Place the milk and a strip of lemon zest in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the milk is hot. You’ll see the steam rising. Don't boil. Set aside.
In a bowl whisk egg yolks, sugar and flour until smooth. This mixture must be smooth.
Remove a strip of lemon zest from the heated milk and discard.
Slowly whisk hot milk into the egg yolk mixture. Stir in the vanilla extract.
Pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place over medium heat.
Whisk constantly until the mixture comes to a boil and thickens.
Simmer for 1 minute to cook the flour.
Pour pastry cream into a bowl and plastic wrap with the wrap pressed onto the surface.
Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes then refrigerate until cold.
To make the tartlet crusts
Using an electric mixer beat the butter until creamy
Add the sugar and lemon zest and beat until just combined.
Break the egg into a small bowl and beat lightly with a fork. Add egg gradually beating well after each addition. Don’t over beat or the dough will be hard to work with.
Use a wooden spoon to work the flour and salt into the butter mixture.
Turn onto a lightly floured surface and knead very lightly until smooth. This won’t take much. Don’t be heavy handed or it will toughen the dough.
Pat the dough into a flattened circle and wrap it well in plastic. Chill for 30 minutes.
Spray the mini tart pans with cooking or baking spray.
Divide the dough in half. Rewrap and return the second piece to the fridge.
Press down the dough to flatten and form a rough circle. Dust the pastry lightly with flour. If it’s too hard to roll, give it a whack with the rolling pin a few times.
Roll out it between two sheets of non-stick parchment paper to ¼ inch (5mm) thickness. If the pastry is sticking, dust it with a little more flour. If you see cracks forming, flip the dough over and continue.
Remove the top sheet of parchment paper and use a cookie cutter (I used a round cutter 3 7/16 inch or 88mm) or knife to cut circles to fit the mini tart pans. Trim the edges level to the top of the mini tart pans. Prick the base of the tart two or three times with a fork to help the crust not puff up.
Freeze the lined mini tart pans for 30 minutes
Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for 12-14 minutes until golden around the edges.
Carefully remove the baked tartlets bases and set them on a wire rack to cool.
Fruit Tart Glaze
To add a shiny glaze to the fruit, just heat a spoonful of apricot conserves in the microwave then pass through a fine mesh strainer.
Use a pastry brush to brush this glaze onto the fruit.
If the glaze is too thick add a little bit of water to thin to your desired consistency.
To assemble
Wipe the blueberries and raspberries. If you need to wash the berries, dry them very well with kitchen paper.
Peel the kiwi fruits, and slice them in half lengthwise. Slice each into half moon slices.
Spoon some Italian pastry cream into the tartlet bases allowing space for the fruit and spreading it flat.
Arrange the fresh fruit on the pastry cream slightly pushing the fruit into the tartlet filling.
Brush lightly with fruit tart glaze.
Refrigerate until serving.
Notes
Tips for Success
For the tartlet dough, have butter and egg at room temperature. Butter shouldn't be melting just soft enough for your finger to make an indentation.
Don't overcream the butter and sugar for the tartlet dough and knead lightly.
Chilling the dough twice is one of the keys to creating the best tartlet shells.
For the pastry cream, be sure to boil for a minute to cook the flour then let it cool completely in the fridge.
Carefully sliced large fruit. Whole fresh fruit needs to be dried thoroughly after washing.