pan and you can get the shell out easily.
18. Cool them on the wire rack.

ALEXA’S TIPS

1. Do not skip the step of chilling the tart dough or you may have a difficult time rolling it out.
2. To patch a hole while you are transferring the dough, gently fill the hole with a small piece from the outer edge and a little bit of water.
3. I personally don’t prefer to freeze doughs or cakes. However, you can freeze tart dough up to 2 months for your convenience. Just defrost it in a refrigerator over night before you form and bake it.