Name: Strawberry Mini Tarts
Prep time: 4 h 33 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 5 h 3 min
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: Cooking spray for the tins; 1 cup whole milk (236 mL); 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (25 g); 2 Tablespoons arrowroot starch (18 g); pinch of salt; 2 large egg yolks; 1 Tablespoon butter; 1/2 tsp vanilla paste; 1 cup all-purpose flour (130 g); 1 stick of butter at room temperature (113 g); 1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar; 1 egg yolk; 1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste; pinch of salt; 4 oz. strawberries, washed and hulled; 1 Tablespoon sugar; 1 tsp rum, kirsch, amaretto or other liqueur (optional)

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Mini strawberry tarts have a butter cookie base, and are filled with chopped strawberries and vanilla pastry cream, then topped with a sliced strawberry.

These are a quick Spring and Summer dessert to make. They’re perfect for brunch, birthday parties, baby showers or a nice end to a Sunday lunch with family.

Better–they combine some of my favorite things: pastry cream and sugar cookies plus juicy strawberries. There’s no hating these mini strawberry tarts.

So pick out your best berries and let’s make some cute tarts that’ll rival the Queen of Heart’s.

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Mini Strawberry Tarts

filling tart shells with chopped strawberries

Why you’ll love these tarts

You can make both the cookie dough and the pastry cream ahead of time. When you need them, roll out the dough and fill those shells. If you have your components ready to go, this is almost a 30 minute project.

Also, pastry cream and strawberries is not only one of the prettiest combos in existence, these flavors are made for each other.

mini custard tarts with strawberries on plate with text overlay

Components and ingredients for mini strawberry tarts

Whole wheat butter cookies dough: we’ll swap out the whole wheat for all-purpose flour as it will make the tart shells a little stronger. The shells need to be more sturdy since the pastry cream will eventually soak into them. You can make the dough up to 1 week ahead of time in the fridge or you can freeze it a month ahead of time.
Vanilla pastry cream: You’ll need to make the cream ahead so that it can chill. Because of this, why not spend 10 minutes putting it together a couple days ahead of time to save yourself time later? Make the cream up to 3 days ahead of time.
Strawberries
Sugar
A little of your favorite liqueur or fruit brandy: I’m using kirsch, but rum or amaretto are also good.

Equipment you’ll need to make strawberry tarts

1 qt. pot: for cooking the pastry cream
Knife: for cutting up the berries.
Rolling pin: for rolling out the dough.
Parchment paper: for rolling out the dough and lining the tartlet tins.
Tartlet tins: Use either Mini muffin pans or a more shallow mini tart pan. You could use loose tins too, though I like the simplicity of the pans.
Circle cutters (optional): you can also use the edge of a glass to cut out the cookie dough. You can use plain round cutters or fluted ones.
Piping bag and tip of your choice (optional): it’ll make your cream sit pretty in the shells, but a spoon is good too.

Tips for making the best strawberry mini tarts

Make your pastry cream first: since it needs to chill, it’s best to make it at least the night before.
Roll your dough between sheets of parchment: This is one of my secrets for better cutout cookies, and for me this one is non-negotiable. Rolling between parchment helps you get a more even layer of dough. Doing so also makes sure that you’re not adding too much extra flour. Less flour means a more tender cookie.
Press down the dough when the shells are half-baked: I rarely blind bake tartlet shells since they’re so small. Instead, press down lightly on the center when they’re about half-baked. If you have a tartlet tamper, you can do this quickly.
Stop banging your shells out of the pan: People, I have destroyed more shells than I can count with these #*&@ mini muffin tins. Sometimes the dumb things just don’t want to come out of the pan. If you add a little strip of parchment in the bottom of each tin, just pull on the tabs and the shells magically come out. Call it a quality of life hack. No more cursing, no more destroyed shells.

Strawberry Mini Tarts

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Author: Elizabeth Farr
Total Time: 5 hours 3 minutes
Yield: 16 mini tarts

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Description

Sugar cookie shells filled with luscious vanilla pastry cream and chopped strawberries, topped with a strawberry slice. These cutesy tarts are a perfect 2 bite dessert for Spring or Summer get togethers.

Ingredients

Scale

Cooking spray for the tins

Vanilla Pastry Cream

1 cup whole milk (236 mL)
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar (25 g)
2 Tablespoons arrowroot starch (18 g)
pinch of salt
2 large egg yolks
1 Tablespoon butter
1/2 tsp vanilla paste

Butter Cookie shells

1 cup all-purpose flour (130 g)
1 stick of butter at room temperature (113 g)
1/2 cup (60 g) powdered sugar
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
pinch of salt

Strawberries

4 oz. strawberries, washed and hulled
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 tsp rum, kirsch, amaretto or other liqueur (optional)

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Instructions

Day before making the tarts:

Make the pastry cream per the directions for vanilla pastry cream. Chill the cream at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.

Make the shells:

Make the dough for whole wheat butter cookies (though be sure to use 130 grams of all-purpose flour instead of the whole wheat).
Spray your tartlet tins with cooking spray, then place a strip of parchment in the bottom of each well of the tin.
Sprinkle the dough and one sheet of parchment with flour, then cover the dough with a second piece of parchment.
Roll out the dough between sheets of parchment to 1/8″ thick.
Transfer the rolled out dough to the refrigerator for 10 minutes.
Peel off the top piece of parchment, then cut rounds of dough that will fit the size of your tin. You may have to troubleshoot the size a bit. Start by picking a cutter size just slightly larger than the diameter of the tin.Cut the circles as close together as possible.
Gently transfer a round of cookie dough to the tin. Press it lightly in your hands to make a tartlet shape, then press the dough into the tin. The dough should go all the way up to the top of the tin. Check the bottom too to make sure there’s no holes in the dough. Press on the dough a little if you see a hole to distribute the dough to cover it.
Repeat filling up all the tins with your dough circles. You can reroll the scraps for more tarts. You will likely have more tins than dough.
Chill the pans in the fridge for 10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 F (160 C).
Bake the shells for 6 minutes, then bring them out of the oven. Quickly tamp down the centers of the tarts, which will have puffed up slightly. You can do this with a spoon or a tart tamper or your finger (they’re less hot than you think).
Bake the shells for another 6 minutes until they are lightly golden and the centers are set.
Pull the tabs on the parchment pieces lining the tin to release the tarts. Allow the shells to cool completely.

Assembling the tarts:

Slice a couple of strawberries into thin slices for decoration, then chop the rest of the strawberries into small chunks.
Stir together the berries with the 1 Tablespoon of sugar and the liqueur.
Spoon some chopped strawberries in the bottom of the tartlet shells.
Fill a pastry bag with the chilled pastry cream, then pipe enough cream over the top of the strawberries to cover the berries. Swirl it in there like a soft-serve ice cream cone.
Top each tart with a strawberry slice.
Serve immediately or chill for an hour or two.