Strawberry Mini Tarts – Pasticcini alle Fragole

Go to any Italian pasticceria or bakery and you often find these miniature fruit tarts which look cute and are truly delicious. A crumbly pastry nest filled with custard and fresh fruit...so fresh and delicious especially in the summer.
You can use any fruit you like, I used strawberries as they are in season now in the UK but a mixture of the fruit you like best would also be very colourful.
The only problem is that they can be eaten in a single bite!
- Prep Time : 45 minutes
- Cook Time : 35 minutes
Ingredients
- flour - 180 g
- sugar - 3 tbsp
- salt - a pinch
- egg - 1
- butter - 60 g
- vanilla essence - 1 tsp
- For the lemon custard:
- milk - 250 ml
- eggs - 3
- flour - 50 g
- sugar - 140 g
- zest and juice of lemon - 1
- For the topping:
- strawberries - 12
- apricot or strawberry jam
- vanilla icing sugar
- molds for tarts - 12
Instructions
Make the pastry by putting the flour in a heap on your work surface. Make a hole in the middle and add the egg, salt, vanilla essence and sugar
Quickly incorporate the ingredients with your hands. Add the diced cold butter and make it into a ball. If it feels sticky put it in the fridge for 30 minutes wrapped in cling film
Flatten the pastry with a rolling pin and with a large glass or with a pastry cutter make 12 circles
Lay them over a greased baking tray and pierce the bottoms them with a fork
Cook the tarts for 25 minutes at 190C until slightly golden, then let them cool down and spread some jam over the bottom
Make the custard by bringing the milk to the boil with the lemon zest. Afterwards remove the zest from the milk.
Whisk the yolks with the sugar, add the flour, then slowly pour the hot milk onto the mixture whilst stirring
Bring the mixture slowly to the boil always stirring and boil for a 2-3 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Then switch the heat off, let it cool down and add the lemon juice whilst stirring all the time
Pour some custard over the tarts
Put a strawberry onto the custard. Sprinkle some vanilla icing sugar. Store in the fridge.
I am entering this into the Simple and in Season Food Blog Challenge for May.
They look wonderful Alida!
wow Alida this is one of your best….they look amazing…..Congrats, I might try it once and put it on my blog.
Please do 🙂 you are a great cook too!
Che golosi, sono una vera tentazione! Un bacione!
olala…what beautiful spring desserts! I could eat a few at one go!
I love these tarts Alida, I love strawberries!
These do look perfectly bite-sized, Alida! And so deliciously tempting! I love fresh strawberries with pastry cream, but in a little mini tart – that’s just perfection…
Thank you Mark, these are my favourites 😉
Oh Alida, I am truly salivating right now. I’m a total sucker for any custard based desserts and treats. Thank you for sharing, these look most delcious
Popping over from simple and in season and am quite in love with these!
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