170 g plain flour plus extra for dusting<br />
large pinch of salt<br />
110 g cold unsalted butter<br />
3 tbsp icing sugar<br />
1 egg yolk<br />
1 tbsp cold water<br />
2 to 3 drops of vanilla extract100 g marscarpone cheese<br />
100 ml double cream or 100g creme fraiche<br />
1 tbsp icing sugar<br />
2 to 3 drops vanilla extract<br />
approg 250 g assorted fresh fruit<br />
8 x 9 cm pie dishes<ol>
<li>To make the pastry, stir together the flour and salt, then rub in the butter until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.</li>
<li>Stir in the icing sugar.</li>
<li>Whisk the egg yolk with the water and vanilla.</li>
<li>Add 2 tablespoons to the bowl and mix with a knife. The pastry should stick together, if not, add more egg mixture a tsp at a time. Form into a ball.</li>
<li>Divide the disc into 8 roughly equal pieces and shape into flat balls.</li>
<li>Wrap each piece in clingfilm and chill the pastry for 30 minutes.</li>
<li>Lightly dust a surface and your rolling pin with flour. Then roll out each piece of chilled pastry to around 3mm thick. It should be just a little bigger than the tin.</li>
<li>Use the pastry to line the tart tins. Don’t worry if you make a hole – simply squash a bit of spare pastry over the gap.</li>
<li>Preheat the oven to 180c/350f/Gas mark 4.</li>
<li>Trim off the excess pastry. Chill the cases for 10 minutes, then prick the bottoms with a fork.</li>
<li>Put on a baking sheet and bake for 15 – 18 minutes until golden brown.</li>
<li>Take the cases out of the oven and leave to cool in the tins for 20 minutes, then remove from the tins and transfer to a wire rack.</li>
<li>For the filling, whisk together the mascarpone, cream or creme fraiche , sugar and vanilla until slightly thickened.</li>
<li>Spoon the filling into the pastry cases until they are about half full. Top with different types of fresh fruit. Try mixed berries – blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries, kiwi fruit and green grapes etc.</li>
<li>Dust with icing sugar just before serving.</li>
</ol>
Fruit Tarts
These little fruit tarts are made from shortcrust pastry & can be filled with jewel-coloured, seasonal fruits.
