Mini Fruit Tart

I have made these mini fruit tarts just for my husband's sake, as he loves these tarts. This time, I have added a very delicate touch to these tarts. I have covered the bottom of the tart with chocolate ganache and covered it with pastry cream :) who doesn't love chocolate just in everything! I thought that would enrich the flavour and indeed they were very rich and yummy and my husband loved them...

Mini Fruit Tart

Ingredients:
Yield: 6 mini tarts

For the Crust:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) very cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
2-5 tablespoons ice cold water

For the Pastry Cream:

1 1/4 cups (300 ml) milk

2 large egg yolks

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar

1/8 cup (20 grams) all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons (20 grams) cornstarch

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Makes about 1 cup

For the Chocolate Ganache:

4 oz. Bittersweet Chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup heavy whipping cream

Directions:

To make the crust, in a cold, large bowl, mix together flour, salt and sugar. Add in butter pieces and cut into the flour using a pastry blender or the tines of a fork until the crumbs range in size from small to pea-sized.

Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of water over the dough and fold in quickly. Continue folding in one tablespoon of water at a time until the flour and crumbs are just moistened and start sticking together in larger clumps. (Note: You may not use all of the water to achieve this.) Use your hands to pull the dough together and form one disc. Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour.

Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface and transfer to your pie pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Rotate the pan halfway through.

To make the pastry cream, in a medium-sized bowl, mix the sugar and egg yolks together with a whisk. (Never let the mixture sit too long or you will get pieces of egg forming.)  Sift the flour and cornstarch together and then add to the egg mixture, mixing until you get a smooth paste.  Set aside.

Meanwhile in a saucepan combine the milk on medium heat until boiling.  (The milk will foam up to the top of pan when done, so watch carefully.)  Remove from heat and add slowly to egg mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.  (If you get a few pieces of egg (curdling) in the mixture, pour through a strainer.)

Place the egg mixture back into a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until boiling, whisking constantly.  When it boils, whisk mixture constantly for another 30 - 60 seconds until it becomes very thick and it is hard to stir.

Remove from heat and immediately whisk in the vanilla extract.  Pour into a clean bowl and immediately cover the surface with plastic wrap to prevent a crust from forming.  Cool.  If not using right away refrigerate until needed, up to 3 days.  Beat before using to get rid of any lumps that may have formed.

To assemble the tart, Spread the ganache in a thin even layer over the bottom of the cooled tart shell. Allow the ganache to set before proceeding. Spread the pastry cream over the cooled ganache in the tart shell.

Starting from the outside and working toward the center, place the sliced strawberries in concentric circles slightly overlapping each other. Gently press the berries into the cream to help keep them in place.  Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.  Chill until ready to serve.

Source: crust from foodformyfamily, filling adapted from joy of baking