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Do you ever have those days in the kitchen where you feel endlessly creative, like you could accomplish anything? For me, days like that don’t come very often but when they do it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. Being a food blogger I have more than my fair share of recipe flops. But the other day I looked in my freezer, saw a package of frozen puff pastry and all of a sudden these Honey Glazed Fruit Tarts were born. It was a glorious day in my kitchen, and let me tell you – these tarts are to die for!Laminated Dough Desserts
I’ve always admired beautiful, intricate laminated dough pastries like croissants and puff pastry, and the chefs who make them. I live just down the street from a french patisserie and aside from the temptation it is, it’s always inspiring to study their pastries…how do they get all those gorgeous flaky layers?? I’ve attempted homemade pastries with laminated dough a few times and I’m happy to say it wasn’t a total disaster, but it certainly didn’t look quite as good as anything I’ve ever enjoyed in a bistro or bakery (and believe me, I’ve had my fair share of pastries!). If you’ve been around here for any length of time you’ll probably know that I try my best to cook and bake from scratch as much as possible, but today…we’re using frozen puff pastry because, let’s be honest, sometimes it’s just easier. If you’ve ever made homemade puff pastry you’ll know how hard and labour-intensive it is and with two little ones running around, I just don’t have time for that at the moment. One day I will…but not today. But even though this custard fruit tarts recipe calls for frozen puff pastry, the vanilla bean custard filling is all homemade! And really, when it comes to custards there’s no reason to cut corners. Custard is SO easy to make from scratch and custard from a box just doesn’t even compare to the silky, smooth result of a homemade custard or fruit curd. And even if you’ve never made homemade custard before, just follow my tips and you’ll be just fine! It’s a lot easier than it sounds.LOOKING FOR MORE DELICIOUS SUMMER DESSERT IDEAS?
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Vanilla Custard Fruit Tarts Recipe
These custard fruit tarts are just gorgeous and they’re a great, easy way to wow your brunch guests or impress your friends at a casual summer dinner party. And feel free to customize the honey glazed fruit to your own tastes! I love peaches, strawberries and kiwi at this time of year but you could use nectarines, blueberries, blackberries, oranges, grapefruit, or any other fruit you’d like!LOOKING FOR MORE DELICIOUS SUMMER DESSERT IDEAS?
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Equipment Needed to Make Individual Custard Fruit Tarts
To make the custard fruit tarts, you’ll need:- Pastry cutter or pizza cutter
- rimmed baking sheet
- pastry brush
- parchment paper or a puff pastry
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Vanilla Bean Custard Fruit Tarts with Honey Glazed Fruit
Vanilla bean custard filled puff pastry tarts topped with honey glazed fresh fruit
Recipe: Ingredients
- 1 sheet frozen puff pastry thawed in the fridge overnight
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp water
- 2 tsp white sugar
For the custard:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 vanilla bean 2 tsp vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract works too!
- 3 egg yolks
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter
- a few slices of your favourite fruit I used 4 strawberries, about half a peach (skinned and 2 kiwis)
- 2 tbsp liquid honey
- a few drops of water
Recipe: Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper.
- Using a pizza cutter (or a pastry cutter if you're lucky enough to have one), cut the sheet of puff pastry into 4 squares equal in size and shape and arrange them on the prepared baking sheet with ample space between them.
- Use the pizza cutter again to slice a smaller square inside the larger one, creating a 1.5cm border around the edge of each piece of the puff pastry dough. Be careful not to slice all the way through the dough - just about halfway through the thickness of the dough.
- Use a fork to dock the inner square of puff pastry dough (poke holes in it). This will prevent the inner square from rising up as much as the outer border will when it's baking and it will create the perfect shape for the fillings.
- Beat the egg and the 1 tbsp of water and brush the borders of the puff pastry dough very lightly with this mixture. You'll have tons of the egg wash left over...don't overdo it, or you'll end up with very egg-y edges.
- Sprinkle the borders of the puff pastry dough with the white sugar and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes, or until the pastries are a light golden brown, especially around the edges.
- When you take them out of the oven, immediately push down the middle square lightly with the back of a spoon or fork. It will probably have risen up a bit during baking and it's important that it's lower than that beautiful border you've created.
- Let the pastries cool to room temperature while you prepare the custard.
For the Vanilla Bean Custard
- Open the vanilla bean pod and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds to a small saucepan with the milk and throw in the whole vanilla bean pod too. Heat the milk and vanilla until it reaches a simmer over medium heat and then remove it from the heat.
- While the milk is heating, add the egg yolks, the sugar and the cornstarch to a bowl and whisk them together until smooth.
- Once the milk has reached a simmer, remove the vanilla bean pod and pour the milk extremely slowly into the egg yolk mixture, making sure to whisk continually while adding the milk. This method is called tempering - adding the milk slowly while whisking brings the temperature of the egg mixture up slowly so they don't scramble. Continue adding the milk slowly until everything is combined.
- Pour the mixture back into the pot and add it back onto the stove over medium heat, whisking continually until the mixture thickens (this will only take a minute or two).
- Add the butter to a separate bowl and place a sieve over that bowl. Once the milk/egg mixture has thickened, pour it through the sieve over the butter and press it through with a spatula. You may notice a few small chunks of cooked egg in the sieve - this is totally okay! As my favourite Canadian pastry chef Anna Olson always says, "Pastry chefs ALWAYS strain their sauces!" and for good reason!
- Grab your whisk and whisk the custard and the butter together just until combined. Cover the mixture with a piece of plastic wrap, making sure the plastic wrap is directly covering the surface of the custard. This may seem like a weird step, but it prevents that yucky custard skin from forming on the surface while it cools (and nobody wants that!).
- Cool the custard in the fridge for a few hours until it's completely cool.
To Assemble Tarts
- To assemble the tarts, just divide the custard evenly between the 4 puff pastry tart shells you've made and spread it smoothly into the base. Add your sliced fruit on top in whatever formation you wish.
- Whisk the liquid honey with a few drops of water, just to thin it out a tiny bit. Brush it over the fruit with a pastry brush to create a sweet, shiny glaze!
Recipe: Notes
The great thing about this recipe is that the custard has such a neutral flavour that really any fruit would work! Try blueberries, blackberries and strawberries, or your favourite citrus fruits. Anything goes!
Serve with a cup of tea for a delicious treat, or double the recipe to add to your next brunch buffet!
Recipe: Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Vanilla Bean Custard Fruit Tarts with Honey Glazed Fruit
Amount Per Serving (1 serving)
Calories 573
Calories from Fat 324
% Daily Value*
Fat 36g55%
Saturated Fat 12g75%
Cholesterol 209mg70%
Sodium 203mg9%
Potassium 148mg4%
Carbohydrates 54g18%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 23g26%
Protein 10g20%
Vitamin A 528IU11%
Calcium 99mg10%
Iron 2mg11%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated, using Spoonacular, for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Wow! These look so amazing! I am going to have to try these. This is my first time stopping by and I sure am glad I did. I am pinning these for later. Thank you for posting!
Thanks so much! I hope you enjoy them!!
This is a gorgeous dessert! Tarts are one of my favorites!
Thanks Renee!! Mine too 🙂
Is this a dessert that will fair well over a period of time or should they be consumed immediately? Will they become soggy overtime?
The tarts will unfortunately get soggy in the fridge over time so for best results we suggest serving them fresh.
These turned out great and were so good! The honey I had on hand was very strong, even after adding some water, so I opted to add water to some leftover lemon curd for use as the fruit glaze. It was a good move.
What a great idea! I'm so glad you enjoyed them!!
family loved these!
Thank you!! Glad they loved them🙂
Thank you for this wonderful recipe! I have made it for my daughter’s birthday (initially) then three other times since—each time perfection! The custard is to die for, and your clear instructions made it almost effortless. This will (HAS) become a staple in my house. I’m so appreciative!
So glad you like them! Thanks!!
Hi, Is it possible for the whole milk to be replaced with oat milk ? Great recipe I can’t wait to make it.
Yes, but keep in mind that oat milk is not as neutral in flavour as whole milk so the taste might change a little. Happy baking!☺️
These look amazing and perfect for a virtual tea party I am planning. Can the custard be made the night before?
It sure can!
How far ahead can the custard be made?
Feel free to make it up to 48 hours in advance and store it in the fridge.
These look like what I want, but my question is that a sheet of puff pastry cut into fourths will yield only 4 semi large 4″-5″ tarts. I need more and want little bite size tarts maybe 2″ square. Can these be made that small so that each sheet of puff pastry would yield maybe 16 tarts? If doubling the entire recipe, it could yield maybe 32?
You can cut your pastry dough as small as you want but you will have to use smaller fruit pieces. Let us know how they turn out!