Gluten Free Fruit Tarts

To celebrate the return of the Great British Bake Off (who has been watching!?), I created these truly delicious GLUTEN FREE fruit tarts. When I was in France last month, I saw so many beautiful pâtisseries, lined with rows and rows of beautiful sweet treats and it broke my heart that I couldn’t just dive in and try them all. So it inspired me to come home and create my own.

Not going to lie, this was not the easiest of recipes. However, it was well worth the effort. If you want to push yourself, this is the way to do it!

Ingredients

For the pastry:

• 200g gluten free plain flour (I am using Doves Farm)
• 175g ground almonds
• 175g golden caster sugar
• 200g cold butter, diced
• 1 egg yolk

For the creme patisserie:

• 4 egg yolks
• 60g caster sugar
• 25g gluten free plain flour (I am using Doves Farm)
• 2 tbsps cornflour
• 280ml milk

For the topping:

• Blueberries
• Strawberries
• Manderin slices (I am using tinned)
• Kiwi
• Apricot jam & 1 tablespoon water for the glaze

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C / Gas Mark 3. Grease your tart (also known as mini quiche) tins, the ones I am using are from John Lewis HERE – I recommend using tins with removable bottoms, this will help with removing the tart after baking.
2. In a food processor combine the flour, ground almonds, sugar and cubed butter and pulse to resemble breadcrumbs. This mix may start to look doughy but that is okay, it just means you don’t need to add as much egg yolk in the next step. Add the yolk and process again (just add as much as is required to form a soft dough).
3. Press the dough into the tins, creating a thin and even layer across the base. The mix will inflate slightly, so do not over fill the cases up the sides or make the pastry too thick.
4. Pop in the oven for 10-15 minutes. When you take them out the oven they should have inflated considerably (DON’T BE ALARMED), this is supposed to happen working with this pastry! They will not look tart shaped at this stage. Put them aside to let them ‘deflate’ for couple of minutes. You will notice them shrink back down into the cases, you can even use the back of a teaspoon to press it down. Then pop them back into the oven for a final ten minutes to harden up and golden slightly.
5. Take them out the oven and set aside to cool. Do NOT attempt to remove them from the tins before they have cooled completely and hardened, otherwise they will crumble.
6. Meanwhile make the creme patisserie. Whisk the egg and caster sugar together in a bowl until thick and slightly pale, then whisk in the flours (combine them through a sieve).
7. Heat the milk in a pan until just boiling, then add to the egg mixture and whisk well until combined.
8. Put the mixture back into the pan and back over the heat, whisking CONSTANTLY until a thick creamy texture develops. You must keep the mixture moving whilst doing this otherwise lumps can form. Cover with cling film and set aside until ready to use.
9. After the tart cases are cool and have been carefully removed from the tins, put the creme pat into a piping bag and pipe an even layer into each tart. Don’t overfill the tart cases or it will be difficult to get all the fruit in too!
10. Decorate as you please with the blueberries, kiwi, manderin and strawberries.
11. Heat the apricot jam and water in a pan to create the glaze and avoiding any lumps of jam, brush the syrup over the top of the fruit to create a lovely shiny finish.
12. Keep stored in the fridge, they will last a couple of days.

It took a few goes before I could get this recipe ready to share, but I am so happy with the end result and I think they are just SO pretty! So watch a GBBO episode, get your apron on and give it a go! Mary Berry would be proud.

K

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