Mini Strawberry Custard Tarts

5 from 22 votes

Mini Strawberry Custard Tarts

These mini strawberry custard tarts have a crisp pâte sablée shortcrust pastry shell that is filled with the silkiest vanilla custard, whipped cream, and sweet, juicy, strawberries.

Prep Time1

Cook Time1

Waiting Time2

Total Time4

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: French

Servings:

Calories: 622kcal

Author: Katalin Nagy

Equipment

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry tart shell

90 g Powdered sugar
230 g Pastry flour or all purpose flour
30 g Almond flour
Pinch of salt
110 g Unsalted butter very cold and cut into cubes
50 g Egg approximately 1 egg

Vanilla custard

500 g Whole milk
100 g Granulated sugar
80 g Egg yolk approximately 4-5 egg yolks
25 g Corn starch sifted
25 g All purpose flour sifted
2 teaspoon Vanilla bean paste
50 g Unsalted butter soft/at room temperature

Whipped cream

200 g Heavy Cream very cold, 36% minimum fat content
100 g Mascarpone cold, full-fat
40 g Powdered sugar sifted

Garnish

Fresh strawberries
Chopped pistachio nuts

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Sift together the flour, icing sugar, almond flour, and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add the chunks of very cold butter, and rub the mixture between your hands until it forms a sand-like consistency.
Gradually add egg into the mixture and continue to mix with your hands, just until the dough comes together. Then knead with the palm of your hand for 1-2 miniutes until the dough becomes smooth.
If the dough is too warm and feels sticky, place it into the fridge for 10-15 minutes to chill. Otherwise, roll the dough out to 2mm thickness between two silicone baking mats and then place it all in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Prepare your oven rack with the perforated "air" baking mat and perforated tart rings on top.
Take the dough out of the freezer, remove the top silicone mat, and cut out 8 circles using one of the perforated tart rings to create the bottom of your tart crust. Carefully move the dough circles with the help of an Offset spatula and place them into the rings.
Cut 8 long strips out of the dough to create the sides of the tarts.
Carefully place the stripes into the rings, pressing each stripe onto the ring so it sticks to it. Place all of the tart rings into the freezer for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 160C / 320F (no fan).
After 1 hour, take the pastry dough with the rings on them out of the freezer and trim the edges with a sharp knife.
Bake the tart shells for 20 minutes, then carefully remove the rings and bake for another 5 -10 minutes until golden brown. Let the pastry shells cool completely on the perforated "air" baking mat before filling.

Pastry cream

In a large bowl, mix together half of the sugar and the egg yolk using a hand whisk until slightly fluffy.
Mix in the cornstarch, flour, and vanilla until they are thoroughly incorporated and you have a smooth paste.
Heat the milk and the rest of the sugar in a saucepan until it is simmering, then slowly pour it over the egg yolk mixture while whisking vigorously with a hand whisk.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until it thickens whilst continuing to whisk. It usually takes 1 minute after it first boils.
Strain the pastry cream through a sieve for a lump-free, creamy texture, then add the softened butter in 3 steps, mixing after each addition.
Place the cream into a shallow bowl and cover the entire surface with plastic wrap to avoid skin forming on top. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours to allow it to set properly.

Whipped cream

Place all of the ingredients into a bowl and slowly start to whip using an electric hand mixer, with gradually increasing speed. Stop as soon as the mixture reaches a pipeable consistency.

Assemble

Once the tart shells are cooled and the custard filling has set, fill each tart shell with pastry cream up to the top and then smooth off the surface using an offset spatula.
Pipe whipped cream on top of each tart, and make the pattern using a spatula or spoon.
Slice up fresh strawberries and arrange them on top of the tart before garnishing with chopped pistachio nuts. Serve immediately.

Notes

Ingredient notes

Weigh all ingredients by the gram using a digital scale. Baking is a science, and measuring by volume using the cup system is not precise enough.
Soak up excess juice from the strawberries using paper towels after slicing to avoid the tart filling underneath from going soggy.

Technique notes

You may not need all of the egg in the shortcrust pastry.
Do not over-knead the dough, and do not use a mixer or food processor.
If at any point the dough gets too warm to work with, put it into the freezer for 5 minutes. It is extremely important to work with dough that is cold enough to handle and not sticky but not too cold when it can break.
All ovens vary, so use a digital oven thermometer to ensure you are baking at the right temperature.
If the pastry cream mixture is too thick after adding the cornstarch and flour, mix in a very small amount of milk to slacken it.
The pastry cream might get lumpy when you are cooking it on the stove, but just keep whisking it and it will eventually get smooth and glossy.
Store leftover strawberry custard tarts in the fridge, do not freeze.

Nutrition