Mini Plum Tarts are so quick to make and utterly delicious. Flaky pastry is topped with a sweet cream cheese mixture and slices of fresh plums. These tarts are perfect for brunch, dessert or with a cup of coffee. This is a simple recipe that looks impressive!
2sheetsbutter puff pastry - 22 ½ cm (9” square)See Note 1
170 g(6 oz) cream cheese - at room temperature
3tablespoonicing/powdered sugarSee Note 2
½teaspoonfine lemon zest
1teaspoonvanilla extract
9fresh plumsSee Note 3
1egg - beaten
4tablespoondemerara sugar See Note 2
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees C (400F).Set the frozen pastry aside to thaw. Do not allow it to become too soft. Return it to the fridge to keep cool if necessary.
In a medium-sized bowl, place the cream cheese, icing/powdered sugar, lemon zest and vanilla extract. Using hand-held electric beaters or a stand mixer, beat until smooth and creamy. Set aside.
Halve the plums and remove the stone.Using a sharp knife, cut each plum half in thin slices about ½ cm (⅛”). Set aside.
Use a 7cm (2 ½“) round cookie cutter to cut 9 circles out of each sheet of pastry.
Using a smaller cookie cutter, mark a circle about 1cm (¼“) in from the edges of the pastry circles.
Use a fork to prick the pastry inside the smaller circle.
Dab about a teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture in the centre. Spread the filling inside the smaller circle of each pastry.
Arrange the slices of plum on top of the cream cheese mixture.
Brush the edges of the pastries with the beaten egg. Sprinkle the edges of each pastry with about a half teaspoon of demerara sugar.
Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the pastry are a lovely golden brown.
Gently lift the pastries onto a cooling rack.Allow the pastry to cool a few minutes before serving. The plum will be very hot.The pastries are lovely served warm with our Vanilla Ice Cream.
Notes
Our preference is for butter puff pastry - it will produce a superior result. If you are unable to find it, however, regular puff pastry is fine. Always work with cold pastry. If it becomes too warm it will be difficult to work with and you will not achieve the best result. Place the pastry in the refrigerator to re-chill if necessary. See tips for pastry in the main text of the blog post.
The Australian tablespoon is 20ml or 4 teaspoons. In many other countries, the tablespoon is 15ml or 3 teaspoons. Please adjust your measurement if necessary.
You may find the number of plums required will vary, depending on their size. I have used between 5-9 plums each time I have made this recipe.
Please note, the nutritional information is based on one plum tart. It does not include what the tart is served with. The nutritional information is an estimate only.