Desserts/ French Recipes

French Fruit Tarts with almond cream filling

This recipe should get your creative juices going. I, myself, am lacking in artistic talent (sorry, I can only manage to draw stick figures), but when confronted with a bowl full of fruit to decorate my tarts with, I’m in seventh heaven!

Fresh raspberries, strawberries, peaches and pears are all part of my ‘palette’ with which to decorate my tarts- the only thing I’m missing, perhaps, is Kiwi fruit. Unfortunately they are not in season here in Australia. Perhaps you can think of other fruits to use- persimmons maybe or melon?

These tarts are filled with a delicious almond cream made with almond meal. The pastry crust is not too difficult to make – you can use a food processor to ‘blitz together’ the dough and no blind baking is required. And the whole tart is finally brushed with a luscious apricot glaze- now my creative juices are really flowing!

Tip: to view photos on how to fit the dough into the tart pan and to trim it, please refer to my post Pear and Frangipane Tart with Apricot Glaze.

Fresh Raspberries

Fresh raspberries

 

Pears and Raspberries

Pears and Raspberries

 

 Peaches

Peaches

 Almond Cream Filling

Almond Cream Filling

Now it’s up to you!

 

Fruit Tart with almond cream filling
Serves 4
Have fun decorating this delicious tart with your favourite fruits!
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For the pastry dough
  1. 250 g plain flour
  2. Pinch salt
  3. 2 tbsp. sugar
  4. 125 chilled butter cubes
  5. 1 egg
  6. Extra chilled water, as required
For the almond cream
  1. 120 g softened butter
  2. 120 g sugar
  3. 1 egg
  4. 120 g almond meal
  5. 1 tbsp vanilla essence
For the fruit topping
  1. Any combination of your favorite fruits
For the apricot glaze
  1. 3 - 4 tablespoons of apricot jam mixed with a splash of Cointreau or water
For the pastry dough
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180 C (350 F).
  2. Place the butter, salt, sugar and flour in a food processor bowl and pulse until the mixture becomes like coarse sand. Transfer the mixture into a large mixing bowl; add the egg and stir with a large wooden spoon until the mixture becomes moist and ‘holds its shape’ when formed into a ball.
  3. If the mixture is too dry, add a little additional cold water.
  4. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead it 5 -6 times until the dough forms a ball. Divide the dough ball into four equal pieces. Roll out each piece on a floured surface, leaving a margin of about 2 cm larger than the diameter your mini-tart pan.
  5. Transfer the dough to the inside of your tart pan and press it against the sides. The sides of the dough should now hang about 2 cm over the edge of each tart pan. Trim the edges of the dough by passing a rolling pin over the top of each tart pan, pulling the excess dough away. Prick the dough on the bottom of each tart pan using the end of a fork.
For the almond cream
  1. Cream together the softened butter and sugar using electric beaters. Add the egg, vanilla and almond meal and mix until smooth. Spoon the mixture into the inside of each tart, filling it almost to the top. Place the tarts on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes or until the almond cream mixture turns light brown.
  2. To make the glaze, place the apricot jam and Cointreau (or water) in a small saucepan; heat on stovetop until the mixture becomes like a thick syrup.
  3. Let the tarts cool to room temperature then brush the tops with the apricot glaze. Decorate the tops with fruit pieces then brush the tops of the fruit with the glaze.
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11 Comments

  • Reply
    Joanne T Ferguson
    May 15, 2015 at 7:42 pm

    These look absolutely delicious Fran! I wish I was your taste tester and could try each one!

    • Reply
      Fran
      May 15, 2015 at 9:02 pm

      Thanks Joanne- two of the tarts have now been eaten- two more to go!

  • Reply
    Sarah
    May 15, 2015 at 10:47 pm

    Wow, those are so pretty! I adore almond tarts and bet those would taste fantastic!

  • Reply
    John@Kitchen Riffs
    May 16, 2015 at 5:31 am

    Ah, most of your favorite fruits for this sort of thing will soon be in season here! So I can go wild. 😉 Really nice — thanks.

    • Reply
      Fran
      May 16, 2015 at 7:58 am

      Thanks John. You can also use canned (or ‘tinned’) fruit for these tarts, which I did for some of my fruit.

  • Reply
    Amira
    May 18, 2015 at 9:03 pm

    How lovely this is!!! I’m drooling here. Very artistic and appealing and you call yourself not an artist!!! This dish goes on my to do list for sure and it is suitable to this time of the year, although I would not mind getting it year round :).

  • Reply
    Juliana
    May 21, 2015 at 10:19 am

    I adore all kind of dessert that has almond cream…and I just imagine how delicious these tarts are with the apricot glaze and all the fresh fruits…and you did a great job decorating the little tarts.
    Hope you are having a great week Fran 🙂

  • Reply
    Gourmet Getaways
    May 22, 2015 at 12:08 am

    Awww…love kiwi! What about other berries – blueberry, strawberry? 🙂 They are not only great to look at, they’re also delicious!! Almond cream filling, yum!

    Julie & Alesah
    Gourmet Getaways xx

  • Reply
    Daniela
    June 1, 2015 at 1:28 am

    Another of your wonderful desserts. This is temptation pure, Fran.
    I love the almond cream filling, it’s so elegant and delicate.

  • Reply
    marie johson
    January 5, 2020 at 5:16 am

    I love fruit tarts for so many reasons <3 thanks for sharing 🙂

  • Reply
    Fran Flint
    January 5, 2020 at 8:09 am

    Marie, thanks so much for stopping by my blog!

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