The first fruit tart I ever made was from a Paula Deen recipe.
There was plenty of sugar and butter involved, as you well know if you’ve ever seen her cooking shows.
I remember starting with the crust and sampling some of the raw dough, just to make sure it tasted okay. Wait, did this dough taste just like a sugar cookie? I had to try some more to be sure.
Then on to the filling and I sampled some of that and it was sugary, cream-cheesy and delicious. I had to dip some strawberries in it to see how the flavors worked together. And then also some blueberries and raspberries dipped in the filling.
I baked it and sampled a slice, and I was sure I had just made the. best. dessert. ever. Long story short, it was too hard to eat just one slice. The following morning, it was also hard to fit into my jeans.
It needed to become a once-a-year-on-special-occasions-only type of dessert, in other words.
When I saw some adorable mini tart pans at Bed, Bath, and Beyond last weekend, I knew I really wanted to try to create a healthier fruit tart recipe in honor of Valentine’s Day. Something that tastes delicious but something that you can also feel good about eating.
Aren’t these cute? The bottoms are removable so you end up with perfectly-shaped mini crusts every time.
Here are the ingredients.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Separate the eggs whites and discard the yokes.
Pour the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, egg whites, agave nectar and almond butter into a food processor.
Almond butter is a great substitute for butter in this recipe. It adds the same creamy richness, but without the saturated fat (2 tablespoons of almond butter have only 1 g of saturated fat as compared to 14 g of saturated fat (!) in 2 tablespoons of butter) And the hint of almond in the crust is the perfect compliment to the creamy filling and the fruit.
If you haven’t tried agave nectar yet, I highly recommend it. It’s very sweet without any strong flavors (like you’d find with maple syrup or honey) so it’s a perfect substitute for sugar. But unlike sugar, it’s all-natural and unprocessed. It’s also sweeter than sugar, so you can use less of it in your recipes, saving you calories. There are three varieties of agave syrup, and if this is your first time buying it, start with the mildest, most neutral flavored ‘light’ variety.
After you’ve put all the crust ingredients into your food processor, pulse until the ingredients combine and form one large ball of dough.
Quarter all of the dough into 4 evenly-sized balls. Arrange 4 tart pans on a baking sheet and place a ball of dough into each.
Press the dough along the bottom of each pan until it’s about 1/4-inch thick. Press the dough up and all along the sides of the pan, being sure the dough is pressed into every scalloped edge. The dough should extend beyond the edges of the pan.
Holding a knife horizontally, trim away all of the excess edges so you’re left with nice, neat crusts that reach perfectly to the tops of the tart pans.
Now put the crusts in the oven to bake for 12-15 minutes.
After they’ve baked, allow the crusts to cool for about 15 minutes. While they’re cooling, prepare the filling.
Start by straining the yogurt. Greek yogurt is nice and thick and rich, but it tends to still be a bit watery on top, so I just quickly get rid of any unnecessary liquid.
I love using Greek yogurt in this recipe. It tastes so delicious sweetened and combined with the fruit in this recipe, but it’s also such a good-for-you choice. Compare the nutrition facts on a nonfat greek yogurt container and a regular cream cheese container. 1 cup of greek yogurt has 130 calories and 0 g of fat as compared to an unbelievable 700+ calories and 70+ g of fat in 1 cup of regular cream cheese. In addition, the greek yogurt offers lots of filling protein and healthy calcium.
Combine the greek yogurt, Neufchâtel, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract in a bowl.
Blend using a hand mixer until the filling is creamy and well-blended.
Fill tart crusts to the brims with the filling. They’re looking very tempting already!
Place tarts in the refrigerator for about 30 – 45 minutes to allow them to firm up and set.
In the meantime, prepare the fruit.
Slice the ends off of the kiwi and trim off the skin.
Cut the kiwi in half lengthwise. Then place one half at a time flat-side-down on the cutting board to keep it stable and easy to cut. Slice 1/4-inch thick half-moon slices.
Next, cut the stems off the strawberries and cut each one in half.
Then cut a triangle-shaped notch from the top of each strawberry to create a cute heart shape.
Arrange the fruit on the tarts using this handy visual. Be sure to pile some blueberries in the center so that the heart-shaped strawberry can be tucked in and propped up against some of them.
Or do your own personal creative and lovely design.
Mini and heart-shaped! Is this cuteness overload? Probably. But what else is Valentine’s Day for?
These taste rich, decadent, and so delicious. For someone you love, what’s better than something sweet that’s also full of fresh, healthy ingredients?
Other Scrumptious Pumpkin dishes you may enjoy:
Here is the complete printable recipe:
I Heart You Fruit Tart
Author: The Scrumptious Pumpkin
Total Time: 1 hour 45 minutes
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Inactive: 1 hour 15 minutes Yield: 4 4-inch tarts for 8 half-tart servings
Prep: 20 minutes
Cook: 12 minutes
Inactive: 1 hour 15 minutes Yield: 4 4-inch tarts for 8 half-tart servings
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 2 egg whites
- ½ cup agave nectar
- 1 tablespoon almond butter
Filling
- 1 cup strained plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- 8 ounces Neufchâtel (low-fat cream cheese)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup powdered sugar
Fruit
- 2 kiwis, peeled
- 2 strawberries
- 6 ounces raspberries
- 6 ounces blueberries
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Combine the all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, egg whites, agave nectar, and almond butter in a food processor. Pulse until a ball of dough is formed.
- Using hands, combine all dough into one large ball.
- Set out 4 4-inch tart pans on a baking sheet.
- Divide dough into four equal pieces and place into each of the tart pans. Carefully press the dough into the bottom of the pan until it's about a ¼-inch thick. Press the dough up along the sides of the tart pan, being careful to ensure the dough is pushed into each of the scalloped edges. Dough should reach above the edges of the tart pan. Holding a knife horizontally, trim off the excess dough that reaches above the tart pan.
- Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes.
- Once crusts have baked, set them on the counter to cool for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime, prepare the filling. In a large bowl, combine strained Greek yogurt, Neufchâtel , vanilla extract, and powdered sugar. Mix with a hand blender until filling is smooth and creamy.
- Fill each of the cooled tart crusts with the filling. Place tarts in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes to allow the filling to set and become firm.
- Cut the kiwi in half lengthwise. Place the kiwi flat-side-down on the cutting board for stability and cut ¼ inch half-moon slices.
- Cut the stems off the strawberries and then cut the strawberries in half. Cut a triangle-shaped notch from the top of each strawberry half to create a heart shape.
- Remove tarts from fridge and remove tarts from their pans by pushing the removable bottoms up and out of the pans.
- Arrange kiwi slices, raspberries, and blueberries on each tart. Top each with a heart-shaped strawberry.
- Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes to allow tarts to re-set.
- Keep uneaten tarts refrigerated.
They look cool!
So. Darn. Cute! I love them and I want to marry them. Wait, I’m already married. I think I will have to make these for MY Valentine. Thank you! You had me at Scrumptious Pumpkin, by the way. Adorable name. Did this blog just start in January? I’ll be checking back in!
sorry, posted in wrong place. please correct. oops 🙁
This looks fantastic!! Will have to try it one day. And the photos you posted are beautiful! Mmmm now if only fruit were in season . . . . .
Cute and delicious! I’m digging the whole wheat crust and all of the healthy ingredients! I so wish I had someone special to make these for! Perhaps I will just have to make them for myself…?
Nice photo illustration. Easy to follow recipes. Love thescrumptiouspumkin.com blog!
Whoops! Correction: jenelizabethsjournals.com is the right spelling of that great recipe site.
these look sooo delicious! would have to give them a try
In Love with those HEART cherries.
Great post. Tasty tasty!
Oh my! These look so amazing.
Those look aweome!
Agave nectar is the perfect natural sweetener, also is delicious
LOVing this blog! The photos are so encouraging to give your recipes a try. If you have anything good for the wheat-free eater, I’d love to hear.
These are just adorable and I love the healthy ingredients you used for the crust!
they look so fresh and yummy!!
these are so tasty! i used a mascarpone instead of neufchatel, and added lemon along with my powdered sugar. thanks for the recipe! your blog is great!
Oh yum – great ideas! Glad you liked it 🙂
Awesome!
That looks amazing
I’m so excited to make these!! 🙂 Do you think this would work just as well with a larger tart pan instead of the minis?
Yes it should work very well! I’ve actually only made these tarts in the mini pans, but I think this recipe would provide enough crust to make one large tart. You may have to double the recipe for the filling depending upon how large your tart pan is. If you decide to make it, let me know how it turns out for you 🙂
I heart this fruit tart too 😀
It is exquisite!
Happy Easter!
Choc Chip Uru
Agave is only all natural in the sense that it is made from a cactus – by that reasoning, sugar and corn are also all natural since they’re made from sugar cane and corn. Agave is hardly unprocessed though – it’s not like maple syrup, where you squeeze a tree and out it comes. Agave is far higher in fructose than even high fructose corn syrup, is chemically processed, filtered, and heated to attain that fructose, and has zero nutrition. You could just use sugar – cheaper, easier to find, and at least it doesn’t pretend it’s healthy for you.
Thanks for your smart comment. Agreed! No matter what form (corn syrup, raw sugar, agave, honey, etc.), sugar is sugar and a healthy diet means limiting intake of any and all forms of sugars.
Cant wait to try, these look awesome and deelish.
Thanks for your recipe!
I just attempted making them but the crust isn’t tender like normal pastries.Its quite hard,making it difficult for my parents to eat.
I didn’t have enough agave nectar so I used half cup honey to substitute.And I used peanut butter instead of almond butter.I didn’t think those will make a difference though.
Could you advise on how to make the crust softer and better?
Thank you!:)
Because this crust doesn’t have butter or shortening, it will never turn out light and flaky. It’s a dense crust – BUT it should be soft. Because there is so much agave in this recipe, I’m wondering if substituting honey may have caused some of the problem (because its denser and thicker). Honey will also change the flavor of the crust because it has such a distinctive taste. My other suggestion: chilling the crust can cause it to harden. Try leaving the crust at room temperature and chilling the filling and berries separately. Then add the filling and berries to the crust just before serving. I hope this helps! 🙂
Let it rest and the crust will be fine. I make it the night before and have it for breakfast. I do adapt the crust using 1 cup Spelt and 1 cup Almond meal. Since we have chickens, I use a whole egg. Can’t waste our hens’ output! I also lose the powdered sugar with the Greek Yogurt and just add the vanilla extract. For the glaze, I use a little apricot jam from Nepal and some orange zest and its juice, heated on the stove. I also add Passionfruit from the garden.
Scrumptious Pumpkin: Thank you. I have been using (and adapting) your recipe all summer. Everyone is happy. And it is also beautiful.
Wow, those are some wonderful, fresh, and very healthy modifications! Thanks so much for your note 🙂
Question, do you need to oil or oil spray the pans before we put on the dough? going to attempt these tomorrow. 🙂
I never needed an oil spray for this one, but I did use non-stick tart pans. If you’d like to be on the safe side, a bit of non-stick cooking spray wouldn’t hurt 🙂
Parchment paper!
I would like to try these , but will it work fine if I use 2 cups of whole wheat flour instead of 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour ??
Author
You can! But the flavor of the crust will taste strongly like whole wheat, which you may or may not like in a dessert 🙂