Cute cream-filled Mini Fruit Tarts are a delicious and simple summer dessert! These mini treats are perfect for any get together.
No shower or tea party would be complete without a few dainty desserts like my fav Mini Fruit Pizza, Mini Cinnamon Rolls and these Mini tarts. Mini fruit tarts are as tasty as they are beautiful!
Favorite Fruit Tart Recipe
Do you know what I love more than a delicious summer fruit tart? Mini fruit tarts! The very first dessert I made as an adult (aside from chocolate chip cookies) was a fruit tart. I even bought the special tart pan with the removable bottom. Of course it didn’t turn out as well as I had planned. It was tasty, just not that pretty to look at. Turns out that making a gorgeous arrangement of fruit slices is not as easy as you would think!
20 years later and I still have never made another fruit tart, which is a shame because it is easily one of my most favorite desserts. I do, however, make these mini fruit tarts all the time. You get all the deliciousness without any of the stress of making a tart that looks pretty. Plus, you can use whatever fruit you have at home. I love using strawberries, blackberries, and kiwi, but using raspberries and blueberries would make these perfect for a patriotic celebration.
The best part, you don’t need any fancy tart pans to make these mini fruit tarts, and they only take minute to get together. If you don’t have a mini muffin pan, the tarts can be made in a standard size muffin pan. Increase the baking time to 18 -20 minutes. You should get about 6-8 tarts. Enjoy!
How to Make Mini Fruit Tarts
We love how simple these tarts are! They take a little bit of work but it’s all simple.
PREP. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
DOUGH. In a food processor pulse together the flour and powdered sugar, add butter gradually and pulse until the dough begins to hold together. Scoop into 1 Tb size balls, flatten into a disc, and then press firmly into the muffin tins (dough will come up the sides). Repeat with the remaining dough.
BAKE. Bake tart shells for 15 minutes. (Half way through press centers down with back end of measuring spoon) Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then move to a rack.
FILLING. Make filling by beating the cream, mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla until you have stiff peaks. Spoon or pipe filling into the cooled shells and refrigerate.
SERVE. Top with fruit right before serving.
And as always – just use your favorite fruits! We love all the berries so mini berry fruit tarts would be great or as mentioned above, you can use the red and blue fruits for Patriotic get togethers.
Tips, Variations + Storing Info
Here are a few helpful tips to consider when making these yummy treats:
Mascarpone is often compared to cream cheese or ricotta. It is sweet with a hint of acidity, with a rich and creamy texture. But it isn’t as tangy as cream cheese and is even considered sweeter! You can usually find it at your local grocery store. If you aren’t able to find any you can mix together 8 oz. of cream cheese with ¼ cup of whipping cream and then use ½ cup of this mixture for your filling in this recipe.
In this recipe the food processor is used to mix the flour and powdered sugar while giving it a little bit of air and lift to it. When the butter is added it is used to roughly mix it in so it gives plenty of moisture when it bakes. If you don’t have a food processor for this recipe we suggest sifting the flour and powdered sugar and then using your hands to roughly break up the butter and combining it into the mix.
Variations:
- Do a fun flavored filling like lemon by adding a teaspoon of lemon extract rather than vanilla extract.
- Add a simple glaze on top, over the fruit. You can find an easy glaze in this recipe: Glazed Lemon Zucchini Bread
STORE the shells and filling separately. Keep the shells at room temperature in a Ziploc bag and the filling in an airtight container in the fridge. If you have leftover tarts that are already filled your best bet would be to put them in the fridge in a sealed container in a single layer. The cookie part may be a little soft but the cream won’t spoil if you store it in the fridge for a few days.
FREEZE any leftovers and bring them to room temperature before serving. It would be best to wait to add the fruit until they have thawed.
For even more fruity desserts, check out:
Mini Fruit Tarts Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 3/4 cup butter cut into small pieces
- Fruit
For the Filling:
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup mascarpone
- 2 tbsp powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a food processor pulse together the flour and powdered sugar, add butter gradually and pulse util the dough begins to hold together.
- Scoop into 1 Tbsp size balls, flatten into a disc, and then press firmly into the muffin tins (dough will come up the sides).
- Repeat with the remaining dough. Bake tart shells for 15 minutes. (Half way through press centers down with back end of measuring spoon). Cool in pan for 5 minutes and then move to a rack.
- Make the filling by beating the cream, mascarpone, sugar, and vanilla until you have stiff peaks.
- Spoon or pipe filling into the cooled shells. Refrigerate until ready to serve and top with fruit right before. ENJOY!
These look so tasty and refreshing!! There’s something about summertime that calls for fruity desserts. Thanks for sharing with us Heather! Head over to Heather’s French Press for more great recipes!
Pictures for this recipe were updated June, 2018.
Hi Kristyn,
Love these mini fruit tarts! It’s a must when I have tea time with my girlfriends.
Thanks for the easy recipe.
Saving it for our next tea party!! 😀
Amy
I’m so glad you like these!! They are pretty cute 🙂 Hope your girlfriends like them, too!! Thanks so much!
So cute and perfect little dessert!
I MADE THESE FOR A COUPLE OF SUMMER PARTIES. REALLY SIMPLE, DELICIOUS, AND VERY PRETTY TOO. I RECOMMEND ALSO TAMPING DOWN THE CENTERS OF THE CUPS WITH THE END OF A SPATULA AFTER YOU TAKE THEM OUT OF THE OVEN TO COOL. THE PASTRY TENDS TO PUFF UP AND THIS GIVES YOU A LITTLE MORE ROOM FOR FRUIT AND FILLING.
Glad you like them 🙂 Thank you for letting me know!
The flour, powdered sugar, and butter, didn’t come together to form balls, it’s just powdery
It should. Maybe it just needs more mixing??