Mini Fruit Tarts

Instructions

1. 1

   Mix the pastry dough

   In a food processor, pulse the flour, powdered sugar, almond flour, and salt a couple of times to combine. Scatter the cold butter cubes over the top and pulse in short bursts until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with a few butter pieces the size of small peas. Add the beaten egg and vanilla, then run the machine just until the dough clumps together and starts to ride around the bowl, about 15 seconds. Stop there. Working it longer builds gluten and trades tenderness for toughness. By hand, rub the butter into the dry ingredients with your fingertips, then stir in the egg and vanilla with a fork until a shaggy dough forms.

2. 2

   Chill the dough

   Turn the dough onto a work surface, gather it into a ball without kneading, and press it into a flat disc about an inch thick. Wrap it well and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to 2 days. The rest lets the flour hydrate and firms the butter back up, which is what keeps the shells from slumping in the oven.

3. 3

   Line the pans

   Let the cold disc sit at room temperature for 5 to 10 minutes so it bends instead of cracking. Roll it out between two sheets of parchment to a scant 1/8 inch thick. Cut twelve 3 1/2-inch rounds, rerolling scraps once. Settle each round into a greased standard muffin cup or 3-inch tartlet pan, easing the dough down into the corner and pressing it up the sides without stretching it. Prick the bottoms several times with a fork, then freeze the lined pans for 15 minutes.

4. 4

   Blind bake the shells

   Heat the oven to 350°F. Press a square of parchment or a paper liner into each frozen shell and fill with pie weights, dried beans, or rice all the way to the rim. Bake for 15 minutes, then lift out the weights and paper. Return the shells to the oven for 8 to 10 minutes more, until the edges are golden and the bases look dry and sandy rather than pale and damp. Cool for 5 minutes, then turn the shells out onto a rack while still warm. They release cleanly now and stubbornly later.

5. 5

   Cook the pastry cream

   Warm the milk, half the granulated sugar, and the salt in a saucepan over medium heat until steaming and barely bubbling at the edges. Meanwhile, whisk the yolks with the remaining sugar until a shade paler, then sift in the cornstarch and whisk until perfectly smooth. Pour about half the hot milk into the yolks in a thin stream while whisking constantly, then return everything to the pan.

6. 6

   Thicken and finish

   Cook over medium heat, whisking without pause and getting into the corners of the pan, until the cream thickens and a few slow bubbles break the surface. Keep whisking for a full 30 seconds after it bubbles. That brief boil deactivates an enzyme in the yolks that would otherwise thin the cream as it sits. Off the heat, whisk in the butter and vanilla. Press the cream through a fine sieve into a shallow dish, lay plastic wrap directly on the surface, and refrigerate until cold and set, at least 2 hours.

7. 7

   Waterproof and fill

   If using the white chocolate, melt it gently and brush a thin layer over the inside of each cooled shell, then chill for 5 minutes to set. It forms an edible seal that buys you hours of crispness. Whisk the cold pastry cream smooth, transfer it to a piping bag, and fill each shell about three-quarters full, tapping the shells lightly on the counter to level the surface.

8. 8

   Top and glaze

   Arrange the sliced fruit over the cream, overlapping pieces so no custard peeks through. Stir the apricot jam with the water and warm it for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave until fluid, pressing it through a sieve if it is chunky. Brush a whisper-thin coat over the fruit for shine and to keep cut surfaces from browning. Serve within a few hours, chilled.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Weigh your flour if you can. A heavy-handed cup can add 20 grams, and in a dough this lean on liquid that is the difference between supple and crumbly.

• 2.

  If the dough cracks as you line the pans, it is too cold. Wait two minutes and try again. If it tears and sticks, it is too warm, so chill it briefly.

• 3.

  Patch any cracks in the baked shells with a smear of raw dough before the second bake, or seal them with the melted chocolate afterward. Leaks are how cream escapes.

• 4.

  Fill the weights all the way to the top rim of each shell, not halfway. Supporting the full height of the walls is what keeps the sides from sagging inward.

• 5.

  Choose firm fruit that holds its shape: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, kiwi, mandarin segments, or thinly sliced stone fruit. Watery melon and overripe berries will weep into the cream.

• 6.

  Both the shells and the pastry cream can be made up to two days ahead and stored separately. Assemble within a few hours of serving for the best contrast between crisp pastry and cool custard.

• 7.

  If the cooked pastry cream turns lumpy, the sieve fixes it. Do not skip that step even when it looks perfect.

Equipment

• Food processor (optional)
• Standard 12-cup muffin tin or twelve 3-inch tartlet pans
• Rolling pin
• 3 1/2-inch round cutter
• Parchment paper
• Pie weights, dried beans, or rice
• Medium heavy-bottomed saucepan
• Balloon whisk
• Fine-mesh sieve
• Piping bag
• Pastry brush
• Wire cooling rack

Storage