Recipe for easy fruit and Nutella® puff pastry tartlets

Sometimes, you simply cannot put a bowl of ice cream on the table and call it dessert. Don't ask me why not, because ice cream always does it for me, but when you have to step up your game -- your future mother-in-law is coming to pass judgment, or you're celebrating the promotion that finally came through -- throw together these easy fruit and Nutella puff pastry tartlets with pastry from the freezer, and any fruit you have on hand (bananas, peaches and pears would be just as good as the kiwi and strawberry I used here). If you don't have fruit, top the layer of Nutella with ice cream. If you have fruit and ice cream, well, who am I to stop you?

Easy fruit and Nutella puff pastry tartlets

From the pantry, you'll need: frozen puff pastry, Nutella.

Makes 9 small tarts; can be doubled.

Ingredients

A sprinkling of all-purpose flour
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted according to package directions
Nutella or other favorite chocolate/hazelnut spread
1 kiwi fruit, peeled, and thinly sliced into rounds
2 large strawberries, stemmed and thinly sliced lengthwise

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Set out a sheet pan lined with a Silpat (silicone liner) or parchment paper.

Lightly flour your counter top, and unfold the puff pastry on the floured surface. With a rolling pin, gently roll the pastry, maintaining the rectangular shape, just until the folds are no longer lumpy (it's okay to see the fold lines; in fact, that's what you want to do).

With a sharp paring knife, cut the pastry along the fold lines into three long rectangles. Then, cut each rectangle into three pieces. (If you're like me, no two will end up exactly the same size and shape, but the goal is to make them as uniform as possible.) Place the 9 pieces on the sheet pan.

Again, using your sharp knife, score the pastry pieces all the way around, approximately 1/4-inch from the outer edge, taking care not to cut through the pastry. Then, with a fork, pierce the area of each pastry square inside the lines you've scored, lots of times. Repeat for each of the 9 pieces.

Bake at 400°F in the upper-middle of the oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges of the pastry pieces are just brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

When the squares are cool, either push the centers down to make a well for your filling, or gently pry up and remove the top layer of the center with a butter knife. Now you have 9 little pastry cups to fill with anything you wish (pastry cream, ice cream, etc.).

Take a small spoonful of Nutella and spread it in the bottom of each of the pastries. Top with a slice of fruit.

If that's not quite enough, dust with a bit of confectioners sugar right before you serve.

[Printer-friendly recipe.]

More recipes in The Perfect Pantry:
Nutella banana bruschetta
Quick and easy Nutella and fruit turnovers
Turkey and cheese in puff pastry
Grilled vegetable and goat cheese puff pastry tart with zucchini, mushrooms, peppers and onions
Asparagus and cheese tart

Other recipes that use these pantry ingredients:
Banana Nutella bread, from Barbara Bakes
Nutella chocolate truffles, from Steamy Kitchen
Super simple Nutella ice cream, from Chocolate & Zucchini
Apple fried pies made with puff pastry, from Evil Shenanigans
Lemon sugar puff pastry twists, from Cookin' Canuck

Comments

These are just beautiful! And they certainly fit my current requirement for "fancy but easy." Lately it appears my baking gene is in remission ...

Cute!!!

I love how simple yet so elegant these are

A little Nutella goes a long way in boosting my attraction to these gems!

I have still never tasted Nutella, but I have no doubt this tastes good!

Great dessert and simple to make yet looks so elegantly.

Oh my gosh. This is fantastic. I bough several large jars of nutella from Costco and while I'm doing a pretty good job of working my way through it, this recipe will come in handy!

TW, my current requirement is easy first... and with these tarts, fancy is the bonus.

Angela, Maris, Mari: thanks! I think these are cute, too.

Bellini, my husband is a huge Nutella fan, so he really loved these, too.

Kalyn, think chocolate peanut butter! I don't eat Nutella, but it's handy for little desserts like these.

Pam, that giant Costco-size Nutella jar is dangerous to have in our house (no self control!). I buy the large boxes of puff pastry at Costco, too.

Picture perfect and simple! I love it :)

Fantastic! I LOVE puff pastry.
I think I could use a bed of complimentary fruit jam instead of Nutella perhaps? (My hard to please mother won't eat Nutella)
Pure Genius!