Fruit Tartlets

Cutting out a circle of pastry.

About this thick.

Read to bake.

Not cooked enough.

Properly cooked.

Note: requires tartlet tins and baking beads.
Note: the pastry cases can be made probably a week in advance (kept at room temperature in something like a biscuit tin to keep the moisture out) and the crème pâtissière can be made a few days in advance (kept in the fridge).

Makes: 6 to 8 tartlets, depending on your pastry-rolling fu.

Ingredients

- the pastry ingredients from the Bakewell tart recipe.
- the ingredients from the crème pâtissière recipe, enough for half a litre.
- fruit of your choice: e.g. strawberries (halved), seedless grapes (halved), blueberries (whole), plums (decimated?); sweeter fruit is better.
- 4 tbsp clear jam or jelly (e.g. apricot or quince) for glazing plus 2 tbsp water.

Method

1. Make the crème pâtissière according to the crème pâtissière recipe and let it cool.
   
2. Make the pastry dough according to the Bakewell tart recipe, trying not to handle it too much once it is formed.
   
3. Preheat the oven to 200 C.
4. Grease the tartlet tin(s).
   
5. Roll the pastry to 1 mm thick, as thin as you can, nearly see-through, then use something like a standard dessert dish to cut out a circle; if the pastry is too thick you will need to return it to the oven to cook for a bit longer when you get to step 11.
6. Place the circle of pastry into a tartlet tin, pressing it into the corners and trimming the lip/edge to leave 1 cm outside the tin (the pastry will shrink during baking, this is your margin).
7. Repeat from 5 until you have used all of the pastry.
8. Cut squares of baking parchment to more than the size of each tartlet and place the paper in each tartlet case, topped with baking beads, to hold the pastry down.
9. Bake for 15 minutes.
10. Remove the tin(s) from the oven, lift out the baking parchment and save away the baking beads.
11. Check each tartlet case: if the base looks kinda soft/doughy still, return it to the oven for 5 minutes to finish: see pictures above for a done one and a not-done one.
    
12. Pull out the tartlet cases from the tin and onto a cooling rack; leave to cool.
13. Dollop the crème pâtissière into each tartlet case and smooth it down with the back of a spoon.
14. Add your chosen fruit, not chopped too finely: have fun with the layouts.
15. Commercial fruit tarts are always glazed: it keeps the fruit fresh and makes the tarts look shiny.  To glaze, melt the clear jam or jelly in a pan, with the water to make it workable, then daub it liberally over the top of each tartlet with a pastry brush, making sure to cover well and quickly (the liquid will set again rapidly).