MINI SUGAR COOKIE FRUIT TARTS with VANILLA BEAN CUSTARD FILLING

Mini-Sugar Cookie Tarts with Fresh Fruit

For a special baby or bridal shower, or garden tea, what could be better than these sweet little fruit tarts?  A perfect sugar cookie crust, filled with a silky and creamy vanilla custard filling, topped with your favorite seasonal fresh fruit and delicately glazed. Pretty, petite and perfect!

​These truly are for a special event.  I don't make them often, but when I do, they disappear IMMEDIATELY!  I love using a selection of seasonal fresh fruit, but you can just as easily choose your favorite fruit or berry - and make them Fresh Raspberry Sugar Cookie Fruit Tarts, or Fresh Blueberry Sugar Cookie Mini Fruit Tarts.  I love that you can customize these just the way you want them, and they are guaranteed to be everyone's favorite bite-size treat at your next event!

Sugar Cookie Fresh Fruit Tarts with Vanilla Custard Filling

I made these for our Royal Wedding Tea Party, and they were a huge hit.  I made the soft and chewy sugar cookie tarts a week earlier and froze them.  The most delicious, silky and creamy, perfectly dreamy Vanilla Bean Custard can be made ahead of time as well, and ready and chilling in the fridge.

​When you're ready to serve these, simply spoon the Vanilla Bean Custard Filling into each Sugar Cookie Tart Shell, decorate with the fresh fruit of your choice, and gently brush a light apricot or orange glaze on top.  A lot of steps, but so simple and so worth it!

​I'm kinda partial to red ripe raspberries, blackberries and blueberries, but the sky is the limit!  What fresh fruit would you choose for these? ​

Mini Sugar Cookie Fruit Tarts

MINI SUGAR COOKIE FRUIT TARTS with VANILLA BEAN CUSTARD FILLING & FRESH FRUIT

For a special baby or bridal shower, or garden tea, what could be better than these sweet little fruit tarts?  A perfect mini sugar cookie crust, filled with a silky and creamy vanilla custard filling, topped with your favorite seasonal fresh fruit and delicately glazed. Pretty, petite and perfect! I love using a selection of seasonal fresh fruit, but you can just as easily choose your favorite fruit or berry - and make them Fresh Raspberry Sugar Cookie Fruit Tarts, or Fresh Blueberry Sugar Cookie Mini Fruit Tarts.  I love that you can customize these just the way you want them, and they are guaranteed to be everyone's favorite bite-size treat at your next event!
​

Sugar Cookie Vanilla Bean Custard Fresh Fruit Tarts

INGREDIENTS:
Sugar Cookies:
1-1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (175g) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ cup unsalted butter (softened)
¾ cup (150g) sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon pure almond extract

Custard Filling:
2 cups whole milk
1-1/2 tablespoon vanilla bean paste (or pure vanilla extract)
6 egg yolks (room temperature)
2/3 cup (133g) sugar
¼ cup (32g) cornstarch
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Toppings:
Fresh berries and fruit:  strawberries, raspberries, grapes (cut in half), blackberries, blueberries, kiwi (cut into slices and then quartered), mandarin oranges (whole sections)

Glaze:
1/3 cup apricot or orange jam
¾ tablespoon water

Special Equipment:
Miniature muffin pans (you’ll need enough spots for 24 mini-cookies)
Wooden mini-tart shaper (optional – see photo below)
 
HOW I MAKE THESE:

1. Generously grease mini-muffin baking pans (you’ll need 24 spots), then sprinkle lightly with flour (a little fine-mesh sifter or strainer works good for this); set aside.  Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. PREPARE THE COOKIES:  In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and baking powder; set aside. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the egg yolk, vanilla and almond extracts and beat until smooth and well blended.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir together until well combined (the dough may seem a little crumbly – that’s okay!)  Also note that this is one cookie dough that you do NOT need to refrigerate before using!
4. Use your hands to roll and shape 1-1/2-inch balls of dough – the warmth of your hands will form them into a smooth ball. 
5. Place a dough ball in each section of your mini-muffin pan – each dough ball should fill up the muffin tin about half-way.  Press the dough gently into the muffin tin and slightly indent the center with your thumb. 
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are golden.  (This time will depend on how much dough you have in each space, whether you are using a dark pan, etc., so watch carefully.)
7. Remove from oven and immediately lightly press in the centers (I use a wooden Mini-Tart Shaper from Pampered Chef, but you can also use the back of a round metal measuring spoon).
8. Immediately begin working to get the cookies out of the pan, using a butter knife to loosen the edges.  Do not allow too much time to cool as they get harder to pull out as they cool. 
9. Place the cooled cookies in a single layer in large Zip-loc bags to keep your sugar cookies super soft.
10. PREPARE THE VANILLA CUSTARD FILLING:  Put the milk and vanilla bean paste in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat; remove from heat.
11. In a separate large bowl, whisk the egg yolks and granulated sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the cornstarch and whisk until no lumps remain.  Whisk in ¼ cup of the hot milk mixture and stir until incorporated.  Whisk in the remaining hot milk mixture.
12. Pour the custard mixture from the bowl back into the saucepan.   Cook over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thickened and slowly boiling.  Remove from the heat and stir in the butter. 
13. Pour custard into a medium bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard (this is to prevent a skin from developing).  Refrigerate until cool and you are ready to assemble the tarts. 
14. ASSEMBLE THE TARTS:  Spoon the cooled Vanilla Custard Filling into the sugar cookie cups.
15. GARNISH WITH FRESH FRUIT:  Garnish with seasonal fresh fruit of your choice – the more colorful, the better!
16. PREPARE THE GLAZE:  Combine the jam and water in a small microwave safe bowl and microwave for 15 seconds, stir well.  With a pastry brush, brush the warm jam glaze over the top of the fruit tart.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.
17. Best enjoyed within a few hours after making so that the sugar cookies don’t get soggy!

​SERVINGS:   24 miniature tarts
​
RECIPE NOTES:  After years of making cookie cups, there are a few tricks to make sure they come out evenly sized and can be easily removed from the muffin pans:

• Grease the muffin tin really well. I also like to put a little bit of flour on top of the greasing just to help with the removal.
• Less cookie dough is better. If you have tons of cookie dough, your tart will taste like one thick cookie. I like to fill up the muffin tin about halfway with a rolled ball of dough. It’s a small ball of dough, but it will rise and then the center will get indented making it even larger (but with less overall cookie dough becoming a dense bottom.)  If you are concerned about having the perfect sized tart, try a few trials baking 1-2 balls before using all of your cookie dough in the muffin tin and getting the wrong size.
• Remove the cookies from the muffin tin almost immediately. Remove the cookies from the oven, press in the centers (I use a wooden Mini-Tart Shaper from Pampered Chef, but you can also use the back of a round metal measuring spoon), and then immediately begin working to get them out. I work around the cookies with a butter knife, and slowly coax them out with a spoon.  In my experience, the longer I wait to pull out the cookies from the muffin pan, the worse they come out.  If they “harden” or cool in the muffin tin, they are darn near impossible to pull out in one piece.
• Before the cookies have fully cooled, place them in a single layer in large Zip-loc bags. Seal the bag with a tiny bit of heat in them and this will keep your sugar cookies super soft. No more hard sugar cookies!

Original recipe posted May 2018; revised & reposted April 2024.   

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