Heart Shaped Fruit Tart

You can celebrate this Valentine's Day with these elegant, fruity and creamy berry tarts with custard cream.

Happy Valentine's Day!!
For today, my last heart shaped dessert: made from scratch, berry tarts with custard cream.
I really outdid myself this Valentine's week with lots of sweetness. My kids especially have been super happy with a new delicious, homemade dessert almost everyday. I can't lie, I ate and really enjoy them too. But man, oh man, now I have to pick up my workout for the rest of the month. I started already yesterday morning. I went for an amazing 5 miles hike with a friend here in the Santa Monica mountains, AND I played tennis for an hour.  So much fun! I wish I had enough time every day for all this workout.
Going back to today's recipe: it's simple, elegant, colorful and oh-so yummy. And in a heart shape, of course! I took the idea on how to make the tart crust from a video I saw on facebook: you cut the dough with a cookie cutter, place it on an upside down muffin mold and bake. The theory is great, and I'm happy with the results. But in practice, you have to be really careful on how you place the dough or the cups might come out in a really weird shape. This is the first time I tried it, and with the exception of a couple, most of mine came out quite good.

Here is the rest of the recipe.

Ingredients: To make 12 tarts

• 6 tablespoons (85 gr) of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 1/3 cup (70 gr) of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• a pinch of salt
• 1 cup (150 gr) of all-purpose flour, plus a few tablespoons
• strawberries and blueberries for decoration

for the custard cream:

• 10 fl oz (300 ml) of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/3 cups (65 gr) of sugar
• 2 tablespoons (20 gr) of corn starch
• 2 fl oz (60 ml) of heavy whipping cream (optional)

Preparation time: 45 minutes, plus one hour (or more) inactive

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In  a large bowl, place the butter at room temperature, egg yolk, milk, sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Blend all the ingredients until smooth and fluffy.

2. Add the flour and blend again. 

3. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough and cut your 12 (or so) cookies. 

4. On a baking sheet, place your mold upside down and top with your cut out dough. Make sure it is centered. 

5. Bake for about 14 minutes, or until slightly golden on the edges.

6. Prepare a custard cream using 10 oz of milk, vanilla extract, egg yolks, sugar and corn starch. Follow this recipe. Let it cool down and refrigerate for at least an hour.

7. If you would like to make your cream a little more light and rich, whip 2 oz of whipping cream, and combine to the custard cream.

 Decorate the cups right before serving (so the fruit will look fresh) with the cream, strawberries cut in half and blueberries.

Enjoy!