Fruit tarts are one of my all-time favourites. They are a perfect combination of juicy, refreshing fruits and a crispy, buttery shortcrust. The relatively challenging part is to make the shortcrust, yet overall it is not a difficult recipe.

Preparation time：

1 hour

Cooking time：

30 minutes

Ingredients (9cm tart mould)：

tart dough：

Unsalted butter 30g

Powdered sugar 15g

Egg yolk half

Cake flour 55g

Custard：

Milk 125g

Egg yolk 1.5 pcs

Sugar 30g

Corn flour 10g

Vanilla essence 0.5 tbsp

Fresh strawberries

Cream：

Whipped cream

Sugar (optional)

How-to-make：

Tart dough：

1. Soften the butter under room temperature

2. Add powdered sugar, mix well

3. Add egg yolk, mix well. Then add sieved flour, mix well

4. Shape the dough into a rectangular shape, wrap with a cling film and put it in the fridge for 1 hour

Custard：

1. Combine milk and sugar in a pot, bring it to a boil

2. Combine egg yolks and corn flour in a bowl, then add the boiled milk to the egg mixture gradually in three parts. Pour the mixture into the pot and put it under heat again

3. Bring it to a boil on a medium heat. Slowly stir the mixture using a whisk during heating until thickened

4. Add vanilla essence to the custard, mix well, then transfer it to a bowl. Put a cling film on it, make sure the film sticks to the custard surface to prevent the forming of a custard skin. Let is cool in the fridge

Baking the tarts：

*Ensure the tart dough is kept cold enough all the times or it will be difficult to make the tart shell when the butter softens

1. Flour the table top, lightly knead the dough and stretch it slightly bigger than the mould with a rolling pin. Ensure the dough skin is not too thin

2. Spread the dough sheet into the mould, and cut away the extra dough with knife or scrapper

3. Pierce holes in the centre of the tart shell

4. Preheat oven to 160°C，bake for 10 to 20 minutes (depending on the thickness of the shell and individual oven settings. When the tart turns golden yellow, then you can stop baking)

Garnishes：

1. Take out the custard from the fridge, whisk it with an electric whisk until the custard becomes smooth

2. Pipe the custard into the tart shells

3. Decorate with fresh strawberries

4. Decorate with whipped cream around the tart rim