Tartlets

With fruit, you can either use a fresh fruit application or a cooked fruit method. The cooked fruit method is similar to that for a pie. You want to make sure that you are cutting the pieces smaller then you would for a pie though, as always appropriateness should rule all your decisions. And also as always there are many different ways you can garnish your tartlet shells after you get your various mis en place together. A few good rules to follow are:

• Less is more
• Think about rule of thirds
• Think about where the fruit is leading your eyes
• Moisture is more of a problem for the smaller shells, there is a less forgiving factor with the small size
• Monotone colours still look really pleasing
• Curds set up quite nicely, so you can with it more generously
• Unbaked tarts will need to bake at a higher temperature then shells, 375°
• If you are baking custards with a light consistency (short bake time) you will need to blind bake the shells before filling. Almond cream has a heavy consistency and longer bake time so you can bake this off without blind baking the shells.

Below are a few options for how to finish various shells:

• Line tartlet shells with melted white chocolate or chocolate to act as a barrier against moisture
• Line rim, dipped in apricot glaze and then a flour or coconut shreds (like for bouchee)
• Meringue shells are a nice finish, make sure to not burn the crust when scorching the meringue. You want to have an equal meringue to curd ratio if you are finishing with meringue.
• Can line shells with jam
• Can top with streusel, or left over dough
• Can pipe almond cream in as a filling or a top to the tartlet. Do not over fill as the almond cream will golden and expand slightly.
• Cooked fruit, like the poached pears, do not need to be glazed because they wont oxidize after cooked. But you can glaze it if you want that aesthetic.

Unbaked and baked almond cream tartlet with cooked fruit rhubarb and orange filling. Extra crust is used as a garnish.

 

Different varieties of fresh fruit tartlets with pastry cream and or lemon curd fillings.

 

Lemon curd tartlets with a hidden layer of raspberry jam underneath which is hinted at with the fresh fruit garnish. Italian meringue garnishing which has been torched.

 

Poached pear, poached whole so that the colour did not seep through to the interior. When baked off as the garnish for a tart filled with almond cream it gives quite a nice rustic look while still adding a few hints of colour.