Fruit baskets are present in the windows of every pastry shop, along with many other mini specialties and tea cookies such as meringues, Piedmontese baci di dama, and the inevitable Neapolitan cartucce. Small shells of crumbly shortcrust pastry, filled with velvety pastry cream and decorated with fresh seasonal fruit: beautiful and colorful, fruit baskets are impressive and always appreciated!
Thanks to the variety of fruit used as decoration that satisfies all tastes, fruit baskets never go out of style and allow you to create many variations! Fruit baskets are one of the classic delights to taste on the trays of mini pastries. Try also a vegan version, in single-portion format of vegan tartlets!
Fruit Baskets
Ingredients for 22 baskets
Flour 00300g
Sugar150g
Butter (cold from the fridge) 150g
Eggs (about 2 medium) 110g
Lemon zest½
Baking powder for desserts 1tsp
Fine salt 1 pinch
Calories for Fruit Baskets
Difficulty: Medium
Preparation: 60 min
Cooking: 30 min
Servings: 22 pieces
Cost: Medium
Note 1 hour of shortcrust pastry in the fridge and the cooling of the pastry cream
Preparation of Fruit Baskets
How to prepare Fruit Baskets
To prepare the fruit baskets, start with the shortcrust pastry. If you want, you can work the ingredients by hand in the same order we suggest, or you can create it in the bowl of a planetary mixer with the leaf. Pour in the flour, baking powder 1, and cold butter cut into pieces 2. Work for a few minutes until you get a sandy compound, then add the sugar 3 and salt 4. Turn on the mixer again and mix until everything is well crumbled. Flavor with the zest of half a lemon 5 and add the eggs 6, kneading until you get a compact compound 7. Transfer the dough to the work surface and work it lightly with your hands to form a dough ball 8. Then cover it with plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour 9. After this time, take the dough ball and roll it out with a rolling pin to a thickness of 0.5 cm on a floured surface 10. Then cut circles with a pastry cutter 8 cm in diameter 11. Use these to line 22 7 cm diameter greased molds, making sure to press the dough against the walls well and eliminating excess dough 12. Prick the bottom with a fork so that it does not increase in volume during cooking 13. The baskets cook in a preheated static oven at 180 ° C for about 18-20 minutes. Once they are golden, remove from the oven and let them cool before removing them from the molds 15.
While the bases are cooling, prepare the pastry cream. Heat the milk together with the vanilla pod and seeds extracted from the pod 16. In the meantime, in a bowl, beat the egg yolks with the sugar 17, then add the cornstarch 18, stirring gently with a whisk to combine 19. Now that the milk is warm, remove the pod 20 and pour a little into the mixture, to temper it, and mix well with the whisk 21. Transfer this mixture to the saucepan with the milk 22 and stir continuously until the cream thickens over low heat 23. The pastry cream is ready, transfer it to a bowl and let it cool with plastic wrap in contact 24. Fill the bases with the pastry cream transferred to a pastry bag with a star tip 25. Then decorate with fruit of your choice, we have chosen strawberries, kiwi, and berries plus a few mint leaves to scent 26. Finally, dilute the jam with hot water or put in a pan 27, and heat for a few moments, enough to liquefy everything 28. Brush the fruit using a brush 29, and your fruit baskets are ready to be served 30!
Storage
Store fruit baskets in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. You can freeze the raw pastry dough and then thaw it as needed to make the baskets.
Tip
Fruit baskets are one of those preparations that can be customized to the maximum: change the fruit according to the season and your taste. Instead of pastry cream, you can always opt for the delicious chocolate version!