Mini Fruit Tarts

Mini Fruit Tarts

I don’t know why, but I’ve been extremely intimidated to make a fruit tart, so I figured I would start with mini ones! I was surprised to find that I only needed a few simple ingredients, they’re easy to make, even more fun to decorate, and absolutely delectable! The crust is sweet, buttery, and flaky which pairs perfectly with the cream filling and fresh fruit. This is definitely my new favorite dessert!

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(makes 12 mini tarts)

Ingredients:

For crust:

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup powdered sugar

1 ½ sticks or ¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into pieces

For filling:

1 eight oz package cream cheese, softened

½ cup sugar (granulated)

1 tsp vanilla extract

Assorted fresh fruit, blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, kiwi, grapes, etc..

Recipe adapted from Paula Deen – Fresh Fruit Tart

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease a muffin tin with some butter. A paper towel works best.

A lot of recipes have you combine the crust ingredients into a food processor to make the dough, but why get it dirty if you don’t have to and what if you don’t have one?! Do it the old fashioned way and use your hands!

(1.) Combine flour, powdered sugar, and butter in a large bowl. (2.) Using your hands, mix until dough forms a ball. (3.) Place a scoop (1-2 tablespoons) of dough in each muffin cup (4.) and press down with your thumbs to form a mini pie shell.

Place in the oven and bake for 8-10 minutes. (5.) Remove from oven and use the back of a spoon to squish down the center. Place back in the oven for 1-2 minutes or until edges just start to lightly brown. (6.) Place on a cooling rack for 10 minutes, then carefully remove mini crusts from muffin tin and place on cooling rack for an additional 5 minutes.

In a medium sized bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer until smooth.

Spoon into a zip-lock bag (cut the tip of one of the corners off) or pastry bag and fill pie crusts.

Add fruit on top and feel free to be as simple or as fancy as you would like! You can serve right away or place in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before serving. These can also be stored overnight!