My daughter is completely obsessed with all things tiny. So when it comes to food, especially desserts, she wants everything to be small and cute. Cupcakes need to be mini and pizzas should be small. Loaves of banana bread need to be mini and gulab jamuns need to be as tiny as possible. This is also reflected in all the toys she shops for. Her drawers are full of tiny stuff that just gets an awwwww..... out of you when you see it. So it was no surprise to me when she asked me to make small (pretty) tarts for her one day.

Tarts is not one of those items I make very often but when the kids really want to eat them, I would rather make my own instead of buying the prepared ones. Tarts made at home are truly much more delicious than the ones sold in most places outside. The crust is much more crisp than the ones at any bakery and the fillings can be customized to the tastes of the ones you are cooking for. And the biggest advantage is that you just have to make one batch of dough, shape it into mini tarts and bake them. Then just fill them with different combinations of fillings to keep everyone in the family happy.

For this batch of tarts, I used a recipe of filling from the Williams Sonoma cookbook that I had used to make the Raspberry White Chocolate Tart . For the filling I chose 3 different filling options and a couple of topping options. My son loves peanut butter and chocolate so I made a couple of fillings with smooth peanut butter and chocolate. There was a Chantilly cream and a fresh strawberries and silver sugar pearls. There are many other options that one could use for filling and decoration like fresh fruits, pastry creams, mousse filling, jams, stewed apples, lemon curd, the list is endless! So let the creativity flow and experiment with the fillings you like and have a blast. There are perfect for parties also.

Ingredients:

Tart Pastry 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2 tablespoons cold water or as needed

Method: 1. In a food processor combine the flour sugar, salt and pulse a few times to mix. Scatter the butter over the top and pulse a few times until the mixture forms small irregular flakes and bits of butter the size of peas. Add 1 tablespoon water and pulse once or twice. Add the remaining 1 tablespoon water and pulse 3 or 4 times.

2. Stop and feel the dough; it should be damp enough to form a rough mass. If necessary, add a few more drops of water to achieve the correct consistency, pulsing once or twice after each addition. Remove the dough from the food processor.

3. With lightly floured hands, gently shape the dough into a smooth disk. The dough can be rolled and used rightaway or wrapped in plastic and refrigerated for at least one hour or upto overnight.

4. One the dough has rested for a bit, roll it about 1/4 inch thick and press the mini tart pans into the dough on the inside. Make holes in the dough with a fork to prevent uneven rising while the dough bakes.

5 Place the shells in a tray in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes. In the meantime preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Bake the shells in the lower middle rack of the oven till the shells are golden brown all over and have crisped up around the edges. This can take anywhere between 10-20 minutes.

6. Remove the tart shells to a wire rack and allow to cool completely. Remove from the mini tart moulds and fill as per desired.

Intensely Chocolate Filling:

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup heavy cream whipped into soft peaks

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate and butter together over a double boiler. When cooled, fold in the whipped cream and vanilla extract. Use this mixture to fill in the pastry shells.

Peanut Butter Filling:

1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

1/4 cup whipped cream

1 tablespoon icing sugar

Whip the peanut butter with a whisk till it is lighter in texture. Fold in the already whipped cream.

Chantilly Cream:

1/2 cup whipping cream

2 tablespoons icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Whip the cream into peaks, add the icing sugar and vanilla extract and use to fill in the tarts and cover with fresh fruits.