I’ve been wanting to make these puff pastry tarts for such a long time, but never got the chance to until today. Aren’t they pretty?! I love the color display and their flakiness. It’s amazing how a piece of dough can rise this much and turn into these amazing, beautiful, elegant, exquisite tarts.

But wait, there’s more! Not only they look amazing, but they also taste great and are incredibly versatile. I filled them with vanilla whipped cream, but imagine filling them with lemon curd or vanilla custard or chocolate mousse or citrus mousse. And the list can go on because these puff pastry tarts truly are that versatile! And so easy and simple to make! Even if you are a novice in the pastry kitchen, you can make these! The gif picture below will guide you through the technique used to make them. I’m thinking that you can also turn this recipe into a savory one by skipping the sugar and filling the tart shells with cream cheese, then topping them with smoked salmon or various vegetables. It’s a recipe that you might want to keep close and it will save your life when you’ve got people coming over but no idea what snacks to make.

Yields: 10-12 small tarts

Ingredients:

• 1 sheet puff pastry dough
• 1 egg for egg wash
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 150g heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar plus more for serving
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Berries

Directions:

1. Defrost your puff pastry dough and cut it into 10x10cm squares (or larger if you wish, but try to keep them square-shaped).
2. Cut and shape the tarts just like in the gif picture below.
3. Brush the tarts with egg wash then sprinkle them with brown sugar.
4. Bake in the preheated oven at 400F for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and flaky. The secret to puffed, flaky dough is to bake them at high temperature for a short time. At high temperature steams form and they force the dough to rise. If you bake them at low temperature, the butter in the dough begins to slowly melt and ooze out rather than push the dough up. So always keep your oven really hot for a well risen, flaky puff pastry!
5. When done, remove from the oven and let them cool down completely.
6. For the filling, whip the heavy cream with powdered sugar until stiff then add the vanilla. Spoon the whipped cream into each tart and top with fresh or frozen berries.
7. Dush with powdered sugar just before serving.

ROMANIAN!

Delicate, elegante, aromate, aceste tarte sunt mici diamante ale cofetariei. Nici nu ai zice ca se fac atat de usor! Aluat frantuzesc, frisca si fructe, doar atat va trebuie! Reteta nici macar nu e o reteta propriu-zisa, ci mai degraba o tehnica foarte versatila. O data ce aveti cojile de tarte facute le puteti umple cu orice, de la frisca, la curd de lamaie, mousse de ciocolata, mousse de citrice, crema de vanilie si lista poate continua. Sau puteti face tarte sarate, umplute cu o crema de branza si acoperite cu somon afumat sau diverse legume. Dati frau imaginatiei si veti vedea ce bunatati ies!

Aveti nevoie de o foaie de aluat de foietaj dezghetat si un cutit bine ascutit. Taiati foaia in patrate (10×10 au avut ale mele, dar merg si mai mari) si urmati pasii din imaginea gif de mai sus, taind initial colturile astfel incat sa le puteti detasa partial. Asezati tartele intr-o tava tapetata cu hartie de copt si ungeti cu ou batut. Presarati zahar brun si coaceti la temperatura maxima (200C) pana devin aurii si cresc frumos.

Secretul pentru un aluat de foietaj atat de bine crescut este sa incalziti cuptorul foarte bine, la temperatura maxima si sa coaceti aluatul (fie tarte, fie pateuri ori saleuri) un timp scurt la temperatura mare. Daca cuptorul nu e suficient de fierbinte, untul din aluatul frantuzesc se va topi si se va scurge in tava in loc sa ajute aluatul sa creasca. De asemenea, nu deschideti cuptorul in primele minute de coacere.

Scoateti din cuptor cand sunt gata si lasati-le sa se raceasca. Umpleti tartele cu frisca bine batuta (indulcita si aromata cu vanilie), apoi decorati cu fructe de padure. Pudrati cu zahar inainte de servire. Simplu, nu-i asa?!