Best Tart Shells Recipes

CREAM CHEESE TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Blend cream cheese and butter or margarine. Stir in flour just until blended. Chill about 1 hour. This can be made ahead and chilled for up to 24 hours.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Shape dough into 24 one-inch balls and press into ungreased 1 1/2 inch muffin cups (mini-muffin size) to make a shallow shell. Fill with your favorite filling and bake for 20 minutes, or until the crust is light brown.

PHYLLO TART SHELLS

Steps:

• 1. Preheat oven to 375.
• 2. lay out phyllo dough on a cutting board. Use a pizza wheel to cut it into six squares. Cover with a damp (almost dry) paper towel.
• 3. Brush the inside of two muffin tins with melted butter.
• 4. Uncover 1 stack of squares. Brush one sheet with melted butter and lay into muffin tin and pat down. Repeat this with five sheets. Continue until all the muffin tins are filled.
• 5. Bake in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes or until golden brown.

MINI SHORTBREAD TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Set oven to 300 degrees.
• Prepare mini muffin tins.
• In a bowl mix all ingredients with an electric hand mixer until well blended.
• Pinch off small pieces of dough (do not roll the dough first) using your fingers pat into the muffin tins to form a "shell".
• Prick the bottoms with a fork.
• Bake for about 20 minutes (during the baking time prick bottoms again if the shells puff up.
• Cool and fill as desired.

TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Sift flour and salt together into a medium bowl. Add shortening, and mix in with fingertips until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Add just enough ice water to form a dough. Gather into a ball, wrap in plastic, and place in refrigerator for a few minutes before rolling out.

QUICK CREAM CHEESE PASTRY (TART SHELLS)

Steps:

• Beat butter and cream cheese in a bowl until smooth. Add flour; beat just until a soft dough forms. Form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap; chill for 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees F/220°C.
• Shape dough into 1"/2.5 cm balls. Place each ball of dough into cups of mini muffin pan. Dip Mini-Tart Shaper into flour; press into dough to form tart shells. Pierce shells with a fork. (If you don't have a Mini-Tart shaper just use your fingers and form into shells).
• Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool in pan for 5 minutes; carefully remove tart shells from pan. Cool completely. Fill as desired.

FLAKY PASTRY TART SHELLS

Steps:

• 1. Place the flour, butter, and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Pulse about 24 times, then open the machine and lift a handful of crumbs. The largest pieces of butter should be the size of raw grains of rice or barley. If there are larger pieces, continue to pulse the mixture. When the butter pieces are the correct size, transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle 6 tablespoons of ice water onto the dough. Spread the fingers of one hand as if you were about to grab a large ball, and using your rigid fingertips as if they were a large fork, stir the dough quickly and briefly until the liquid is incorporated. Squeeze a handful of the dough in your palm. The dough should have just enough moisture to stay together. Break the piece in half. If it seems dry and crumbly, cautiously add more water a few teaspoons at a time until you can squeeze it into a ball that will not crumble when broken apart. If your kitchen is reasonably cool, the butter was cold, and you used ice water, the dough should be at just the right stage of malleability for rolling out, and it will be easiest to work with immediately. If your kitchen is very warm, wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for about 15 minutes.
• 2.Rolling the dough:
• Turn the pastry dough out on a lightly floured board and divide it into quarters for small 7-inch tart shells or in half for large 10-inch shells. Shape 1 piece into a disk and dust the top lightly with flour. Begin to roll out the dough, using quick but gentle strokes with the pin. Start with the pin in the middle of the round and roll to the top, then to the bottom. Rotate the dough 1/4 turn each time you roll to be sure the dough is not sticking and use additional flour as necessary. When the round is larger than 9 inches for a small tart, or 12 inches for a large tart, and about 1/8 inch thick, turn a 9- or 12-inch plate or bowl upside down on the dough as a template and cut around it with a sharp knife. Remove the plate or bowl.
• 3.Forming the edge:
• Fold 1/2-inch edge of dough all around to form a decorative rim. Begin by folding a 1-inch-long section over by 1/2 inch, then overlap the fold by half and roll another piece of dough over, pinching it firmly in place. Continue to roll and pinch, and a twisted rope pattern will. Form. Roll out the remaining dough and crimp the edges in the same manner. Transfer the pastry shells to baking sheets lined with parchment paper and poke the interior of the shells all over with the tines of a fork. Refrigerate the pastry for at lest 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. If you wish, you can freeze the shells on the baking sheets, and when they are frozen, stack them inside freezer bags. Bake the shells without defrosting first.
• 4.Prebaking:
• Preheat the oven to 375°F. Brush the rims of the tarts with egg wash. Bake the tart shells (1 baking sheet at a time) for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F and continue to bake until they are an even golden brown, 8 to 12 minutes longer. Lift a shell with a spatula and check that the underside is evenly brown. If the tart shells puff up during baking, press down the center of the pastry with the back of a large spoon. Let cool on the baking sheet.

ALMOND AMARETTO TART SHELLS

Steps:

• In a small bowl, whisk together flour, almonds, and ground cookies; set aside.
• Place butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Sprinkle over confectioners' sugar and toss, using your hands, until butter is fully coated. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until butter and sugar are well combined.
• Scrape down sides of bowl, add egg yolk, and continue beating until combined. Reduce speed to medium-low and slowly add the flour mixture; beat until well combined. Scrape down sides of bowl and add heavy cream and amaretto; beat until well combined. Form dough into a large ball using your hands. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate 3 hours.
• Lightly flour a work surface. Turn dough out onto floured work surface and cut into 8 pieces. Gently knead each piece of dough into a smooth disc, using a spatula to turn dough, as it will be sticky. Add more flour to work surface if necessary. Cover each piece with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough until chilled, about 10 minutes.
• Using a rolling pin, roll each piece of dough into a 6-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer each round to a 4-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and gently press into tart pan. Roll a rolling pin over each tart shell, pressing lightly to trim any excess dough; discard.
• Place tart pans on a baking sheet and gently prick the bottom of each tart pan with a fork; transfer baking sheet to refrigerator and chill 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer baking sheet to oven and bake tart shells until golden brown, about 15 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Remove from oven and let cook completely.

TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Blend cream cheese and butter together.
• Add flour and mix.
• Chill for at least 30 minutes.
• Divide into 24 balls and press into miniature muffin tins, pushing dough up the sides.
• Spoon filling into pastry shells.
• Bake at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes.

MINI FRUIT-TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Cream butter and sugar together in a bowl using an electric mixer until smooth. Add egg and mix. Add flour and custard powder and mix until combined.
• Knead dough on a lightly floured work surface to fully incorporate ingredients, 2 to 4 minutes. Measure out 1 teaspoon of dough at a time; form into balls and press firmly into four 24-cup mini muffin pans, or in batches if needed.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 12 minutes.

SUPER EASY TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Mix ingredients until a dough forms.
• Divide dough into 8 equal parts.
• roll out and press into standard size muffin tins.
• bake at 475 about 8 to 10 minutes or until golden.
• Stuff with whatever you like.

EASY TART SHELLS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 450 degrees.
• Prepare pastry for One-crust pie as directed on pie crust package except divide dough into 6 equal parts.
• Roll each part into 4-inch circle.
• Fit over backs of muffin cups or 6-ounce custard cups, making pleats so pastry will fit closely.
• Prick with fork and place on baking sheet.
• Bake 8-10 minutes.
• Cool and remove from pans.
• Just fill with (warm?) pie filling and top with whipped cream or Cool Whip.
• Unfilled tart shells can be frozen for future use.

FREE FORM TART SHELLS

Steps:

• In a food processor, combine the sugar, flour, salt, baking powder. When well combined, add the butter and pulse the machine until the butter is broken up into the flour mixture. Add the egg and water and process until the dough forms a dough.
• Transfer the dough into waxed paper; pat it (with floured hands if need be) into a flat round and refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes or until it has relaxed and you can roll it out.
• Divide the dough into approximately 8 equal pieces. On a lightly floured board roll out the pieces until slightly thicker than 1/8th-inch thick. Rather than bother fitting them into tartlet shells and prebaking them, simply shape them into rough rounds (3 inches or 3 1/2 inches round) or cut them into hearts or rectangles. Transfer the free form shapes to a baking sheet and chill 20 minutes while you preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Scraps can be shaped into smaller cookies.
• Prick the dough with a fork (just as you would the bottom dough of a tartlet shell) so the dough doesn't puff up. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are brown. Remove them from the oven to a rack and let them cool. When completely cool top with whatever you like.
• To make a topping that simulates a fruit tart gently warm the red currant jelly in a saucepan and brush over the free form tart shells. Arrange some sliced berries over the top and center a whole one in the middle if you wish. You can glaze with more warm currant glaze or pipe whipped cream on top or dust with confectioner's sugar.
• You could also brush bottoms with warm glaze and set other fruit over top or brush bottoms with some lemon curd and top with fruit.

TART SHELLS

Steps:

• For tart shells, beat butter and cream cheese in small bowl, until smooth.
• Add flour and salt and mix, until a soft dough forms.
• Cover; chill at least 1 hour or overnight.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Shape dough into 1-inch balls.
• Place balls of dough into cups of ungreased mini-muffin pan.
• Dip mini tart shaper in flour; press into dough to form tart shell.
• (Use floured fingers to press dough up sides of muffin cups, if you do not have a tart shaper.) For filling, combine remaining ingredients, except pecans in a small bowl; mix well.
• Sprinkle pecans into each tart shell.
• Fill tart shells evenly with filling mixture.
• Bake 20-25 minutes or until light golden brown.
• Remove from muffin pan to cooling rack (loosen edges with a knife, if needed).
• Cool completely.