Strawberry Bavarian Cream Mini Tarts

torta di frutta/fruit tart

Today's the last day of school! I almost made it. Now, I just need to make it past the next three days of post planning, hope I don't get thrown under the proverbial bus anymore, keep my food down, and lose my daily migraines, then I will be back to my old happy self in no time! Won't it be nice to have that reflected in my posts? I feel bad to be so whiny, yet I still type. This too shall pass, my faithful readers. This too shall pass!

I am pleased that the teacher retiring enjoyed the Mini Chocolate Cupcakes. She wrote me a lovely email -

"A special thanks to you for all the wonderful sweets you provided for my retirement party. They were all great--we all loved the ones with the wildcats on them. My grandchildren thank you especially--their parents don't! They wouldn't stay away from that table!!!"

Since its a couple of hours before the weekend, Memorial Day Weekend, and the warm weather is a-comin', I thought I would share this lil' tart I made last week. It's perfect for that something sweet we crave, but don't want anything heavy. It would really work with any fruit or a combination of fruits, with or without patterns, or with or without whipped cream. Because my tarts were traveling, I baked them in foil pans, but feel free to play with your bakeware. Enjoy!

Strawberry Bavarian Cream Mini Tarts

2 Tablespoons unflavored gelatin
½ cup cold water
8 egg yolks
1 cup sugar
2 cups milk
one vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise (or about 2 - 2 ½ tsp. vanilla extract)

Combine unflavored gelatin & water and set aside. Whisk together egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Heat milk and vanilla bean in a medium saucepan and scald (190 degrees). Remove from heat.

Temper the eggs before gradually adding the milk to the egg mixture, stir constantly. Then, place mixture back on the stove on medium high heat. Stir constantly. Heat until mixture thickens and the temperature gets to about 180 degrees. Do not to let the mixture boil.
Remove from the heat once again and stir in the gelatin mixture. Transfer into a glass or ceramic bowl and set aside to cool at room temperature, stirring often.

Once cooled, use an electric mixer with a whisk attachment to whip 2 cups heavy whipping cream to soft peaks. Slowly add the custard to the whipped cream mixture and fold to combine. Pour mixture into individual molds and set in refrigerator overnight to cool.

*Temper - Gently heat egg yolks before adding to a hot liquid to prevent curdling by adding a small bit of the sauce and beating well first.

Pate Brisee
Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies, or ~ 6-8 mini pies

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
1/4 to ½ cup ice water

In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. With machine running, slowly and in a steady stream, add ice water. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky, but try not to process more than 30 seconds or the tough will be tough. (To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. )

Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc (which will make it easier to roll out) and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. (Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.)

On a lightly floured service, roll and cut out the dough with a biscuit cutter and transfer the dough into buttered mini pans. Chill, lightly covered, for 30 minutes. Dock the dough by using a fork to poke a couple holes in the base to allow the air to flow through and the change of bubbles will lessen. Don't go crazy, though!

Place wax or parchment paper over the base and cut it to cover the edges. Use dried beans, dry rice, dry lentils or pie weights over the dough?s surface of the covering. Bake in a 375ºF oven and bake the base for approximately 15 minutes, (less for pastry containing sugar). Remove from the oven and to cool completely on wire racks.

Add filling and sliced strawberries in a preferred pattern. Refrigerate until about 15 minutes before serving.

Looking for other strawberry desserts? Alanna has a great compilation of Fabulous Strawberry Desserts, or you can check out the following posts for here...

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