Mini Fruit Tart Recipe (2024)

Published: May 17, 2021 by Dina

This Shortbread Mini Fruit Tart Recipe is filled with homemade custard, fresh berries, and an apricot glaze. This is an easy and elegant dessert that everyone loves.

If you prefer one large tart, I have a delicious almond tart and raspberry tart recipe here as well!

Mini Fruit Tart Details

• Taste: The shortbread shells are mildly sweet, which pair well with the rich vanilla custard and fresh tart berries.
• Texture: The mini fruit tarts have a buttery and crumbly crust that practically melts in your mouth. The creamy custard has an irresistibly rich texture that will have you grabbing for seconds. It so good!
• Ease: These treats do require a little bit of work. Getting the the shortbread dough into the tart mold can be a little finicky, but the results are well worth it!
• Time: Like all delicious pastries, you need to have patience. It takes quite a bit of time to bake the dough and make the custard. This is definitely a weekend baking project type of dessert.

For the pie lover in all of us…

If you love tasty tarts and pies, then you can’t go wrong with these favorites:

• Perfect Peach Pie
• Pear Tart Recipe with Frangipane
• Blueberry Pie Recipe (Video)

Ingredients for Mini Fruit Tart

• Wet ingredients- Eggs, Granulated sugar, Mayonnaise, Butter, and Lemon juice
• Dry ingredients- Cornstarch, Baking soda, and Flour

Custard ingredients

• Milk
• Vanilla Extract
• Eggs
• Sugar
• Flour

Berries and Fruit Glaze

• Apricot Preserves + water (to make the glaze)
• Strawberries
• Blueberries
• Raspberries

How to Make the Fruit Tart Crust

• Beat the egg, sugar, and mayo. Using a handheld mixer, beat together the egg, sugar, and mayonnaise in a large bowl.
• Mix in the butter cornstarch, and baking soda. Then add the butter, cornstarch, and baking soda in. Squeeze the lemon juice over the baking soda so all of it turns into foam. Then blend until well combined.
• Add the rest of the shortbread crust ingredients. Now add the flour to the egg and butter mixture, and blend on low speed. The dough will become quite dense, so it might be easier to just blend it together with your hands.
• Form and refrigerate. Once the dough is well combined, form it into a ball and place it in the bowl, covered with plastic wrap. Then refrigerate for 1 hour.

How to Make the Custard

• Beat the yolks, sugar, and flour. Using a handheld mixer, beat the egg yolks and sugar together until well combined. Then mix in the flour.
• Boil the milk. Add the milk to a saucepan and bring it to a slight boil, with bubbles just beginning to form.
• Strain the milk into the eggs carefully. Very slowly, pour the hot milk into the egg mixture while stirring constantly, to avoid cooking the eggs.
• Strain again. Now strain the milk and egg mixture back into the saucepan to get rid of any clumps.

• Thicken the custard. Place the saucepan over low heat and stir constantly. Once it begins to thicken, pour in the vanilla while still stirring, to avoid clumping. When it’s thick and creamy, take the custard off the heat.
• Allow to cool. Place plastic wrap directly over the top of the custard (not just the bowl) so it doesn’t develop a skin. Set it aside to cool to room temperature.

Forming and baking mini fruit tarts

• Form the mini fruit tarts. Scoop out 2 tablespoons of chilled dough and press it into the tartlet tin with your fingers so the dough reaches all the way up the sides of the tin.
• Bake. Place the tartlets onto a baking sheet and bake for 13 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Baking time may vary depending on the oven.
• Add the custard. Using a cookie scoop, place a dollop of custard into each tartlet’s shell.

• Warm and strain the preserves. In a small dish, combine the apricot preserves and water, and microwave it for about 20 seconds. Then press through a mini mesh strainer to get rid of any chunks.
• Add berries and glaze to the mini fruit tarts. Arrange the berries on the custard-filled tartlets and then brush each one with the glaze using a pastry brush.

Why is the custard clumpy?

When making custard, there are a few important steps that will keep the custard from clumping and curdling. Don’t forget to:

• Strain the hot milk into the eggs SLOWLY– This avoids scrambling your eggs and also strains out anything that might have clumped in the milk as it heated
• Re-strain- You strain again to double check that no clumps are present.
• Stir constantly- This is tiring, but absolutely necessary to avoid clumping, curdling, and burning the bottom of the pan.
• Cover the thickened custard with plastic wrap- You place the wrap directly on the surface of the custard as it cools so no air hits it and makes a skin. That skin would get into your custard when you mix it, making clumps.

How to keep the mini tart looking fresh longer

If you’re setting these Mini Fruit Tarts out on a dessert tray and want them to stay looking fresh and bright as long as possible, make sure you don’t wash the berries and fruit with running water, but instead wipe them off with a damp paper towel or cloth. The glaze will stick to them better, which is what keeps them looking shiny and vibrant.

How to Store Fruit Tarts

You can store these mini fruit tarts in an airtight container or covered by plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The crust will start to become soggy after that from the moisture in the custard and fruit.

Can these be made ahead of time?

Yes, the tart shells, custard, and glaze for these mini fruit tarts can be made in advance. You can make the tart shells a few days in advance and leave them at room temperature (or freeze for 1-2 months). The custard can be made 3-4 days ahead, and the glaze can last for months. Just don’t assemble the tarts until a few hours before serving them. The longer they sit, the more juices will leak out of the fruit.

More Delicious Berry Dessert Recipes!

I love using fresh berries when in season to create light but rich desserts like my homemade shortbread mini fruit tart recipe. I know you will love this as much as I do, so I am also sharing other great dessert ideas linked below.

• Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies
• White Chocolate Raspberry Macarons
• Easy Raspberry Cream Cheese Danish Recipe
• Berry Chantilly Cake Recipe

Full Recipe Instructions

This recipe was originally posted April 8, 2015, we’ve tweaked it a bit since then.