Fruit tart

The only good thing about summer is you get to have mangoes and variety of berries. We love having mangoes the way they are or may be in the form of Mango Shake. When it comes to berries, we usually have it during breakfast, by adding into oatmeal or may be to bite into it while having Pancakes, French Toast etc.

Another way of having berries (if you don't want them to be eaten alone) is to go for this colourful tart. Don't they look so lovely? They taste good too. Every bite of it is so refreshing with so many variety of fruits in it that anyone is gonna love having it.

I was so thrilled to make it, esp. while I was decorating it :). Hope you too enjoy making it and love having it.

Ingredients

For the sweet pastry crust

1. 1 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
2. 1/8 tsp of salt
3. 113 gms of unsalted butter @ room temperature
4. 1/4 cup of white sugar
5. 1 large egg, beaten

For the cream filling

1. 1 1/4 cup of milk
2. 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
3. 3 large egg yolks
4. 1/4 cup of granulated white sugar
5. 2 tbsp of all purpose flour
6. 2 tbsp of cornstarch

For the toppings

1. Variety of fruits washed 

Method

Making of the sweet pastry crust

• In a bowl, mix the all purpose flour and salt.
• In another bowl, beat the butter untill it softens and then add the sugar and beat it till fluffy. Now add the egg and beat it untill everything gets incorporated. 
• Add the flour mixture, all at one go and beat it just untill it forms a ball.
• Flatten the pastry on to a sheet and cling wrap it and refrigerate it for 15- 20 mins.
• Lightly butter and flour the base and sides of a tart pan. Evenly pat the chilled pastry on to the bottom and sides of the pan and cling wrap it and place it in the freezer for about 15 minutes.
• Remove it from the freezer and using a fork, lightly prick the bottom of the crust, so that the dough does not puff up while it bakes.
• Preheat the oven at 400 F. 
• Bake the crust for about 5 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 F and continue baking the crust for another 15 minutes, or untill it turns golden brown. 
• Remove it on to a wire rack to cool completely before you go ahead with the filling. 

Making of the cream filling

• In a bowl, mix the sugar and the egg yolks together. 
• Sift the flour and the corn starch and add it to the egg mixture untill it forms a smooth paste.
• In a saucepan, heat the milk just untill it starts to boil. Pour it into the egg mixture slowly while you keep stirring constantly to avoid curdling. If it curdles, you could pour it through a strainer to remove the cooked pieces of egg in it.
• Pour this mixture onto a saucepan and cook it over medium heat untill boiling while you keep stirring it constantly. Continue to stir it untill you get a thicker consistency.
• Remove it from the heat and add vanilla extract to it.
• Pour it into a clean bowl and cover the surface of the pastry cream with plastic wrap to prevent forming of crust over it.
• Let it cool completely before you use it as filling.

Assembly of fruit tart

• Pour in the cream filling into the pastry crust. Level it out using a spatula.
• Now spread the fruits on top of it in a pattern of your choice. 
• Serve it immediately. You could also refrigerate it and bring it to room temperature before you serve it.

Tips

1. You could mix some apricot jam and water together and use it to give glaze to the fruit toppings. You could also spread the apricot jam on top of the pastry crust and let it dry out before filling it with cream filling. This could prevent the crust from getting soggy.
2. Using a tart pan with removable base helps to keep the pastry crust in shape.
3. You could use fruits of you choice. I used blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, and kiwi.

Recipe courtesy : Joy of Baking