Fruit Tart

My beautiful homemade fruit tart consists of a crisp, chocolate coated shortbread crust filled with pastry cream and topped with fresh fruit. It's impressive, yet very approachable.

Recipe includes a how-to video!

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, French

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 35

Chilling Time 3

Total Time 4 20

Servings slices

Calories 461kcal

Author Sam Merritt

Equipment

Ingredients

PASTRY CREAM

½ cup (118 ml) whole milk
⅔ cup (158 ml) heavy cream
¼ cup (50 g) + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar divided
¼ teaspoon salt
3 large egg yolks room temperature
2 Tablespoons cornstarch
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened and cut into 4 pieces
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

TART CRUST

1 ½ cups (190 g) all-purpose flour
½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
8 Tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter very cold and cut into 8 pieces
1 large egg cold preferred
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

FOR ASSEMBLY

¼ cup (45 g) semisweet chocolate chips melted (may substitute milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or white chocolate)
3 cups Fruit of your choice I usually need approximately 3-4 cups of fruit. I recommend a mix of strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. Kiwis, blackberries, and mandarin slices are other good options.
2 Tablespoons apple jelly optional
1 teaspoon water optional

Instructions

PASTRY CREAM¹

Combine milk, cream, ¼ cup (50g) sugar, and salt in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture comes to a simmer. Remove from heat and allow to cool in the saucepan for 10 minutes.
½ cup whole milk, ⅔ cup heavy cream, ¼ cup + 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
In a separate medium-sized bowl vigorously whisk together egg yolks and remaining 2 Tablespoons of sugar for about 15 seconds. Sprinkle cornstarch over the mixture and whisk again until slightly thickened (about 30 seconds).
3 large egg yolks, 2 Tablespoons cornstarch
Measure about ⅓ cup of (slightly cooled) cream mixture and slowly drizzle it into the egg mixture while constantly whisking. This is to temper your eggs and keep them from cooking! While still whisking, gradually drizzle in the remainder of your cream mixture until completely combined.
Pour mixture back into saucepan and return to the stovetop over medium heat. Whisk frequently until thickened almost to a pudding-like consistency (mixture may simmer, this will take several minutes) and immediately remove from heat.
Pour through a fine mesh strainer into a heatproof bowl. Add butter, one piece at a time, whisking after each addition until completely combined. Whisk in vanilla extract.
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter softened and cut into 4 pieces, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Allow to cool for about 20 minutes at room temperature, then cover by placing a piece of parchment paper or plastic wrap directly against the surface of the pastry cream and refrigerate for at least 2-4 hours. While this is chilling, prepare the tart crust, as it will need to chill for a total of 90 minutes.

Tart Crust

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in the basin of a food processor².
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ cup powdered sugar, ¼ teaspoon salt
Scatter butter pieces over the flour mixture and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs (about 10 pulses).
8 Tablespoons unsalted butter
In a small dish, whisk together egg and vanilla extract and drizzle over flour mixture. Pulse again until dough just begins to cling together and holds together when pressed with your thumb and forefinger (see image in post or video), about 15 one-second pulses.
1 large egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Form dough into a disc and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for one hour.
Roll chilled dough into a 10-11” disc and form into a 9” tart pan. Prick multiple times with a fork and then take a large piece of parchment paper and carefully form it into your tart crust (if your crust is being damaged as you try to do this, just chill your dough and then fit with the parchment paper). Fill parchment paper with pie weights or dry beans, and make sure you are using enough parchment that you can easily lift it and the weights from the tart. See video for visual if needed. Transfer to freezer for 30 minutes to prevent shrinking. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375F (190C).
Once dough has chilled and oven is preheated, transfer to 375F/190C oven (I’ve found it can be tricky moving a tart pan with a removable bottom and sometimes like to bake mine on a cookie sheet to easily remove it from the oven) and bake for 20 minutes or edges are just beginning to turn light golden brown. Carefully remove parchment paper and pie weights and bake another 5 minutes until light golden brown all over. Allow to cool before assembling.

ASSEMBLY

Once tart crust has cooled, spread or brush (with a pastry brush) a thin layer of chocolate over the bottom and up the sides of the tart crust. Place this in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes for the chocolate to harden.
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Once chocolate is hardened, remove from fridge and evenly spread chilled pastry cream in the shell. Arrange fruit over the cream as desired.
3 cups Fruit of your choice
If desired, melt together apple jelly and water for 10-20 seconds and stir well. Use a pastry brush to brush or dab jelly over the surface of the fruit for a glaze. Serve.
2 Tablespoons apple jelly, 1 teaspoon water

Video

Notes

¹Pastry Cream

The pastry cream will need to chill for at least 2 hours after preparing. It can be made as far as 3 days in advance of assembling your fruit tart and stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container.

²Food processor alternative

Alternatively you may use a pastry cutter to make this recipe, or even use a box grater to grate the butter into the dough like I do in my puff pastry recipe.

Storing

Store leftovers in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 2 days.

Nutrition