Decorative Fruit Tart Pastry Box
This stunning fruit tart pastry box is filled with a light cheesecake cream, sweet strawberry jam, and an assortment of fresh fruit. Perfect for impressing your guests!
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1.25 sticks cold butter, cubed
- 0.25 cup cold water
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 whisked egg for the egg wash
- 0.67 cup cream cheese
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 0.5 cup heavy cream, whipped
- strawberry jelly
- fresh fruit
- mint leaves to garnish
Instructions
- For the pastry dough, combine the flour and cold butter cubes until a crumbly mixture forms. Combine the cold water, egg yolk, sugar, and salt and add this mixture to the flour & butter mixture. Knead the ingredients into a smooth dough, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Divide the dough into 2 pieces, roll the first piece of dough out into a 24 x 3-inch rectangle, and use a small hexagonal cookie cutter or pastry tip to cut evenly-spaced shapes out of the dough.
- Cut the second piece of dough in half again and roll one of the pieces out into an 8-inch circle (for the base of the pastry box) and roll the other piece out into a 7-inch circle (for the lid of the pastry box). Turn a round 7 x 3-inch cake pan over, grease the outside of the pan, and wrap parchment paper around it. Place the 8-inch dough circle on top of the upside-down cake pan, lightly press the dough down, and prick several holes in the top of the dough. Wrap the dough rectangle from the previous step around the bottom of the upside-down cake pan and lightly press it against the pan so that it sticks. Place the cake pan on a baking tray and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Place the 7-inch dough circle on the baking tray and use several different cookie cutters or pastry tips to create an intricate design in the dough.
- Use the cut-out scraps of pastry dough to create a handle for the pastry box lid and place it in the center of the 7-inch dough circle. Brush the egg wash over the pastry dough, transfer the baking tray to a preheated oven and cook at 375°F for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. Let the pastry box cool down after removing it from the oven.
- For the cheesecake cream, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and lemon juice. Whip the heavy cream until stiff and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture. Transfer the cheesecake cream to a piping bag and pipe half of the mixture into the pastry box.
- Pipe the strawberry jelly in a spiral shape over the cheesecake cream and pipe the rest of the cheesecake cream on top. Garnish the cheesecake cream with fresh fruit and mint leaves and place the pastry lid on top of the pastry box before serving.