Mini fruit tarts

Well this weekend I am heading over to my aunts house for an Easter brunch with my aunts, cousins, sister, mom and my girls. We all bring something so I'm bringing my four berry pie and these mini fruit tarts. I figured that the tarts would be considered a more brunchy kind of thing so that's what I've chosen. I used some of the pastry from the pie that I made last week and made a vanilla custard to go inside along with fresh blueberries, blackberries and raspberries on top! They are just so cute and perfect for spring! 

First scramble four egg yolks and pour them into a small pot. Then add sugar, cornstarch and salt. 

Whisk them all together until completely combined. 

Whisk in the milk and begin heating at medium high heat.

Heat for 2-4 minutes until the mixture has thickened. 

Remove from heat and add in the vanilla and completely combine.

Then whisk in the chunks of butter until melted.

Spoon the mixture into a bowl.

Cover with plastic wrap, make sure the the wrap is touching the custard so that there is no air touching it. Put it in the fridge for an hour or until set.

Now using your previously prepared pastry (my recipe for this pastry is on my other post, http://perezbaking.blogspot.ca/2016/03/very-berry-pie.html?spref=fb&m=1

Roll out the pastry and cut them into little circles.

Place the circles in a mini muffin tin and push them down so they touch the bottom. 

Use a fork to make little holes on the bottom of the pasty (if you don't do a lot of baking you might not know why you have to do this, if you are cooking pastry without a filling in it the pastry will puff up from the steam and create bubbles which will I've you an uneven surface to put your filling in and could also over cook some of the spots. So be sure to poke some holes so the pastry turns out right!) 

Next I cut little squares of parchment paper and placed them inside each tart shell with some rice in it to weigh it down.  Again if you don't bake much you would probably find this weird, but you do this to again stop the pastry from puffing up. If you don't have rice you can use uncooked beans, or if you're really fancy you can but pastry weights but I'm cheap and lazy and just use rice. 

Throw the tray in the oven at 400 for about 5-6 minutes depending on your oven. Once the tarts start to get a little golden brown they should be good so just keep an eye on them. 

After they were done baking I set the tray on a wire rack to cool completely. Then I spooned the custard into a piping bag and filled the tarts. 

I then washed the berries and put a couple on each tart. 

And there's the finished product. Everyone loved these and they are just so cute! 

Mini tart recipe

Ingredients 

4 large egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch 

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 tbsp vanilla

1/4 cup butter, cut into chunks

Directions

In a small pot whisk together yolks, sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in milk and heat at medium high heat for 2-4 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla. Add in butter chunks and combine. Cover with plastic wrap tightly. Place in fridge for an hour or until thickened. 

Cut and bake pastry. Cool completely, pipe custard into tart shells. Top with fresh berries and enjoy!