Fresh Fruit Tart

December has already started and it is the season for fresh strawberries. This weekend, I decided to make Fresh Fruit Tart. I considered using fresh strawberries, mulberries, kiwi and dragon fruit for the topping.

Tart is a baked dish with a shortcrust pastry as the base with usually custard filling and topping.

Ingredients

For Pastry Crust

Maida (all purpose flour) - 200 gms

Unsalted Butter - 150 gms

White sugar - 50 gms

Salt - 1/8 tsp

Egg - 1

Cold water - 2 tbsp

For Pastry Cream

Milk - 300ml

Egg yolks - 3nos

Maida - 20gms

Corn flour - 20gms

Vanilla extract - 1 tsp

For Topping

Strawberries - 15nos

Kiwi - 2 nos

Dragon Fruit - 1no

For Glaze

Corn flour - 1 tbsp

White sugar - 50gms

Water - 1 cup

Instructions:

For Pastry Crust

1. In the food processor bowl, take maida. Add sugar and salt
2. Cut cold butter in 1/2 inch cubes and add to maida
3. Lightly beat the egg and add to maida
4. Turn on the food processor and pulse it until all the ingredients just come together and forms the texture of small granules. If necessary, add 1 tbsp of cold water (if mixture is not coming together)
5. Take out the mixture and place on the clean working platform. Bring all the ingredients together to form a ball. Do not over work the batter otherwise pastry crust will not be light after baking.
6. Flatten the ball in the form of the thick disc, cover it with cling wrap and keep in the refrigerator for 30 minutes
7. Take 8-9 inch tart mould with loose bottom. Grease it with butter
8. Remove the pastry disc from the refrigerator and roll it on the clean working platform using rolling pin. The size of the rolled pastry should be at least 3-4 inches more that the diameter of the tart mould (Instead of flattening using rolling pin, I placed the pastry ball in the mould and flattened it evenly using fingers and palm while raising the pastry over the edges of the mould.)
9. Transfer the rolled pastry in the mould, press lightly with fingers along the inside edge of the mould and cut excess of pastry hanging over the mould top using knife.
10. Keep the pastry along with mould in the freezer for 15-20 minutes
11. Pre-heat the oven at 200 degrees centigrade
12. Take out the pastry and mould from the freezer, prick the bottom of the pastry.
13. Bake the pastry in the oven for 5 minutes at 200 degrees centigrade
14. Reduce the temperature to 180 degrees and back until crust turns light brown (around 15-17 minutes)
15. Turn the oven off, take out the baked pastry and allow it to completely cool
16. While crust is warm, apply either apricot glaze or lightly beaten egg whites on the inside surface of the crust. This prevents the crust becoming soggy once pastry cream is poured inside the crust
17. Once cooled, remove the bottom of the mould 
18. While pastry crust is getting cooled, prepare pastry cream

For Pastry Cream

1. Separate egg whites and yolks
2. In a bowl, take 3 egg yolks and mix well with sugar
3. Sift maida and corn flour in the egg yolks and mix well until smooth paste is formed
4. In the sauce pan, bring the milk to just boil (until milk starts foaming up)
5. Remove the sauce pan from heat and pour small quantity in the egg yolk mixture while whisking constantly. This is called tempering of the egg yolk mixture
6. Slowly add the remaining milk in the egg yolk mixture while continuously whisking
7. Pour back the above mixture in the sauce pan and keep it on the gas stove on medium heat.
8. Whisk continuously (this will avoid curdling of the egg yolk mixture) until the mixture thickens with the custard like smooth consistency (around 1 minute or so). Whisking continuously will also help avoid any lumps being formed
9. Remove it from the heat and allow it cool completely. Cover the surface of the pastry cream with cling wrap to avoid formation of the skin
10. Once cooled, add vanilla extract and mix well.

For Glaze

1. In a small pan, take sugar, corn flour and water
2. Bring the mixture to boil 
3. Remove it from the heat and allow to cool completely. The mixture will be slightly thickened

Assembling the tart

1. In the cooled pastry crust, spread the pastry cream evenly
2. Slice the strawberries, kiwis and dragon fruits
3. Arrange the fruit slices on top of pastry cream in concentric circles or any other decorative form
4. Using pastry brush, apply cooled glaze on the surface of the fruits. This glaze bring shine to the surface of the fruits as well as prevents the fruits from turning stale
5. Store the tart in the refrigerator until served.
6. We can use any other fruits of your choice as well

Rolled crust inside the tart mould

Baked pastry crust

Pastry cream getting thickened

Ready and cooled pastry cream

Assembled Tart

Glaze applied on the tart