The tartlets filled with fresh fruit and orange jelly are delicious and eye-catching desserts to prepare for special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, buffets, or to accompany tea and coffee. They are very easy to prepare and will delight your guests. The fresh fruit is immersed in a delicious and fragrant homemade jelly, very quick and easy, made with cornstarch as a thickener. A true explosion of colors and fresh, delicate, and never cloying flavors.
- Difficulty: Very easy
- Cost: Medium
- Rest time: 30 Minutes
- Preparation time: 1 Hour
- Portions: 9
- Cooking methods: Stovetop, Oven
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Spring, Spring, Summer
Ingredients
- 1.25 oz very soft butter (also lactose-free)
- 3.5 oz granulated sugar
- 1 medium whole egg at room temperature
- 2 tsp milk at room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 0.03 oz baking soda
- to taste finely grated lemon peel
- 0.03 oz fine salt
- to taste very soft butter for molds
- to taste dried beans for "blind baking"
- 7 oz water
- 2.8 oz granulated sugar
- 1.7 oz fresh orange juice
- 1 tsp orange liqueur or Strega (optional)
- 1 oz sifted cornstarch
- to taste grated orange peel
- 1 pinch fine salt
Tools
- 9 Molds
Steps
To prepare our eye-catching tartlets with fresh fruit and orange jelly, we will need 9 disposable aluminum molds measuring 2.75×3.5×4 inches and 9 small squares of parchment paper to cover the 9 shortcrust pastry discs before baking.
1) Prepare the orange jelly. Put all the required ingredients in a saucepan and mix with a steel whisk (the cornstarch must be dissolved in water or other cold or room temperature liquid but never hot). Place on the smallest burner over medium heat and, stirring continuously, cook until the mixture begins to thicken. It will take just a few minutes. Turn off immediately and let cool.
Prepare the shortcrust pastry
2) In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg, milk, and mix again. Remember that all ingredients should be at room temperature.
3) Finally, add the sifted flour along with baking powder and a pinch of baking soda, salt, and grated lemon peel. Knead quickly and roughly until a crumbly, not uniform mixture is obtained.
4) At this point, using your hands, compact the dough until you get a smooth and homogeneous ball. This dough does not need to rest in the fridge, and you don’t need to worry about working it with your hands, as is the case with traditional shortcrust pastry.
5) Preheat the oven to 350°F. Dust the work surface with a little flour and roll out a sheet about 1/8 inch thick.
6) Melt a knob-sized amount of butter and brush it on the inside of the molds.
7) Use a pastry cutter or a glass with a 4-inch diameter to cut out pastry discs that you will place into the greased molds (it is not necessary to dust them with flour as well), pressing gently with your hands to adhere them to the bottom and the sides.
8) Brush the inside of the tartlets with a little lightly beaten egg white to make the pastries impermeable to moisture released by the filling. Continue until the dough is used up. Then cover the tartlets with small squares of parchment paper on which you will place dried beans to prevent the pastry from puffing up too much during baking.
9) Bake the tartlets in the middle of the oven for about 12 minutes. After the time is up, turn off the oven, remove the parchment paper and beans, and let the tartlets color inside and on the edges by passing them under the grill for just one minute.
10) Remove them from the oven without taking them out of the molds to avoid breaking them and let them cool completely.
11) When the tartlets are cold, remove them by cutting the molds away with scissors or simply extracting them gently.
Compose our desserts.
12) Spread a heaping teaspoon of orange jelly inside the tartlets, add fresh or mixed berries (already washed, thoroughly dried, and cut into cubes), dust with plenty of powdered sugar, and serve.
Bon appetit
