Three Ingredient Mini Tart Shells

Make your own mini tart shells, or tartlets, with this recipe. It's not hard to do—it just takes a little planning and chilling. The recipe is similar to a pie crust recipe, which typically uses butter and shortening, but it's less flaky—you want it to be able to stand up to myriad fillings. In this recipe, the combination of unsalted butter and cream cheese makes this dough tender but with a slight tang.

Once you've made the shells, there's a wide variety of things you can do with them. They're great filled with nut-based treats such as pecan pie filling to make pecan tassies. Once they're baked, you can fill them with fresh fruit or prepared ingredients that require very little baking, or none at all. Imagine them filled with mixed summer berries tossed with a little lemon juice and cornstarch, and popping them in the oven for a quick bake. Or fill them with a freshly made lemon curd to make miniature lemon pies. Try them with this fruit tart recipe with pastry cream or with passion fruit, or go completely savory with a caramelized garlic tart.