Scrumptious Strawberry Tartlet Recipe: A Mini Fruit Tart With a Surprising Secret Ingredient by Ann Marie G. Halstead

I’ve been a chocolate girl most of my life. However, as I’ve gotten older my palette has become slightly more sophisticated. I have expanded my love of sweets to include desserts such as scones, lemon bars, lemon cheesecake, lemon cobbler (lemon everything!), shortbread and fruit tarts. Surprisingly, my teen sons love fruit tarts, too. My older son requests one for his birthday every year.

This strawberry tart recipe is as delicious as it sounds. I love that it’s like a mini-sized cake. This way you don’t have to worry too much about eating such a decadent dessert (or forget all that and eat a few!). This particular fruit tart recipe stands out to me for its homemade custard, apricot glaze and secret ingredient: mayonnaise! Yes, mayonnaise! The mayo may sound like a bizarre ingredient but a friend swears by it. If you want the best shortbread, use the mayo!

It’s best to make this mini tarts recipe when strawberries are in season, but as long as you can find berries, you can snack on it all year long.

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Cuisine: American
Prep Time: 1 1/2 hours
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour and 45 minutes
Servings: 12 to 14

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups flour

Vanilla Custard

• 2 cups milk (whole or 2 percent)
• 6 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze

• 1/2 cup apricot preserves or jam
• 2 tablespoons water

For Finishing

• 2 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced
• mint leaves, for garnish, if desired

Helpful Products

• Electric Mixer
• Mixing Bowls
• Saucepot
• Mini Tart Tins
• Pastry Brush
• Baking Sheet
• Mesh Strainer

Recipe Notes

• When you pour the hot milk into the egg yolk mixture, pour it slowly. You don’t want the hot milk to cook the eggs!
• If you’d like to use additional berries, use fewer strawberries and add in raspberries, blueberries and/or blackberries instead of all strawberries.

Here's how to make it: 

1. To make the dough, use a handheld mixer to beat together the egg, mayo and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter, cornstarch and baking soda, then squeeze the lemon juice over the baking soda. The lemon will turn it into foam. Blend with the mixer until well combined.
2. Add the flour to the egg mixture and blend on low speed (by this point the dough will be thicker and more dense, so you may use your hands to blend instead). Once the dough and egg mixture are well combined, form into a ball shape. Cover the ball with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
3. To make the custard, beat the egg yolks and sugar with the handheld mixer until just combined. Mix in the flour.
4. Pour the milk into a small pot and bring to a low boil, just until water begins to simmer. Pour the hot milk very slowly into the egg yolk mixture, stirring constantly. Use a fine mesh strainer to strain the milk and egg mixture back into the pot, getting rid of any lumps.
5. Return the pot to the stove and heat it over low heat, stirring constantly. Once the mixture begins to thicken, add the vanilla, while continuing to stir. Stir constantly (if you stop, the custard will turn lumpy). Once the custard has reached a thick and creamy consistency, remove it from the heat. Place plastic wrap directly on top of the custard itself. This will help prevent the custard from forming a “skin.” Set aside and let it cool to room temperature.
6. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. Scoop 2 tablespoons of the dough into each tart tin. Using your fingers, press the dough up the sides of each tin.
7. Place the tartlets on a baking sheet and bake for 12 to 13 minutes at 350 degrees F.
8. Place a cookie scoop amount of custard into each tartlet shell.
9. In a small dish, combine the apricot preserves and water, then microwave for about 20 seconds. Strain through a mesh strainer to remove any chunky pieces.
10. Arrange the strawberries on the custard-filled tartlets to your liking. Using a pastry brush, apply the apricot glaze.

Recipe cooking times and servings are approximate. Need to convert cooking and baking measurements? Here are some kitchen conversion charts. Here's how to submit your recipes to 30Seconds.

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