fruits tartlets

These classic tartlets has three components: a sweet pastry crust, a luscious pastry cream, and glistening rows of fresh fruit. It looks enticing and colorful whether you use a single fruit or a medley of fruits. It is spring right now and raspberries and blueberries are abundant and available so that is what I choose for my tartlets.

The crust which is a Pâte Sucrée, has a sweet flavor and a crisp texture that is the perfect vehicle for holding the pastry cream. The crust is pre baked and can be pre-baked for 3 or 4 days ahead and kept in the refrigerator. The classic filling for a fruit tart is pastry cream, or Crème pâtissière, which is a rich, thick custard made from a mixture of milk, vanilla, eggs, sugar, flour and cornstarch (a thickener) that is cooked on the stove. It can be made a few days in advance so the only thing you need before assembling the tartlet is to assemble the fruits on top.

Raspberries tartlets! I put a bit of orange zest on top and a little sprig of mint for color.

Blueberries tartlets are brush with a coat of apricot jam so it is shiny.

1 batch of Pâte Sucrée- click on LINK for recipe

1 batch of Crème pâtissière - click on LINK for recipe

Fruits toppings:

2 pears

1/3 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of butter

Raspberries/blueberries

strawberries or whatever fruits you like

Apricot jam for brushing

Peel your pears, halves and core them.

Put the pears in skillet over medium heat with butter and sugar.

Let the sugar, butter cook slowly. It takes about 10 /15 minutes for the pears to caramelized. Turn the pears as needed so they can caramelized evenly

When the sugar are dark brown and the pears are caramelized turn off the heat and set aside.

Put of your Pâte Sucrée into a tart mold and lined them with a parchment paper and put weight on top. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Bake for about 15 minutes or until the edge of the tart is brown. Remove the weight and let the tart shells cool down.

Fill the tart shells with Crème pâtissière

Put the fruits on top of the Crème pâtissière and refrigerate until ready to serve.