Glazed Fruit Tarts

If you have tried making these angel food cakes, then save the egg yolks for this must-try and mouth-watering recipe! Without further ado, here's presenting the prettiest and yummiest fruit tarts filled with silky smooth and delicious custard filling. Simply irresistible! ^_^

Glazed Fruit Tarts

I am sharing this post with the event, Little Thumbs Up (May 2014: Milk) organised by Bake For Happy Kids and My Little Favourite DIY hosted by Tze of Awayofmind Bakery House.

I am also sharing this post with the event, Tea Time Treats (May 2014: Open Top Tarts, Pies and Quiches) hosted by Jane of The Hedge Combers and Karen of Lavender and Lovage.

Glazed Fruit Tarts
Recipe referenced and modified from: Joy the Baker
Yields six 4-inch tarts

Ingredients Required

Shortcrust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg yolk, beaten
3/4 cup (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Custard
2 cups whole milk
6 large egg yolks
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Glaze
The Dream Baker's Creation

1 envelope (7 grams) of unflavoured gelatin powder
1/4 cup cold water
1/4 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tablespoon sugar

Topping
Any fruits as desired.

Bakeware Used

Six 4-inch fluted tart pans with removable base
One baking sheet (big enough to fit all six tart pans)

Preparation Steps

Shortcrust

1. Sift flour, powdered sugar and salt together.
2. Scatter pieces of cold butter over the mixture and mix until the butter are coarsely cut in using a pastry blender.
3. Continue blending the mixture while drizzling in the beaten egg yolk. Blend until the dough forms clumps and curds.
4. Turn dough out onto work surface and very lightly knead the dough just to incorporate the dry ingredients evenly.
5. Divide dough equally into six portions and gently press the dough evenly (about 1/4-inch thickness) over the bottom and sides of the tart pans. 
6. Put some holes on the bottom of the crust using a fork (but don't punch all the way through) and freeze the shortcrust for at least 30 minutes before baking.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
8. Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminium foil and fit the foil, butter side down, tightly against the frozen shortcrust.
9. Place tart pans on a baking sheet and bake for 20 - 25 minutes (varies across different ovens), or when the edges are slightly brown.
10. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust is puffed, gently press it down with a spoon. Bake the uncovered shortcrust for another 5 to 10 more minutes on the baking sheet. Keep an eye on the shortcrust as it will brown quickly.
11. Remove from the oven and allow shortcrust to cool in the tart pans for at least 15 minutes before removing from tart pans to cool over wire rack completely before filling.

Custard

1. Bring the milk to boil in a small saucepan.
2. In a large saucepan, whisk the yolks, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt until well blended and thick.
3. Whisking without stopping, slowly drizzle about 1/4 cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture, tempering the egg mixture so that they don't cook and curdle.
4. Still whisking, continue adding the rest of the hot milk in a steady steam.
5. Place the large saucepan over medium heat and, whisking constantly (make sure to get the edges of the pan), bring the mixture to a boil. 
6. Once boiled, continue whisking for one minute before removing from the pan from the heat. Mixture will be thick and silky. WARNING, once the mixture starts to bubble up, it will thicken very quickly. Don’t be afraid to remove the saucepan from the flame to whisk it smooth.
7. Whisk in the vanilla extract and let mixture stand for 5 minutes.
8. Whisk in the butter until fully incorporated and the custard is smooth and silky. NOTE, pass the custard through a sieve just to make sure there are no lumps. 
9. Transfer custard to a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap so that the plastic touches the surface of the custard and refrigerate until cold throughout. Custard can be refrigerated up to three days.

Glaze

1. Sprinkle gelatine over cold water in a small bowl and let stand for one minute. 
2. Add boiling water and stir until gelatine is completely dissolved. 
3. Add lemon juice and sugar and mix until sugar has dissolved. 
4. Refrigerate gelatine until mixture is slightly thicken but in still pourable consistency, stirring occasionally to prevent the gelatin from setting up. TIP, if gelatin sets before use, soften in a hot water bath until it reaches the desired consistency. It is advisable to prepare the gelatin glaze after assembling the fruit tarts.

Assembling the fruit tarts

1. Remove custard from fridge and whisk to loosen to spreadable consistency.
2. Spoon custard over shortcrust and smooth to form an even layer.
3. Lay fruits on top of custard in any desired arrangements.
4. Brush glaze over fruits.
5. Chill the tarts until glaze sets before serving. Best consumed within the same day.

The Dream Baker's Experiment

1. For the shortcrust, I've modified the flour, salt and butter quantity of the original source recipe (which makes a 9-inch tart crust) to yield about 574 grams of pastry dough sufficient for my six 4-inch tart pans. The pastry dough was divided into six portions each weighing approximately 95 grams for each of the 4-inch tart pan. 
2. The original recipe uses a food processor to blend the dry and wet ingredients together. I used a pastry blender in my recipe instead which works just fine (simply because I don't have a food processor). A fork works just fine too, but it may take a longer time to work the butter into the dry ingredients.
3. For the shortcrust, I used egg yolk from a large egg which weighed approximately 59 grams (with shell on). The weight of the yolk used was approximately 19 grams.
4. The original source recipe did not put holes on the bottom of the crust which I did in my experiment because I noticed that it helps in minimising the puffing of the bottom of the shortcrust during baking. (Note: Although there's such thing called the pie weights, this is yet another "investment" and the "holes" in the shortcrust should save the "hole" in your pocket).
5. For the custard filling, I used 2% reduced fat milk and yolks weighing approximately 91 grams in total from large eggs, each weighing approximately 58 grams (with shell on).
6. The above recipe yields approximately 2 1/2 cups of custard filling, which were divided entirely amongst the six shortcrust. 
7. Since I am using non-stick tart pans, I did not grease the tart pans as suggested in the original source recipe. The shortcrust could be removed with ease from the tart pans by leaving to cool in the tart pans for about 15 minutes after they have been removed from the oven.
8. The shortcrust may be soft and light in colour after it has been removed from the oven but it will harden and continue to brown when cooled, so do not over-bake.

Don't have the fluted tart pans? No worries! Below are the fruit tarts with shortcrust made from standard 12-muffin pan (bottom left) and standard 24-mini muffin pan (bottom right). Simply press the shortcrust dough into each cavity of the muffin pan.

The above recipe yields about 20 tarts of standard muffin size or 48 tarts of mini muffin size. The preparation steps remain unchanged, except to bake the shortcrust (covered with foil) for 10 to 15 minutes (varies across different ovens) or until edges are lightly browned and bake uncovered for another 3 to 5 minutes. When cooled, gently use the tip of a sharp knife to loosen the edges of the shortcrust and lift them from the muffin pan with ease.

Enjoy and have fun!

Dare to dream.

The Dream Baker