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Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust

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Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust by Baking The Goods
Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust by Baking The Goods

I love taking a simple recipe and elevating it with fresh ingredients and special styling to set it apart. These little Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust are the ultimate easy yet elegant recipe. They combine a simple press-in, shortbread crust, the most effortless 4 ingredients filling and a beautiful array of fresh berries.

This tart recipe is as simple as tarts get, yet they look as if they were purchased at a high end French bakery for beaucoup bucks.

Made with minimal ingredients, these Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust are a thing of beauty and ease.

These tarts begin with the easiest ever, press-in, shortbread crust. It’s basically a shortbread cookie base that gets gently pressed into removable bottom tart pans and baked until crisp. The crust is made from a mixture of Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour blended with Bob’s Red Mill Almond Flour for shortbread base that’s got a lightly nutty and textural base. To enhance the natural sweetness of the almond flour, I also blend in brown sugar for a deeper sweetness in the cookie base. The crust bakes until crisp and crumbly so it can hold the mascarpone filling without becoming instantly soggy.

Just 6 Ingredients needed for the Almond Shortbread Crust

  • All Purpose Flour
  • Almond Flour
  • Brown sugar
  • Butter
  • Almond extract
  • Fine salt
Almond Shortbread Tart Crust ingredients
The Bob’s Red Mill Super Fine Almond Flour blended with the Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour gives the shortbread crust a crisp and crumbly texture that pairs perfectly with the creamy mascarpone filling.
creamed butter and brown sugar
When you cream the butter and Bob’s Red Mill Brown Sugar together, you want it to get nice and fluffy, like this.
forming tart shells
The tart dough should be nice and crumbly and should hold it’s shape when gently pressed into the tart pans.
pre-baked tart shells
Prick the bottoms of the tart shells with a fork before baking to help prevent them from puffing up too much.
Almond Shortbread Crust tart shells
If the tart shells puffed up during the bake, use the back of a measuring cup to gently tamp down and smooth out the bubbles.
Almond Shortbread Crust tart shells
Popping the Almond Shortbread Crust tart shells out of the tart pan is the most satisfying thing ever. They pop right out and hold their shape perfectly.

The easy tart filling is made by simply stirring together 4 basic ingredients.

  • Fresh Mascarpone
  • Greek yogurt
  • Honey
  • Lemon

Just mix the filling ingredients together, then pour it into the pre-baked crust. Stick it in the fridge and forget about it for a couple of hours. The easy mascarpone tart filling sets once it’s chilled. Then all these Berry Mascarpone Tarts need is to get topped with fresh mixed berries, some herby thyme and maybe a few chamomile flowers. All it takes to get them show ready and ready to serve!

Berry Mascarpone Tart filling ingredients
The creamy filling is made by simply blending together mascarpone, Greek yogurt, honey, and lemon juice and zest. So simple, so delightful.
Filling Berry Mascarpone Tarts
The creamy filling of these Berry Mascarpone Tarts poured right into the baked shells, then sets up in the fridge in just a couple of hours. So easy!
Assembling Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust
I make a little assembly station to fill and top the tarts. They go from parts and pieces to pretty in no time!

The best thing about these Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust is how silly simple they are to make. But even better is how satisfyingly delicious they are to eat. The light and airy, creamy mascarpone filling zings with lemon juice and lemon zest that’s mellowed by the natural sweetness of the honey.

The Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust are finished with fresh and bursting mixed berries and herby thyme to bring in seasonal flavors, and show stopping style.

Another great thing about this tart recipe is that it’s highly adaptable, you could top these cuties with any seasonal fruit – figs, caramelized citrus, poached pears, rhubarb compote, the list goes on and on. You can even go Gluten Free by swapping in Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for the all purpose flour! If you can dream it, you can do it. With such a simple and versatile base, these Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust can be whatever you want them to be!

This post was made is in partnership with Bob’s Red Mill. Follow Bob’s Red Mill on Instagram and Facebook or check out bobsredmill.com to shop their impressive lineup of whole grains and much more. 

Thank you for supporting the brands that I love! <3

Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust
How fancy do these Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust look? Super fancy with minimal effort, that’s how I roll.
Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust
Aren’t these Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust such a special looking little dessert?
Personal sized Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust
A personal sized Berry Mascarpone Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust just for you. <3
Berry Mascarpone Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust
You can also make this recipe into one single Berry Mascarpone Tart with Almond Shortbread Crust! And get this, it can be made gluten free by swapping in the Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 GF Baking Flour!
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Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust by Baking The Goods

Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust

  • Author: Becky Sue from Baking The Goods
  • Total Time: 40 minutes
  • Yield: 6 tarts
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Description

These cute little Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust have a light & creamy, lemony mascarpone filling in a crumbly almond shortbread cookie crust with bursting fresh berries & herbs. 

Ingredients

Units

ALMOND SHORTBREAD CRUST

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter (- at room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon almond extract
  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup almond flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

MASCARPONE FILLING

  • 2 cups mascarpone (- at room temperature)
  • 3/4 cup Greek yogurt (- at room temperature)
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 2 lemons zested & juiced
  • 3 cups mixed berries
  • 1 small bunch thyme (- optional)

Instructions

ALMOND SHORTBREAD CRUST

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. Whisk flour, almond flour and salt together in a medium sized bowl and set aside.
  3. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together on medium/high speed for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy, stop the mixer and scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl a few times. Add the almond extract and mix until fully incorporated. 
  4. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, scraping the bowl a couple of times. Only mix until the ingredients have just come together and the dough is still crumbly.
  5. Divide the dough evenly between six 4.75″ removable bottom tartlet pans. With lightly floured hands, gently press the dough into the pan so it covers the bottom and a create a thin layer up the sides of the each pan. Prick small holes in the bottom of each tart using a fork.
  6. Bake for about 15-18 minutes until the shortbread dough puffs up a bit and is a warm golden color all over. If it gets too puffy, use the back of a measuring cup to gently press the dough back down in the center. Set aside and allow the shells to cool. 

MASCARPONE FILLING

  1. Blend the mascarpone, Greek yogurt, honey, lemon zest and lemon juice. Once fully blended, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the the shells have cooled.
  2. Fill with the cooled tart shells with mascarpone filling. Smooth out the tops with the back of a spatula.
  3. Chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours so the filling has time to set up.
  4. Once the filling is set and doesn’t jiggle anymore, decorate the tops with mixed berries and adorn with thyme. 
  5. Serve right away or store in the refrigerator until ready to serve, up to 8 hours.

Notes

To keep the shortbread crusts crisp & crumbly, don’t add the filling until 2 hours before you are ready to serve & keep in the fridge until serving. 

You can even go Gluten Free by swapping in Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 Gluten Free Baking Flour for the all purpose flour!

If you’d rather bake one large tart instead of 6 mini pans, use a single 9.5” removable bottom tart pan.

  • Prep Time: 22 minutes
  • Cook Time: 18 minutes
  • Category: Dessert
  • Cuisine: tart, Tarts

Keywords: Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust, berry tarts, lemon mascarpone tart, mascarpone tart, tart, tartlets, tarts

 

Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust by Baking The Goods

Berry Mascarpone Tarts with Almond Shortbread Crust by Baking The Goods.

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  1. […] recipes come in all shapes and sizes, some have a simple press-in shortbread crust like my Berry Mascarpone with Almond Shortbread Tarts and some are a little involved like the crunchy tart dough used in my Candied Tangerine Mascarpone […]