Individual Fruit Tarts
Submitted by Bryans_lil_cook
Individual rustic fruit tarts with shortcrust pastry, apricot jam glaze, and thinly sliced apples or pears. A French-bistro dessert that bakes in 15 minutes and looks gorgeous.
YIELD
12 servingsPREP
15 minCOOK
15 minREADY
30 minThese tarts are bistro dessert at its simplest and most beautiful. Five-inch rounds of shortcrust pastry get their edges turned up like mini pizzas, get spread with warmed apricot jam, and then fan thinly sliced fruit over the top. A second brush of jam, a sprinkle of sugar, and a dot of butter, and the tarts are ready for the oven.
Thinly sliced fruit is the whole technical requirement. Thick slices bake up chewy and undercooked in the 15-minute bake window. An eighth-inch or thinner is the right cut for apples and pears, which allows the fruit to soften and caramelize at the edges while the pastry crisps.
The lemon juice toss is a quiet detail that punches above its weight. It prevents browning before baking and brightens the finished tart so it doesn’t taste just sweet. The warmed apricot jam is classic French patisserie glue, binding fruit to pastry and lacquering the surface into something glossy.
Pro Tips
- Freeze the cut pastry rounds for 15 minutes before assembling. Cold dough holds its shape and puffs properly.
- Use firm fruit like Golden Delicious apples or Bosc pears. Soft ripe fruit weeps and goes mushy.
- Overlap the fruit slices in a tight spiral. Gaps between slices bake up uneven.
- Serve warm or at room temperature. Cold tarts taste flat and the pastry turns dense.
Variations
- Swap apricot jam for quince paste, raspberry, or orange marmalade depending on your fruit choice.
- Try stone fruits like peaches, plums, or apricots when they’re in season.
- Sprinkle with sliced almonds before baking for extra crunch and visual appeal.
Ingredients
Directions
PREHEAT OVEN TO 425℉ (220℃). Roll out the pastry and cut circles about 5-inches across using a cookie or biscuit cutter. Gather into a ball the dough remaining from the cutouts, roll again and cut additional circles. Sprinkle with about 2 tablespoons of sugar, stack with waxed paper between and refrigerate, or better, freeze.
Prepare the fruit by peeling, coring, slicing thinly and tossing with lemon juice. Warm the jam using 1 tablespoon or 2 of water if needed. Taking a disk of dough, turn the edges up as though making a small pizza. Spread a little apricot jam over the pastry. Put a few slices of overlapping fruit on, paint with more apricot jam, sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar and dot with butter. Bake for 15 minutes. The pastry edges should be golden brown.
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