Entertaining a crowd is a breeze when you have a culinary trick or two up your sleeve. Or, in this case, a box full of them! One of our favorite items to have in the freezer are pre-made French pastry and tart shells. Not that we don’t appreciate a great handmade pastry dough, but it can be a bit messy and time-consuming to prepare it every single time, especially if you have guests coming and a flour explosion in the kitchen is not on the agenda.
Sweet (or Savory) Little Savers! Pre-made pastry tart shells. Photo: GourmetFoodWorld.com
Pretty in Pastry: The Beauty Of Pre-Made Tart Shells
We love the versatility of tarts shells, how they can be a great savory appetizer, a delicious lunch, or a sweet treat for dessert or with tea. Because we stock a really great variety of ready-made gourmet pastry and tart shells (we’ve done half the work for you, you’re welcome!), we thought we’d give you some delicious filling options to try out this weekend!
SHOP Pre-Made Pastry and Tart Shells >
So Cute You Could Eat Them Up…(and should!): Mini Raspberry & Chocolate Tarts
Our sweet selection comes from Naomi Robinson Bakersroyale.com. Guys, she made a NO BAKE dessert. We love her, just because of that! She started with pre-made tart shells, added chocolate, followed with a yummy layer of pureed raspberries, and topped it all off with decadent raspberry mousse. If you’re not drooling by now, take a look at the picture below. A touch of cassis liqueur make these utter perfection!
Mini Raspberry Tarts Recipe >
Sweet Somethings: Raspberry and Chocolate Mini Tarts in Pre-Made Shells. Photo by: Naomi at BakersRoyale.com.
Deliciously Good (and good for you!): Pesto and Avocado Mini Tarts
For our savory tart, we sifted through a lot of heavy, cream-filled options, but we fell in love with this super healthy recipe from TalesofaKitchen.com. As great believers of a healthy approach to gourmet eating, we loved the mixture of gourmet ingredients in a good-for-you recipe. Chris made her own tart crust (which is vegan, by the way!), but we loved the idea that you could also just whip up the pesto and avocado filling and put it in pre-made savory tart shells. You can serve these at any cocktail party, but feel good about yourself (and your diet) the next morning!
Pesto and Avocado Fresh Mini Tarts Recipe >
Pesto and Avocado Mini Tarts: Pretty (good for you)! Photo by: Chris, TalesofaKitchen.com.
Make sure you check out our contributors’ blogs for more of their great recipes and cooking tips! A big thank you to Chris from www.TalesofaKitchen.com and Naomi of www.BakersRoyale.com for sharing their amazing recipes with us!