Baking

A cluster of grapes is cut from the top crust of this tart to suggest the fruit inside. Sweet, musky Concord grapes are first made into a jam, then sandwiched between the pastry rounds. You will need a nonreactive pan and a candy thermometer for the jam.

These fanciful tartlets are easy to construct with make-ahead components. The fresh figs can be roasted and then chilled, with the flavorful cooking syrup, for up to a week. The cream filling can be made a day ahead and refrigerated; the fluted pastry shells also can be baked the day before and held overnight at room temperature.

In classic French cooking, a large dessert shell made entirely of meringue is called a vacherin, so called for its resemblance to a well-known cheese; it is usually layered with whipped cream and fruit. Here, small-scale meringue shells are filled with lime curd, whose bright color is especially striking in contrast with the crisp white shells.

With scalloped pastry edges and a fruit-streaked, creamy filling, these tarts are almost too pretty to eat, but they’re too delicious not to. The filling is similar to a British spoon dessert called fool, which consists of a fruit sauce (in this case, blackberry) folded into whipped cream; more sauce and fruit is spooned on top. Elderflower cordial, another English specialty, flavors the whipped cream; you can omit the liqueur from the recipe if you want. You could also use it to flavor homemade ice cream to serve alongside.

The secret to this filling’s silkiness and deep caramel flavor is sweetened condensed milk, which is very slowly simmered until thick and golden, then blended with a mixture of cream cheese and crème fraîche. The spicy-sweet graham-cracker crust incorporates ground ginger, cinnamon, and black pepper; persimmon slices adorn the tops.

Their subtle sweetness and affinity for spices make carrots a natural choice for other baked goods besides the more familiar cakes and muffins. Here, they provide an unexpected flavor for individual tarts with another surprise: pastry crusts coated in crushed gingersnaps.

Handy no-fork treats win raves from kids for their lip-smacking taste; busy parents and other home cooks appreciate how easy they are to bake by the dozen. Once the dough is cut into rounds and pressed into mini-muffin cups, it is filled with a toss-together berry filling that becomes wonderfully jamlike during baking. Top each with a tiny dollop of whipped cream.

Let your imagination be your guide when forming these little tarts; giving each one a singular look enhances its appeal and creates an enticing display, but you can always replicate favorite patterns. Use aspic cutters (available at baking supply stores) or small cookie cutters to make designs, or cut strips of dough to form mini lattice tops. You may also want to vary the flavor—and color—of jam in the fillings.

As delicious—and easy to make—as drop cookies, coconut macaroons make airy shells when pressed and baked in tartlet molds. They will keep for days, and are very versatile. These are filled with vanilla whipped cream and candied ginger, but fresh fruit, citrus curd, and chocolate ganache are other nice options.

Martha originally created this recipe for a boating picnic in Maine. The tartlets are filled with blueberries, both fresh and preserved. Almond flavors the sturdy crust and the cakelike batter for the filling. Use wild blueberries if you can find them; otherwise, cultivated berries will do—the smaller, the better.

Ethereal, light-as-air sweets start with thin tuile cookies that are draped over inverted small brioche molds while still warm. Once cooled, each ruffled cup is filled with velvety curd and topped with a playful baked-meringue peaked cap. You will need a nonstick baking mat for the cups.

Apricot halves are poached with lemon peel, cracked cardamom pods, sliced fresh ginger, and vanilla-bean seeds to make a luscious filling for little crosshatched hand pies. Plums or peaches can be used in place of apricots; you may need to cut out larger pastry rounds depending on the size of the fruit. Be sure to keep the fruit submerged in poaching liquid or it will turn brown. This recipe is a specialty of Joey Gallagher, whose daughter, photographer Dana Gallagher, is a frequent contributor to Martha Stewart Living.

Each of these tiny tea-party treats features a pastry shell flecked with poppy seeds, rich lemon curd, a candied lemon slice, and a whipped-cream rosette sprinkled with more poppy seeds. Admittedly, making a bunch of them takes more time than a larger dessert, but most of the components can be prepared ahead (the shells and candied lemon will keep nearly a week). Then it’s only a matter of filling and topping the tarts just before serving, using a pastry bag and a star-shaped tip to quickly pipe the cream.

An all-time favorite fruit pie—strawberry-rhubarb—is utterly charming in miniature. These pielets would be welcome at a family reunion, graduation party, or other summer occasion. Baking the lattice-topped pies in mini muffin tins makes large batches easy to manage. If you’d like to serve the pielets à la mode, use a melon baller to form tiny scoops of ice cream.

Chocolate and caramel are enhanced with port wine, Spanish Marcona almonds, and fleur de sel, a delicate sea salt, for ultra-rich miniature tarts that are wonderfully unctuous, like fine truffles. The large yield of this recipe makes it perfect for parties; just don’t expect to have any left over. These tartlets have a tendency to disappear rather quickly.

Here, a dozen petite pies are baked in pâte sucrée–lined muffin cups. A small amount of blood-orange juice sweetens the tart cranberries, but not overly so. You can assemble and bake the pies a day ahead, but for the best presentation, wait to top each with meringue until just before serving. If you can’t find blood oranges, use a regular variety.

This vibrant tart heralds the arrival of spring. First-of-the-season rhubarb stalks are poached in spiced brandy, then spooned over a silken citrus-and-yogurt mousse. The cornmeal crust is baked in a springform pan for extra height. You can bake the crust one day, fill with mousse the next, then chill overnight before topping and serving. The rhubarb can also be poached a day ahead and chilled separately.

Thanks to its length and the abundance of glistening fruit, this tart makes a striking finale. The tender cornmeal crust is more crumbly than other types, so do not overmix the dough, and be sure to chill well before rolling. It is also a forgiving dough—you can pinch together any holes or tears when fitting it into the tin.

Blanched and peeled apricots are arranged just so on a bed of softly whipped crème fraîche—seven halves in a circle, another half cut into thirds and set in the center.

Chocolate marries well with many different types of fruit, but pears and chocolate make an extra-special pair. Here, a ring of sliced fruit sits atop a deep, dark chocolate filling, which puffs up as it bakes. Arrange the slices so the curved edges all face the same way, with the narrow ends pointing toward the tart’s center.