Shortbread fruit Tarts

                                                                                                            

Ingredients :

Butter ( salted )-  1 cup or 227 gms ( room temperature ),
Icing sugar - 1/2 cup or 55 gms -  ( sifted  ),
Vanilla essence - 1tsp ,
All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup or 200 gms ( sifted ),
Corn starch - 3 tbsp or 30 gms ( sifted )

Method :
Lightly butter the tart tins .
In a bowl beat butter till light and creamy .
Add the sugar and beat 1- 2 minutes until smooth .

Beat in the vanilla essence .

Add the flour ,cornstarch and  mix until incorporated .

Since the dough is very soft it will be difficult to make tarts so we will wrap it in plastic or cling film  and keep it in the fridge for 30  to 60 minutes to firm the dough.

Take 1 and 1/4  tbsp of dough and place it in the center of each tart tin .

Dust your finger tip with flour and  lightly press the dough on to bottom and upsides of individual tart tins .

Once the cups are made with the dough,lightly prick in center of each cups so that they dont puff up while baking and then cover and  put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to firm up.
Pre heat oven to 170 C 
Bake the tarts for 20 minutes .


Once they are fully baked ,remove the tray from oven and leave it to cool on wire rack .

When completely cool remove the tarts from the tart tray by using a sharp small knife .

Just pierce the knife at the edge  of each cup and the tarts will loosen up and come out .
Be careful while taking out since they are very fragile .
Broken cups can be had with pudding or icecream  .They are very crispy and tasty .
Fill the cups an hour before serving .You can keep the unfilled tarts in the  freezer , if you dont plan to use all .
Makes - 24 tarts


Cream Pastry : 
Milk - 300 ml or 1 and 1/4 cup ,
Vanilla essence - 1tsp ,
Egg yolk - 3 ( beaten ),
Sugar - 50 gms -1/4 cup ( powdered - if sugar crystals are small you dont need to pwd it ),
All purpose flour - 20 gms or 2 tbsp ,
Cornstarch - 20 gms or 2 tbsp .

Method :
Take a bowl and whisk the egg yolk till light and then add the sugar and  whisk .

Sift cornflour and flour together  and add to the egg mixture .

Mix until you get a smooth paste .
Meanwhile  in a pan pour milk and vanilla essence and bring just to boil .

As you will  see  bubbles at the  sides of the  pan ,you remove the pan from heat .

Add  2 tbsp of the hot milk to the egg mixture and whisk constantly and then slowly add 3/4 of hot milk in batches .
When 1/4 milk is left in the pan, pour all the  egg milk mixture into it .
Whisk constantly and put the pan back to medium heat until boiling ,whisking constantly for another 30 to 60 seconds until it becomes thick .

Remove from heat and if it is smooth and creamy transfer it to a bowl and cover with a plastic wrap or  cling film and let it come to room temperature .
Put the cream pastry in the fridge to cool . If there are lumps in the pastry cream ,strain it through a strainer and then cover with a cling film .

 Beat the pastry cream with a wooden spoon before spooning it on the tart .
The pastry can be made a day in advance and can survive for 3 days in the fridge .

You can use any fruit of your choice for topping the tarts .


Raspberry glaze - ( you can use any jam for making this glaze )

Raspberry jam - 1/2 cup ,
Water - 1 tbsp .

Take a cup and put jam and water together and mix with a spoon .

Microwave for 30 seconds .
Mix .
Microwave for another 30 seconds .

Sieve it through a strainer and you have raspberry glaze ready .

Leave it to cool .

Glaze is used at the base of each tart cup so that the pastry cream does not seep into the tart cups and make it soggy .
It is also used to glaze the fruits on top of the tarts .


Assemble -
With a brush glaze the bottom of  each tart with the  raspberry glaze .
Spoon in the pastry cream in to the tarts  only when you plan to serve and  then decorate with the fruits of your choice .
Put in the fridge so that the tarts are firm and set .
Can put the fruit tarts in fridge for 3 days but best when eaten the day it is made .

Enjoy this tasty bite :)