Fruit Tartlets

As I sit here in class (and obviously not paying attention), I realize that I'm horrible with updating this website. I am also not a good student if I don't even bother to pay attention! I think that to keep my sanity, this would be a way for me to have a form of release and to take my mind off things. Anyways, I thought I would talk about the fruit tartlets I made for my baby niece's 1-month celebration (she's 6 1/2 months now... so fast!).

I have never been good with giving gifts. If I don't know what to buy for a person or if I can't afford it, I hate to shop. I prefer to bake. Not only is it kinder to my wallet, but it's more personal and made with love! (corny, I know)

When figuring out what to make, I had to keep in mind that Hong, her mother, and that side of the family wasn't too big on sweets and pastries. That made things tough because that's what I know. They all love fruit, but I didn't want to just bring the fruit on a platter - I still wanted to have a beautiful presentation where everyone would get something bite-sized that contained a piece of each fruit. As I went shopping the day before, I chose to use strawberries, kiwi, canned mandarin oranges, and blueberries.

I had used a store bought pie dough for the shells. Sadly enough, I have plenty of baking experience, but little to none on making pies and pie crust. I like to blame it on the fact that I don't have a food processor, and am not willing to buy one just for baking purposes. The main factor was that, as I was browsing after picking the fruit at my local Safeway, I discovered that the dough was on sale for extremely cheap.

In order to make them in perfect little cups, I cut small circles with a 2inch cookie cutter and fit them into mini cupcake pans, poked little holes in them, and baked them just until the edges were browning. I piped in just enough homemade custard to fill the bottom, then assembled the fruit (that I cleaned and sliced beforehand) the way I thought would be pretty. I glazed them prior to leaving for the party, and they were actually quite a hit. None of my brother's friends knew that there was a baker in the family, so they all thought it was store bought. The custard was a bit rich on its own, but was balanced out with the crust and the fruit.