These elegant fruit tarts are made with a vegan sweet pastry and crème pâtissière style filling. Perfect for a special occasion, you can easily scale up the recipe for a dinner party, and adapt the fruit decoration to celebrate your favourite seasonal fruity flavours.
Makes:
3
Difficulty:
Needs skill
Baking Time:
20 mins
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- Ingredients
- Method
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Method
Step 1
For the pastry, tip the flour, salt, icing sugar and lemon zest into the bowl of a food processor and pulse to combine.
Step 2
Add the coconut oil and pulse again until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the cold water and pulse again to form a dough. It will still look quite crumbly at this stage.
Step 3
Tip out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface and gently knead together. Divide the dough into 3 pieces, pat each into a round, then wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Step 4
For the crème pâtissière filling, pour 150ml of the soya milk into a small pan. Add the sugar and vanilla bean paste and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
Step 5
Tip the cornflour and custard powder into a small bowl. Add the 2 tbsp soya milk and stir to a smooth paste. Add the paste to the simmering milk, stirring continuously to a thick, smooth custard. Remove from the heat and stir in the coconut oil.
Step 6
Pour the mixture into a bowl, cover with cling film to prevent a skin forming and leave to cool at room temperature.
Step 7
Roll each piece of pastry out on a lightly floured surface approx. 3mm thick and approx. 18cm round. Use to line the fluted tart tins. Trim the edges of the tins, then prick the bases all over with a fork. Chill the lined tins for 15 minutes in the fridge.
Step 8
Cut 3 circles of greaseproof paper approx. 18cm in diameter. Scrunch them up tightly in your hands and then lay them out flat (this softens the paper and will help them to sit inside the tart cases). Line the pastry tarts with the circles of greaseproof then fill with baking beans.
Step 9
Place the tart cases on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes in an oven preheated to 190°C/170°C fan/375°F/Gas 5. Remove from the oven and lift out the greaseproof paper and baking beans. Return the tart cases to the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes until the base is cooked through.
Step 10
Remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 minutes. Carefully remove the pastry cases from the tins, then fill with the crème pâtissière.
Step 11
For the apricot glaze, mix the apricot jam and boiling water in a small bowl until smooth.
Step 12
Arrange the fruit decoratively over the top of the crème pâtissière, then brush with apricot glaze.
