These gorgeous vegan fruit tarts are a real treat. Come and enjoy the beauty and indulgence of French patisserie fresh from your own kitchen!
French patisserie is not just a feast for your mouth, but for your eyes too.
These mini tarts are perfect for sharing and make an eye catching dessert at parties and buffets. Just make sure to bring enough, as they disappear very quickly!
Which fruits to use?
You can easily vary this recipe to use any fruits you have to hand. We like to make the most of fresh, seasonal and organic produce.
Try any combination of these soft fruits:
- Strawberries
- Raspberries
- Blackberries
- Blueberries (we especially love foraging our own wild blueberries)
- Redcurrants
- Cherries
- Kiwi
- Mango
- Apricots
- Peaches
- Pear
We don’t recommend using fruit that has been frozen, as it doesn’t hold its shape or juice well.
Step by step
You’ll find the full recipe in the card at the end of the post, but here is a detailed visual guide and our tips to help you make these fruit tarts.
Making the pastry
Step 1 - Dice the vegan butter and rub into the flour
Step 2 - Stir in the sugar
Step 3 - Add just enough cold water to bring it into a dough
Step 4 - Form the pastry into a ball and chill in the fridge
Step 5 - Roll out the pastry and use a cutter to make 12 circles
Step 6 - Line a 12 holed muffin or tart tin and prick the bases with a fork to stop the pastry from rising
Step 7 - Bake blind in a preheated oven at 190C for 12-15 minutes until light golden brown.
Making the creme pâtissière
Crème pâtissière (pastry cream) is the sweet custard filling that is the base to so many sweet French recipes. It’s traditionally made with eggs and milk. But we’ve found a simple way to make it vegan.
You’ll need just five ingredients:
- Soy milk
- Cornstarch
- Sugar
- Vanilla extract (we recommend a good quality organic extract for much better flavour)
- Vegan butter
Step 1 - Mix the cornstarch with the sugar and a tablespoon of soy milk
Step 2 - In a saucepan, gently heat the remaining soy milk with the vanilla essence, until it is almost boiling
Step 3 - Remove from the heat, then add the cornstarch mixture, whisking vigorously as you pour it in
Step 4 - Return to the heat, and continue to cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. It will bubble gently.
Step 5 - Whisk in the vegan butter until it melts
Step 6 - Set aside to cool and whisk occasionally
Assembling the tarts
Finally, my favorite bit! Putting all the elements together to make these gorgeous vegan fruit tarts.
Fill your baked pastry bases with the creme patissiere. Then arrange the fruit on top to your liking.
You can make different mini tarts with just one type of fruit on each - some raspberry, some blueberry etc... Or use a mix of fruit on each tart like we have here.
The finishing touch is to brush the fruit with warmed apricot jam and water to give your tarts a shiny glaze.
Variations & Substitutions
Instead of making the pastry by hand, you can pulse it together in a food processor, or use a shop bought vegan shortcrust.
If you want to make one big tart instead of small ones, check our vegan strawberry tart recipe.
We use our homemade apricot jam for the glaze. As an alternative use strained jam or jelly.
If you enjoyed these vegan fruit tarts, we think you’ll also like our other fruity vegan recipes:
Vegan Apple Tart - Another classic French patisserie favourite
Vegan Summer Pudding - A really easy British dessert full of berries
And our Vegan Apricot Cake, a juicy bake from Austria that we adore!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Fruit Tarts
Ingredients
Pastry
- 3 oz (85 g) vegan butter or margarine
- 6 oz (170 g) flour
- 1½ tbsp (1 ½ tbsp) sugar
- 2 - 3 tbsp ice water
Creme patissiere
- 1 tbsp soy milk
- 2 tbsp cornstarch
- ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- 1 cup (240 ml) soy milk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp vegan butter
Topping
- 2 cups (300 g) soft fruits of your choice
- 2 tsp jam
- 2 tsp boiling water
Instructions
For the pastry bases
- Dice the vegan butter and add it to a mixing bowl with the flour. Using your fingertips, rub in the fat into the flour until you have a lump free mixture resembling breadcrumbs.3 oz (85 g) vegan butter, 6 oz (170 g) flour
- Stir in the sugar.1½ tbsp (1 ½ tbsp) sugar
- Next add just enough water to bring it into a firm, but not sticky, ball of dough. Avoid overworking the dough for light and flaky pastry.2 - 3 tbsp ice water
- Cover and chill the dough in the fridge for at least 20 minutes. You can make the creme patisserie whilst the dough chills.
- Preheat your oven to 190°C (375°F)
- Dust a board and rolling pin with flour and roll out the ball of pastry to a thickness of 4mm / ⅛ inch
- Using a 7.5cm / 3 inch cutter, cut out 12 circles of pastry to line a tart tray (or muffin tin). Reroll the pastry as needed.
- Prick the pastry bases several times with a fork, so that they don't rise up during baking.
- Bake blind for 12-15 minutes until light golden brown.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool down.
For the creme patissiere
- Mix 1 tablespoon of soy milk with the cornstarch and sugar, until very smooth.1 tbsp soy milk, 2 tbsp cornstarch, ¼ cup (50 g) sugar
- In a saucepan, gently heat the remaining soy milk with the vanilla extract until almost boiling.1 cup (240 ml) soy milk, 1 tsp vanilla extract
- When the soy milk is hot, remove from heat and pour in the cornstarch mixture, whisking vigorously.
- Return to heat, and continue to cook over medium heat for 10 minutes. The mixture will gently bubble and start to thicken.
- Next, whisk in the vegan butter until it melts.1 tbsp vegan butter
- Then set aside to cool, and whisk occasionally. As it cools it will thicken and start to hold its shape.
Assembling the tarts
- Wash, dry and slice your chosen fruit as necessary.2 cups (300 g) soft fruits of your choice
- Fill the pastry cases with the creme patissiere and then top with fruit.
- To make the glaze, combine the jam with boiling water and use a silicone brush to cover the fruit with the glaze.2 tsp jam, 2 tsp boiling water
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Julie Da Silva says
How long does it take to set?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Julie, I find that the creme patissiere is set enough for filling the tarts when it has cooled to room temperature. You can also place it in the fridge to chill for 1 hour. If your cream is cool and has not thickened up, that can be due to not cooking for long enough, or using not enough cornstarch. Hope that helps, Sophie
Karen says
Can I make this into a full size pie, or do they need to remain smaller?
Sophie and Paul says
Hi Karen, Yes you can bake a full size tart no problem, you might like to use our Vegan Strawberry Tart recipe and use a variety of fruits instead. Enjoy!