fresh fruit tart with phillo pastry and egg custard

As a pre-diabetic, summer is so difficult for me to abstain from all the summer fruits, because there is nothing better than a tart with assorted fresh fruit at their peak of ripeness.  Many of the fruit tarts that I've tasted either have a very thick shiny glaze that is gelatinous and sweet or the custard filling that is too sweet.

What makes this recipe special?

I usually make this tart with a short crust pastry or the pastry from my Milktart recipe, which is like a shortbread, because that type of crust really works well with this egg custard. For this Fruit tart with rosewater custard recipe, I had some extra phyllo dough in the freezer and decided to use it up.  It was amazing!  I needed to make it a few more times with family taste testers to get their opinion.  It was definitely a thumbs up recipe!  This fruit tart recipe was a combination of several pastries wrapped into one!  If using phyllo dough, do not make it too far in advance as the custard will start to make your crisp phyllo sheets soggy! That is why you would probably never find a tart like this in the stores!

Most patisseries would use a mousseline cream with their fruit tarts.  I took a french pastry class with reknowned chef Stephane Treand where I learned how to make the mousseline cream. For me, it was a little too rich and sweet so I came up with a custard that reduces the amount of sugar and butter.  It's a combination of  my milktart filling with a mousseline cream.  The custard is not overpowering, somewhat understated, which brings out the richness of the fruit.  For  extra surprises, as every recipe should have some, I drizzled a thin layer of melted chocolate between the pastry and the custard and added rosewater to the custard.  The chocolate gives a little punch which contrasts with the mellow custard, and the rosewater not only adds to the fragrance of the summery fruit, but also gives an "aromatic" taste to the custard.

Michelle with Master Chef Stephane Treand

You will need a 10" tart pan with a removable bottom for this recipe.  

INGREDIENTS
Phyllo Pastry Crust
  • 200 grams phyllo dough
  • 30 grams butter
Chocolate Sauce
  • 30 grams chocolate chips
  • 1 Tbsp milk
Rosewater Custard
  • 4½ cups whole milk
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp custard powder
  • ½ cup sugar or less depending on taste
  • 4 eggs
  • 45 grams butter
  • 2 Tbsp rosewater
Fresh Fruit topping
  • 1 cup fresh berries and fruit. Any appropriate fruit in season.
  • 3 Tbsp strawberry or apricot jelly. NOT jam or preserves as it needs to be clear.
INSTRUCTIONS

Phyllo Pastry Crust
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F
  • Defrost the phyllo dough to room temperature and unfold.
  • Melt the butter.
  • Using a pastry brush, grease the tart pan with a layer of melted butter.
Phyllo pastry on tart pan with butter
  • Add a sheet of phyllo pastry.
  • Brush the pastry with melted butter.
  • Add another sheet. Your phyllo sheets should extend past the edges of the tart pan. Keep adding the sheets at different angles so that a uniform crust is formed. Remember that each layer needs to be lightly brushed with melted butter.

Try to fold over some of the loose edges of the phyllo pastry so that they don't burn when baking.

Arrange phyllo pastry to make a shell on tart pan
  • Poke several holes with a fork into the base of the tart to avoid the pastry from bubbling up during baking.
Poking holes with fork in phyllo pastry
  • Place the tart pan with removable base on a cookie sheet
Phyllo pastry tart shell on cookie sheet
  • Bake in the oven until golden brown. 6 minutes
Chocolate Sauce
  • Combine the chocolate and milk in a small bowl.
  • Melt  the chocolate and the milk in  the microwave until the milk starts to bubble. 15 seconds depending on the strength of your microwave.
  • Stir the milk and  the chocolate to form a sauce. Do not overstir the sauce as it will become granular.
  • Spread the sauce over the base of the tart shell
Lightly coated chocolate sauce on phyllo pastry base for tart

Rosewater Custard
  • Heat  the milk in a thick bottomed saucepan to avoid scalding the milk.
  • Add the butter when warm.
  • Beat  the eggs and the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  • Add a small amount of heated milk to the egg mixture and stir until smooth.
Add warmed milk to egg mixture

By adding warm milk to the egg mixture, the temperature of the egg mixture is warmed which will prevent it from cooking into scrambled eggs when added to the hot milk!

  • Pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan of heated milk.

  • Return the saucepan to the stove and cook the custard over medium low heat. Stir continuously to avoid lumps, until the mixture turns into a very thick custard.

If you are distracted and your custard becomes lumpy,  don't throw it away!  (I've done that quite a few times!)  Remove the custard from the stove, and using an electric emersion blender,  blend the custard into a smooth consistency before returning it back to the stove.

Uncooked custard

Uncooked custard

Cooked Custard sticks to spoon

Cooked Custard

  • Add the rosewater and stir
  • Pour the custard into the baked tart shell.
  •  Let the custard cool
Fresh fruit topping
  • Slice the fruit .
  • Arrange the fruit onto the custard
  • Heat the fruit jelly in a small bowl in the microwave until it bubbles.
  • Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the fruit to give it a shine. You may have to keep microwaving the jelly if it congeals or you can place the bowl containing your jelly into a bowl of boiling water to slow down that process.
  • Enjoy!
fresh fruit tart with phillo pastry and egg custard

FRUIT TART WITH ROSEWATER CUSTARD

Michelle Sam
Delicious fresh fruit tart made with crisp phyllo pastry, a chocolate layer surprise and an aromatic rosewater custard.
4 from 1 vote
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 8 people
Calories 259 kcal

Ingredients
 
 

Phyllo Pastry Crust

Chocolate Sauce

  • 30 grams chocolate chips
  • 1 Tbsp milk

Rosewater Custard

  • 1067 ml whole milk
  • 2 Tbsp flour
  • 2 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 2 Tbsp custard powder
  • ½ cup sugar Less can be added depending on taste
  • 4 eggs
  • 45 grams butter
  • 2 Tbsp rosewater

Fresh Fruit topping

  • 1 cup fresh berries and fruit Any appropriate fruit in season.
  • 3 Tbsp strawberry or apricot jelly. NOT jam or preserves. Needs to be clear.

Instructions
 

Phyllo Pastry Crust

  • Preheat oven to 350°F
  • Defrost phyllo pastry to room temperature and unfold.
  • Melt butter.
  • Using a pastry brush, grease tart pan with a layer of melted butter.
    Phyllo pastry on tart pan with butter
  • Add a sheet of phyllo pastry.
  • Brush pastry with melted butter.
  • Add another sheet. Your phyllo sheets should extend past the edges of the tart pan. Keep adding the sheets at different angles so that a uniform crust is formed. Remember that each layer needs to be lightly brushed with melted butter.
    Arrange phyllo pastry to make a shell on tart pan
  • Poke several holes with a fork into the base of the tart to avoid the pastry from bubbling up during baking.
    Poking holes with fork in phyllo pastry
  • Place tart pan with removable base on cookie sheet
    Phyllo pastry tart shell on cookie sheet
  • Bake in oven until golden brown. 6 minutes

Chocolate Sauce

  • Combine chocolate and milk in a small bowl.
  • Melt chocolate and milk in microwave until milk starts to bubble. 15 seconds depending on the strength of your microwave.
  • Stir milk and chocolate to form a sauce. Do not overmix as it will become granular.
  • Spread over the base of the baked tart shell

Rosewater Custard

  • Heat milk in a thick bottomed saucepan.
  • Add butter when warm.
  • Beat eggs and dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  • Add a small amount of heated milk to the egg mixture and stir until smooth.
    Add warmed milk to egg mixture
  • Pour the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan of heated milk.
  • Return the saucepan to the stove and cook the custard over medium low heat. Stir continuously until the mixture turns to a very thick custard.
  • Add the rosewater and stir.
  • Pour the custard into the baked tart shell.
  • Let the custard cool.

Fresh fruit topping

  • Slice the fruit .
  • Arrange the fruit .
  • Heat the fruit jelly in a small bowl in the microwave until it bubbles.
  • Using a pastry brush, lightly coat the fruit to give it a shine. You may have to keep microwaving the jelly if it congeals or you can place the bowl containing your jelly into a bowl of boiling water to slow down that process.
  • Enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 259kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 9gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 97mgSodium: 221mgPotassium: 243mgFiber: 1gSugar: 20gVitamin A: 350IUCalcium: 181mgIron: 1mg
Keyword custard, fresh fruit, Phyllo dough
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was or if you have any questions or suggestions!
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