In a saucepan bring milk, vanilla, and salt to a simmer over medium heat. Do not boil the milk as it can overflow the pan and also overcook the eggs when tempering.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch. It should be thick, creamy, and pale yellow.

While whisking, slowly add ½ cup of the hot milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture to temper it. This insures that the eggs don’t overcook and curdle.

Add the remaining milk mixture half a cup at a time, while continuously mixing.

Return to saucepan and cook over medium low to medium heat until the mixture is thick and bubbling. Remove from heat once the mixture boils.

If adding butter, add one tablespoon at a time and mix until fully incorporated before adding the next. Sometimes the butter separates a bit and makes the mixture greasy. If this happens, whisk continuously for a few minutes until it’s fully combined and cooled down a bit. It should recombine and no longer be greasy.

Cover with plastic wrap, placing the wrap directly on top of the pastry cream so it doesn’t get a film on top.

Mix in the egg, scraping down the bowl to ensure it is fully incorporated.

Add the flour and mix on low until just incorporated, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Do not overmix.

On lightly floured surface, divide dough into 2 balls and shape each into a dish ½ inch thick.

Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 24 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 ℉.

Remove the dough from the fridge and roll out to about ⅛ inch thick.

Working quickly so the dough stays cold, cut out circles about ½-1 inch larger than the sides of the mini tart pans and gently place the dough into the pans, being careful to not stretch it out as want it to stay in place and not shrink back to it’s original size when baking. Re-roll remaining dough and repeat.

If mini tarts need more dough, add more dough and press into place. If dough gets too soft, put it back in the fridge or freezer for 10-15 minutes. Do not add more flour.

Once you’ve filled the tart shells, cut off an any excess using a knife. Then, score the bottoms of the tarts by gently poking the bottom of the tart shells with a fork about 2-5 times, depending on the side of your shells.

Before baking, chill or freeze the the mini tart shells for 15 minutes.

Place the chilled tarts on a baking sheet and bake in the pre-heated oven for 14-18 minutes (for 4 inch tarts), turning pan half way in between. Baking times will vary depending on size of tart shells.

When tarts are golden brown, remove from oven and let cool.

Remove pastry cream from fridge and stir to combine. Add to a pastry bag with a large tip. Pipe the pastry cream into the tarts, about ¼ cup per tart if using 4 inch tart shells.

You can leave the pastry cream as is if you want it slightly bubbled in the middle, or you can use an offset spatula or knife to smooth out the tops as shown in the post.

Add the fruit.

If you want to glaze the fruit, mix jam (typically apricot but you want use whatever your wish) with a tablespoon or so of water and use a pastry brush to brush all over the fruit.