These elegant little pistachio tartlets are definitely for the true pistachio lover. Loaded with pistachio flavour from pistachio paste to that gorgeous creamy cream cheese topping, these mini French tarts are a glorious contrast of soft and crisp, sweet and nutty and a flavour sensation.
- Rich in buttery, nutty flavour.
- Easy to make.
- Crisp, buttery shortcrust.
- Creamy, tangy filling.
- Great for parties, picnics and potlucks.
It’s impossible to miss the pistachio in these stunning little tarts. From the pistachio paste (homemade or shop-bought) the creamy and tangy, yet nutty cheesecake filling it’s a pistachio paradise.
I bet you’ll love these lemon tartlets and these cute little passionfruit tartlets too.
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Ingredients you’ll need
You can make these pistachio tartlets completely from scratch or cut some cheeky corners.
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
The tartlet shells:
I always make my tartlet shells from scratch – with just 4 ingredients (flour, sugar, butter and egg). You can use shop-bough tartlet shells too.
The pistachio paste:
It’s not easy to come by where I am and when it is, it’s pricey so I make my own pistachio paste (pistachios, sugar, oil). This is another one you could buy at the shop if you wanted to save on time – it will possibly be a thinner consistency but will still work.
The pistachio cheesecake:
The pistachio cheesecake filling is a very simple combo of cream cheese, sugar, pistachio paste, whipping cream and lemon zest and takes just minutes to make. If you use shop-bough pistachio paste, the consistency might be somewhat softer but since it’s contained in a little tartlet shell, it will be fine.
How to make mini pistachio tarts (step-by-step)
Detailed quantities and instructions in the recipe card below.
- Tartlet shells: You’ll start by making a very simple pastry dough, rolling out on a floured work surface then cutting rounds before shaping into a muffin tin. These raw tart shells need to chill for at least 2 hours before baking until golden and crisp.
- The pistachio paste: If you’re making your pistachio paste from scratch you can do that while the tartlet shells are chilling or make it up to a week or more ahead of time. Mine is quite firm, so I roll little balls and press them into the bottom of the mini tart shells.
- The cheesecake filling: The cheesecake mixture all just gets beaten together in a bowl, and is then piped or spooned into the tart shells.
- Setting: Now you just need to let them set, in the fridge for 4 hours or overnight.
- The topping: The melted chocolate can just be drizzled over as soon as the tarts come out of the fridge. The tarts will be cold enough to set the chocolate and you can serve immediately. I’ve topped mine with rose petals but you can use fresh raspberries, dots of raspberry jam or even crushed up freeze-dried raspberries. The raspberry pistachio combo is amazing.
It’s worth noting that both the tartlet shells and pistachio paste can be made well ahead of time. Both keep well and can be frozen too.
Tips and tricks
- Chilling time: Don’t skip the chilling time on the tartlet shells. This ensures against them shrinking when they bake.
- Get ahead: As noted above, both the mini tart shells and pistachio paste can be made well in advance.
Yield and storage
This recipe makes 12 pistachio tartlets. If you’re using my tartlet shells recipe, you’ll have a few leftover that can be frozen for another time. Fill them with lemon curd and maybe add a bit of ice cream for an easy family dessert.
These tartlets will keep 2-3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.
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Ingredients
FOR THE MINI TART SHELLS
- 225 g plain flour (all purpose flour) (1 ¾ cups / 8oz) (notes 2)
- 40 g icing sugar (powdered sugar / confectioners sugar) (⅓ cup / 1.4oz)
- 100 g unsalted butter, chilled & cubed (7 tablespoons / 3.5oz)
- 1 large egg, cold
PISTACHIO CREAM CHEESE FILLING
- 250 g full fat cream cheese, softened () (notes 3)
- ½ cup caster sugar (100g / 3.5oz)
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- ⅓ cup thickened cream (heavy/whipping cream), cold (80ml)
- ¾ cup pistachio paste
- 30 g dark chocolate, melted
- Decorations of choice
For best results, always weigh ingredients where a weight is provided
Instructions
- FOR THE PASTRY:Place the flour and icing sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Process a few seconds to distribute evenly.
- Add the cubed cold butter and blitz until the mixture looks a bit like sand – there may be lentil-sized pieces of butter left here and there and that’s perfect.
- Add the egg and process on low until the mixture starts forming large clumps.
- Turn the dough out and pull it together into a smooth ball with your hands (making sure not to handle it too much) then press it out into a 1-inch thick disk.
- Place it onto a lightly floured surface and dust the top with just a little flour too. Gently and gradually roll the pastry out, turning it often, to about 3mm (1/8 inch) thick.
- Have a non-stick 12 hole muffin tin at the ready.
- Using a circle cookie cutter 9cm/3 ½ in wide (or just a little larger than the opening of the muffin tin holes), cut out circles of dough. Try to get 12 from the first roll, and at least 6 from a second roll out. Try to handle the dough only enough to bring back into a disk for the second roll.
- Lift with an offset spatula so they don’t become misshapen and gently push each down into the muffin tin holes, gently pressing into the corners (if your rolling pin has a flat end like mine, it’s perfect for getting them flat to the bottom with a nice corner). Chill 2 hours or overnight (don’t skip chilling).
- If you're making pistachio paste from scratch, now is a good time.
- Preheat oven to 180C / 350F / 160C fan forced.
- Prick the bases of the tartlet shells a few times with a fork. Place a cupcake case or piece of baking paper into each, pressing it to the pastry at the bottom, and fill with rice (or pie weights).
- Transfer to the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes then remove the cupcake cases and bake a further 7-8 minutes until golden brown.
- FOR THE PISTACHIO CHEESECAKE FILLING:In a clean large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the cream cheese and sugar just until smooth.
- Set aside 1/4 cup of the pistachio paste and add the rest to the cream cheese mixture. beat through until fully incorporated.
- Pour in the cream and beat for 2 minutes until the mixture feels lighter.
- Roll small balls of the remaining pistachio paste (about 1 teaspoon) and press gently into bottom of each tartlet shell.
- Transfer the pistachio cream cheese mixture to a piping bag and pipe around then over the top of the pistachio paste.
- Drizzle over melted chocolate, then chill the tarts until set. Decorate with rose petals, raspberries, freeze dried raspberry pieces or dots of jam.
- Please take a moment to leave a comment & rating. It's appreciated and so helpful.
Notes
- All ovens vary – always test for doneness 3-5 minutes before the recipe suggests
- For best results, you should always weigh ingredients like flour and sugar. Kitchen scales are relatively cheap but if you can’t weigh the ingredients, use the spoon and level method (don’t scoop).
- For decorations, try rose petals, fresh raspberries, dots of jam or crumbled up freeze-dried raspberries.
- Leftover baked mini tart shells can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week and frozen for up to 3 months.
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6 Comments on “Pistachio Tartlets”
I’ve made butter tarts with walnuts in them, made pecan tarts, made Bakewell tarts with marzipan, but haven’t made tarts with pistachios, have no idea why! These sound delicious and I love pistachios soi can’t wait to make them.
Enjoy, Jennifer 🙂
Can we download d recipe
Hi Shagun. Just go to the recipe at the bottom of the post, then click on print recipe – depending on the device you’re using you may be able to save it in different ways.
What did YOU use to bake these tartlets? Tart moulds? I can tell by the pictures you didn’t use a muffin tin, so I presume you offered that as an alternative because you assume most people don’t have tart moulds (which is likely true). Thanks.
Hi Monika. I wouldn’t do that to you. I always write my recipes exactly as I make them so that you can get the same result. These tartlet shells were definitely made in a muffin pan (you can tell by the flat outside – no scallop). You can see them in the step by step photos in the muffin tin and if you check out my tartlet shells post, you can see the baked tartlet shells in the tin (the exact batch I used for these pistachio tartlets).