10 minute Fruit Tartlet

 


This is essentially cheating but hey, no one will know if you don't confess your culinary sins. It's not so much making as it is assembling all the ingredients together which literally takes 10 minutes. That is, unless you want to dip into your creative juices and come up with masterpieces on the shortcrust pastry. The little tartlets are impressive, a sure way to wow the crowd with little effort. Most importantly, the sweetness of the strawberries complement beautifully with the vanilla whipped cream and buttery goodness of the pastry.

As you can tell from the photos, I lack the artistic DNA and ended up plonking pieces of strawberries on top of the cream. I'm sure you can do a far better job. I've also made this with store bought chocolate mousse and plums. You won't even need to whip anything and there's less washing to do. The trick is to find good pastry cases (mine's from Marks and Spencer) and really fresh and crisp fruit.


 




Ingredients:

Ready made shortcrust pastry tartlet cases (get the ones made of butter instead of margarine)
Double cream for making whipped cream
A drop or two of vanilla extract (optional but oh so good if you added it)
Strawberries (or blueberries, raspberries etc )

1. Pour a drop or two of vanilla extract into the cream. Whip the double cream in a large bowl until it's thick but not too long that it turns into butter.

2. Scoop a spoonful of cream into a case. Level it with a butter knife. Arrange whatever fruit you're using on top of it.

3. You can garnish it with a mint leaf or a sprinkling of icing sugar.

4. Devour and congratulate yourself for eating a healthy diet (aka fruits).