American Flag Berry Fruit Tart

A patriotic dessert recipe fit for the 4th of July.

A fresh berry American flag fruit tart with vanilla pastry cream and butter cookie crust makes an elegant, festive dessert for the 4th of July — or any patriotic celebration day. This fruit tart recipe may have French origins, but this patriotic dessert is dressed up with all-American style.

All About This American Flag Fruit Tart Recipe

There is something so special about a mixed berry fruit tart. Fruit tarts are elegant, sweet, and layer flavors and textures. A crisp cookie crust base holds silky smooth vanilla pastry cream and lots of fresh fruit–here, red, white, and blue mixed berries. The result is pretty much perfect dessert for any Independence Day, Memorial Day, Election Day, or other patriotic American celebration.

This mixed berry 4th of July fruit tart is a variation of a classic French fruit tart I collaborated on with the fantastic Jenn Segal of Once Upon a Chef — one of my most favorite cooking websites ever. Check it out. All her recipes work, and taste fantastic.

How to Make This American Flag Fruit Tart Recipe

There are three main components to this fruit tart:

• A shortbread tart shell, also known as a short dough crust or pâte sucrée
• Vanilla custard, also known as vanilla pastry cream or crême pâtissière
• Lots of beautiful fresh fruit
• Bonus: a simple apricot glaze to make it shine and lock in the fruit’s freshness

Let’s go into a little more detail.

Making the Pastry Crust

The first step to this American Flag berry tart is to make the tart shell. This shortbread cookie crust is easy to mix, but does require a little time to chill the dough fully, and then bake and cool.

The Vanilla Pastry Cream for the American Flag Tart

While the pastry crust is in process, make the vanilla custard filling. The custard is a traditional vanilla pastry cream, sweet and silky and made from milk, eggs, sugar, vanilla, butter, and cornstarch as a thickener.

Pastry cream requires only a few ingredients, but you will need a little bit of technique savvy.

Here’s how to troubleshoot any potential pastry cream issues:

• Stir. A lot. Once you add the eggs to the pot of hot milk, the eggs risk cooking instead of emulsifying into a custard. So stir constantly and scrape the sides and bottom of the pot continuously. That’s where the “scrambled eggs” like to form.
• Eliminate clumps. If you do accidentally form coagulated egg bits, just strain the finished pastry cream with a fine mesh strainer. Done.
• If you’re storing your pastry cream, lay plastic wrap directly on top to prevent “skin” from forming.
• Use your pastry cream within two days (preferably one). The cornstarch will weep its absorbed moisture through a fancy-sounding process called starch retrogradation, and the pastry cream will become rubbery.

Choosing the Fruit for Your Patriotic Berry Tart

It’s berry season, and that’s what you need.

Blueberries, blackberries, raspberries and strawberries are the obvious choices. I love the look of these two red-hued and two blue-hued berries together, but you could also just do one blue and one red. Plus, berries look gorgeous and generally stay perky longer than cut fruit.

How to Arrange the Berries in an American Flag Tart

Here’s your chance to be creative and have fun. My biggest guideline for arranging fruit on top of the pastry cream-filled tart is to be generous with the fruit. I try to show as little pastry cream as possible.

You can do a more traditional flag design of carefully-arranged fruit, a more free-form fruit pattern, or a mix. Have fun!

A casual but “arranged” American flag pattern made from blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and raspberries.

To finish, heat some apricot jam thinned with a bit of water, strain, and dab it all over the fruit with a pastry brush. The jam will give a shiny, finished look to the tart, and help seal in freshness.

This fruit tart combines mixed red, white, and blue assorted berries into a freeform patriotic jumble. Notice how the pastry cream is barely visible. Be generous.

You will love these other all-American desserts:

• Caramel Apple Pie
• New Jersey-Style Crumb Cake
• Mixed Berry Poundcake

Print Recipe

4th of July Desserts: American Flag Berry Tart

Patriotic dessert recipes just don't get prettier -- or more delicious -- than this American flag mixed berry tart. A classic French fruit tart with an all-American spin: all dressed up for 4th of July.

Prep Time30 mins

Cook Time15 mins

Pastry Crust (mixing + bake time, with an additional 2 hours chilling)45 mins

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American, French

Keywords:: 4th of july, baking, berries, blueberry, custard, dessert, dragon fruit, French, french fruit tart, fruit tart, pastry cream, patriotic

Servings: 1 x 8" or 9" fruit tart

Ingredients

For the Pastry Crust

• 1 recipe pâte sucrée (recipe follows in link, below)

For the Pastry Cream

• 2 cups whole milk
• ½ cup sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter

To Finish

• 3 pints or so fresh berries such as blueberries and strawberries, rinsed and fully dried
• ½ cup apricot jam

Instructions

For the Pastry Crust

• Complete the pâte sucrée through baking and cooling.

  TIP: This will take a few hours total, though most of that is inactive chilling and baking time. This can be done up to 2 days in advance; store wrapped or in an airtight container.

For the Vanilla Pastry Cream

• Heat the milk with a couple tablespoons of sugar just until boiling. Remove from heat.
• While the milk is warming, in a heat-proof mixing bowl, whisk together the remaining sugar, egg, egg yolks, and cornstarch. Whisk until the mixture is very smooth and lightened in color, about 2 or 3 minutes.
• Whisking constantly, whisk about a quarter of the hot milk into the egg mixture.

  PRO TIP: This is called tempering. Tempering the eggs helps raise their temperature without cooking them, and helps emulsify them into the milk.
• Pour the milk-tempered egg mixture into the pot of the remaining milk. Whisk to combine. Return the pot to the heat and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly to prevent “scrambled eggs” on the sides and bottom, until the magic happens and the pastry cream thickens, about 2 minutes. Stir in the butter and vanilla and cook one minute more, stirring constantly. The pastry cream should make thick, lazy bubbles.
• Pour the thickened pastry cream into a clean, shallow bowl set over an ice bath. Stir gently until the pastry cream cools to warm room temperature and no more steam comes off the top.

  PRO TIP: setting the bowl on a bag of frozen vegetables works great as an easy ice bath alternative, and there’s no risk of water splashing in.
• Cover the pastry cream with plastic wrap set directly on the surface of the pastry cream. This prevents a skin from forming on top. Chill.

To Finish

• Transfer the tart shell onto a cardboard round or whatever serving dish you will be using. (Once it is filled with the pastry cream and fruit, the tart will be too heavy and delicate to move.)
• Pour the pastry cream into the tart shell, leaving a ¼” brim. (If you have any extra pastry cream, enjoy it as a parfait with some fresh berries.)
• Arrange a generous amount of fruit and berries in a layer over the pastry cream in your desired design.
• Heat ¼ cup apricot jam with 1 tablespoon or so of water over medium heat, whisking, until thin. Strain, if needed, through a sieve. Use a pastry brush to gently dab the entire fruit tart with a thin layer of apricot glaze. Chill until ready to serve.