These mini strawberry rhubarb tartlets are cute and delicious. The combination of sweet strawberries, tangy rhubarb and buttery crisp pastry is truly sublime.
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Strawberry and rhubarb are one of those classic flavor combinations. And with good reason. The sweet strawberries marries perfectly with the tangy, almost sour rhubarb, balancing each other out and competing with your taste buds as to who is going to win the best in flavor.
These mini strawberry and rhubarb tarts are made with buttery crisp homemade pastry but they work just as well with sweet store bought pastry or even premade tart shells.
Ingredients
Strawberries: this recipe uses beautiful fresh strawberries. I don't recommend using frozen strawberries, they will likely go mushy when they defrost and may make your pastry soggy.
Rhubarb: usually sold in bundles of stalks from some supermarkets and fruit and veg stores, with or without the leaves still attached. Look for fresh, firm, fleshly stalks.
Hot tip: Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Never eat rhubarb leaves. If your rhubarb leaves still have the leaves attached when you buy them remove and discard them.
Almond meal: sometimes also know as almond flour or ground almonds. The almond meal in these tarts helps soak up the juices from the fruit and keep the pastry nice and crisp.
Tapioca starch: a little tapioca starch helps thicken up the juices from the fruit and stop your tartlets going soggy. You could substitute with the same amount of corn flour.
Plain flour: is best in this recipe. You can also use all purpose flour. Its important to use a flour that does not having any rising agents as you don't want the pastry to puff up.
Butter: I use salted butter in this recipe but you can use unsalted butter if you prefer.
Eggs: I use large eggs in this recipe, approx. 55 gms each with shells before cracking.
Strawberry jam: a little strawberry jam brushed on after baking helps keep these tarts pretty and glossy and helps stop the fruit drying out, If they last that long!
How to make strawberry rhubarb tartlets
To make the sweet short crust pastry:
Hot tip: don't have time to make your own pastry? These tartlets work great will pre-made short crust or tartlet cases to, for an even easier dessert option.
Its important to use COLD butter straight from the fridge, not room temperature butter or your pastry maybe greasy. Cube the butter. Add the flour and butter to a food processor and blend for about 15 seconds or until fine bread crumbs form. Add the icing sugar and blend for another five seconds until well combined.
Lightly beat the egg and add to food processor. Blend for about ten seconds. The pastry should be starting to clump and ball up easily.
Tip the crumbs onto a clean work surface and lightly push together with your hands to form a disk. Firmly wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for AT LEAST one hour, preferably four hours, ideally overnight.
Once chilled remove from the fridge and allow to rest at room temperature for about twenty minutes before rolling out.
While the pastry is resting pre-heat your oven to 355°F (180°C/160°C fan forced). Tear several pieces of aluminum foil so you have a large square to fit into each muffin tin.
Flour your work surface. Gently roll out the pastry to approx. ½ cm thick or sufficiently large so you can cut out all twelve pastry shapes without having to reroll you dough. Short crust pastry does not take kindly to being reworked. Cut rounds with circular crinkled pastry cutter.
Fit the cut out pastry into the greased muffin tins. Prick the pastry lightly with a fork. Line the pastry with foil and fill with sugar. Bake for ten minutes.
Remove from oven and carefully remove foil and sugar from each muffin in.
Hot tip: the sugar with be HOT when you remove it from the muffin tins. Make sure you put it into a heat proof container. The sugar can be reused in another recipe and I just tip it back into my storage jar once completely cooled..
Bake tart cases for a further 5 mins, or until pastry is just starting to turn golden brown, keeping in mind they will be baking again with filling.
Remove from oven. Sprinkle the bottom of each tartlet case with ½ teaspoon of almond meal, then make the tart filling.
To make the tart filling:
Hot tip: Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Never eat rhubarb leaves. If your rhubarb leaves still have the leaves attached when you buy them remove and discard them.
Wash the rhubarb stalks thoroughly and cut into small pieces. There is not need to remove the stringy fibers from the rhubarb unless it is particularly tough, they will soften up while baking
Hull the strawberries and cut into small pieces. Zest the lemon. Mix the rhubarb, strawberry and lemon zest together in a bowl. Sprinkle over the tapioca starch and mix well. Add the sugar and mix well.
Fill the tart shells. You want to pile up the filling quite high as they will cook down in the oven. Bake for thirty minutes or until pastry is golden brown.
Put the strawberry jam into a small bowl and mix in a splash or two of water and mix well to form a thin slurry. Remove the tarts from oven and brush with the strawberry jam while still hot.
How to serve
To serve pop onto a pretty plate and enjoy! Fabulous warm from the oven with a scoop of my sour cream ice cream or on their own once cooled down. Delicious!
How to store
These tartlets are best eaten the day they are made for maximum crunch and flavor. If you have any left over you can store them in a container lined with baking paper in the fridge for up to three days, but they pastry may start to soften over time.
Have you made this recipe? Tell me how it went in the comments below and tag me on instagram so I can see your delicious creations! @keep_calm_and_eat_icecream
Looking for more yummy dessert recipes?
Why not try making
- Sour cream ice cream
- Pear and rhubarb cobbler
- Mini strawberry cheesecake
- Strawberry ice cream
- Strawberry popsicles
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📋 Recipe
Strawberry rhubarb tartlets
Equipment
- Muffin tins or mini tart tins
- Aluminum foil
- Food processor (optional)
Ingredients
Sweet short crust pastry OR you can skip this step and use pre-made tartlet cases
- 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (125gms) unsalted butter
- 1 & ⅔ cup (250gms) plain flour
- ⅓ cup (50gms) icing sugar
- 1 large egg
- extra butter to grease tins with
- extra plain flour to dust work surface
- extra sugar for blind baking
Tart filling
- 1 cup (150gms) strawberries
- 1 & ¼ cups (160gms) rhubarb stalks
- ½ medium lemon, zested
- ¼ cup (55gms) white sugar
- 2 teaspoons (5gms) tapioca starch
- 1 tablespoon almond meal
Instructions
Sweet short crust pastry
- NB you will need cold butter straight from the fridge.
- Cut the butter into cubes. Put the flour and the butter into a food processor and blend for fifteen seconds or until fine bread crumbs form.
- Sift the icing sugar and add to the food processor. Blend for five seconds or until just combined.
- Lightly beat the egg. Add the egg to the food processor and blend for about ten seconds. The pastry should be starting to clump together and should hold its shape easily.
- Tip the mix onto a clean worksurface and use your hands to form it into a disk.
- Wrap firmly in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least one hour, preferably four hours and ideally overnight.
- Once rested, remove the pastry from the fridge and allow to rest a room temperature for about twenty minutes. Pre-heat your oven to 355°F (180°C/160°C fan forced).
- Tear several pieces of aluminum foil so you have large square pieces that will fit into each muffin tin.
- Flour your work surface. Roll out pastry to approx. ½ cm thick. Cut into rounds and fit into muffin tins. Use your fingers to gently press the pastry into the edges of the tin.
- Prick lightly with a fork. Fit foil over tart shells and fill with sugar to weigh down the pastry.
- Bake for ten minutes. Carefully remove foil and sugar. The sugar will be HOT and should be transferred into a heatproof bowl. Provided the sugar has not started to caramelize you can use it again as normal sugar.
- Bake the tart shells for another five minutes, or until starting to turn golden brown. Keep in mind the tart shells will be baked again with the tart filling.
- Add ½ teaspoon of almond meal to the bottom of each tart case and then move onto your filling.
To make the tart filling
- NB Rhubarb leaves are poisonous. Never eat rhubarb leaves. If your rhubarb leaves still have the leaves attached when you buy them remove and discard them.
- Ensure your rhubarb is washed. Slice the rhubarb, hull the strawberries and slice both into small pieces. There is not need to remove the string from the rhubarb, it will soften up when baking.
- Zest the lemon, add to the strawberry and rhubarb and mix well.
- Sprinkle over the tapioca starch and mix well. Add the sugar to the rhubarb and strawberries and mix well.
- Fill the tart cases with the strawberry and rhubarb mix. You want to fill them up quite high as they will cook down when baking.
- Bake in the oven for thirty minutes or until tart shells are golden brown.
- Remove from oven and enjoy! Fabulous warm with some of my sour cream ice cream, or cold later on, IF they last that long!
Notes
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How cute do these tartlets look! Strawberry and rhubarb is always a delicious combo too
Thanks Sylvie, yes its a classic flavor combo for a reason, so good 🙂