The past few days I have been working with puff pastry, and phyllo dough. I decided to make a few mini tarts with a very tasty vanilla pastry cream, and nutella chocolate. Who wouldn’t like these delicate pastries?? These would go perfect with a Greek coffee, or tea. My dad said,”This is great with my Greek coffee in the morning.” (With his Greek accent of course.)

Mini Vanilla Fruit Tarts

Ingredients:

• 1 package of puff pastry thawed
• Seasonal berries of your choice (Raspberries, blackberries, and strawberries.)
• Jam of your choice

Vanilla Pastry Cream 

Ingredients:

• 3 egg yolks
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons butter

Directions:

1. Beat egg yolks in medium bowl.
2. Pour milk in a thin stream into the egg yolk mixture.
3. Stir until well blended.
4. MIX sugar, cornstarch and salt in large heavy saucepan.
5. Gradually stir in a small amount of the milk mixture, making a paste.
6. Then stir in remaining milk mixture, whisking to combine.
7. Cook over medium low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and comes to a boil.
8. Remove from heat, and stir in vanilla and butter.
9. Place plastic wrap over the top of the cream, to prevent skin from forming.
10. Chill until mixture is cool.

Assemble Mini Tarts:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 Degrees or 190 Celsius.
2. Remove dough from package, and cut each strip into 3 squares.
3. Press dough into muffin tins, and if you need to roll the squares out, go ahead. ( I had to roll my squares out, to mold the puff pastry into the tins.)
4. Line dough with foil, and fill with beans. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown.
5. Remove foil and beans, and bake for additional 5 minutes.
6. Place on wire rack to cool.
7. To assemble the tarts, simply add the pastry cream to a piping bag.
8. Prepare the fruit. Slice fruit into thin slices, depending on what fruit you are using.
9. Pipe pastry cream into the center of the puff pastry tarts.
10. To get creative, you can add a dollop of nutella over the pastry cream.
11. Arrange your fruit on top.
12. If you like to use a glaze over your fruit, feel free to use any jam. Make sure to heat your jam in the microwave a few seconds, that way it will be easy to brush over the fruit.( I used an apricot jam.)
13. Serve fresh, or chill for a few hours before serving.

*Have extra pastry cream, make a fruit parfait.

*Very excited for my new berry coulee sauce featured in this above picture.

Have a great morning/afternoon/evening depending where you are in this beautiful world. 🙂