With a buttery, crumbly, crispy, cookie-like texture, this is my favorite Sweet Tart Crust (Pastry Crust) recipe. It goes well with any sweet filling of your choice.
I love pies and tarts more than cakes. Since I was young, I always liked food with a crispy and crusty texture more than the one with a soft or mushy texture. Tarts especially are my favorite kind of dessert and I would go for any filling or toppings, as long as the crust is perfectly baked.
Being picky about the tart crusts naturally made me bake them myself. The store-bought ones either use low-quality ingredients or are not buttery enough. When you make your own tart crust, you get to pick the best flour, good-quality butter, the best egg…right, the best of everything for the crust love!
Ingredients for Sweet Tart Crust
All-Purpose Flour
I had been making tart crusts with cake flour (薄力粉) because that’s what we use in Japan. However, due to the popularity of all-purpose flour (中力粉) here in the U.S., I have switched to all-purpose flour for the tart crust. I feel the tart crusts made with cake flour tend to be more crispy and refined in texture, but I think the difference is not so easy to tell, and I do like tart crusts made with all-purpose flour.
Confectioners’ Sugar
Confectioners’ sugar, also called powdered sugar or icing sugar, is granulated sugar that has been ground into a finely milled powder and has about 3% cornstarch added.
This type of sugar makes the sweet tart crust light and slightly crispier than pie dough, kind of like shortbread cookies. The fine confectioners’ sugar yields a more tender crust due to the cornstarch while granulated sugar makes it more crumbly.
I really like how the tart turns out with this recipe, but if you still want to use granulated sugar, you can use half the amount of confectioners’ sugar. For example, for 1 cup confectioners’ sugar, you can substitute with 1/2 cup granulated sugar.
Whole Egg
A lot of recipes call for adding egg yolk and very cold water to the dry ingredients, but after I’ve tested adding one cold whole egg, I think it works perfectly and I like that I don’t have to worry about the egg white.
What is Blind Baking?
Blind baking is a fancy term for prebaking a pie/tart crust before adding the filling to it. Because the sweet tart dough puffs up during baking, you need to weigh down the bottom of the pie/tart with pie weights, dried rice, beans, or pennies until it no longer puffs up. Then you would remove the pie weights to continue baking a little longer.
Depending on the pie/tart recipes, they call for an “unbaked crust”, a “partially baked crust”, or a “fully baked crust”. You can decide when to end the process of the recipe.
- The unbaked crust requires no baking required in this recipe. As soon as the tart crust is chilled, it’s ready to move onto your recipe.
- The partially baked crust requires a shorter baking time than the fully baked crust because the crust will be fully baked after adding the filling to the partially baked crust.
- The fully baked crust requires full baking time because it is usually filled with the filling which does not require additional baking, such as a fruit tart with custard filling.
Blind baking prevents the tart crust from becoming soggy. Since I like my tart crust to be crispy, I almost always partially bake the crust if the filling has some moisture in it.
Kitchen Tools You Need for Making a Sweet Tart Crust
1. Pie Weights
Pie weights are used to keep a pie/tart crust from bubbling and shrinking away from the edge of the pie plate or tart pan when you’re blind baking a crust.
I use these pie weights (you will need 2 boxes for 9-inch tart pan) but you can use dried rice, beans, or pennies to keep the tart dough down.
2. Pastry Cutter
Many tart dough recipes use a food processor to make the tart dough, but don’t worry. All you need to make a perfect tart dough is this pastry cutter. You can use a few forks to do the job, but your fingers will be very tired pressing down the tough dough.
3. Anodized Aluminum Tart Pan
I recommend this 9.5-inch anodized aluminum tart pan. I also have a non-stick tart pan, but from my personal experience, the tart crust shrinkage is much bigger and it always creates a bigger gap from the crust and tart pan after baking fully. It’s probably because there’s nothing for the dough to “grip.”
How to Prevent Tart Crust from Shrinking
Here are a few tips to prevent your pastry from shrinking when it’s baked:
1. Don’t overwork your dough
Over-kneading the dough will develop too much gluten. Gluten produces elasticity in the dough and once the overworked dough is subjected to heat, it recoils quickly, pulling away from the sides of the pan and shrinking.
2. Let your pastry dough rest
The reason is to counter gluten development. After being worked, the dough needs to rest fully to relax any elasticity that has been developed. Let your dough rest for 30-60 minutes minimum, but the longer you can let it rest, the better it is.
3. Let your tart crust chill in the fridge/freezer
Why do we chill or freeze the tart crust before baking? The butter in pastry dough should be very cold or frozen. That way, when you put the tart crust in the hot oven, it won’t melt fast and gives stability to the tart shape while a crust is being formed.
With these few tips in hand, you’d be ready to bake up the perfect tart crust for your holiday pies and tarts. Buttery and flaky, crumbly and delicate, just as good as a tart crust should be.
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Sweet Tart Crust
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour)
- ½ cup confectioners’ sugar
- ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick, 8 Tbsp; cold)
- 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) (cold)
- ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Instructions
Make the Dough
- Gather all the ingredients. If possible, keep all ingredients chilled in the refrigerator until ready to start.
- Cut ½ cup unsalted butter into small cubes. Crack 1 large egg (50 g each w/o shell) into a small bowl.
Choice #1: Pastry Cutter
- In a large bowl, stir together 1¼ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour), ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, and ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt.
- Add the butter to the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter or 2 knives, cut the butter into flour mixture until the texture resembles coarse cornmeal, with butter pieces no larger than small peas.
- Add the egg and ½ tsp pure vanilla extract and mix with a fork just until the dough pulls together.
Choice #2: Food Processor
- Process 1¼ cups all-purpose flour (plain flour), ½ cup confectioners’ sugar, and ¼ tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt in a food processor for a few seconds until combined.
- Add the butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, about 15 pulses.
- Add the egg and ½ tsp pure vanilla extract and pulse until the dough forms clumps, about 15 seconds.
To Form the Dough into a Disc
- Transfer the dough clumps to a lightly floured surface (I use a pastry mat) and form into a ball. If sticky, lightly sprinkle some flour.
- Flatten the ball with your hands to form a thick disc. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour (or 30 minutes in the freezer). The dough must be completely chilled before using. To Store: If you don’t use the dough right away, you can store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days, or freeze it for up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then let sit at room temperature until easily rollable.
Roll Out the Dough
- Take the dough out from the refrigerator and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes to soften slightly for easy rolling. Meanwhile, lightly butter a 9-inch (23 cm) fluted tart pan with a removable bottom.
- Lightly flour your working surface and place the dough on top. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough into an 11-inch circle ⅛ inch (3 mm) thick. If the dough is too soft, put it back into the refrigerator.
- Flour the rolling pin and roll the dough loosely around it, then unroll it into the tart pan.
- Evenly pat the dough onto the bottom and sides of the greased tart pan. Seal any cracks in the dough.
- Trim off excess dough with a sharp knife, or with the rolling pin by rolling over the tart pan. A good tip I learned from a Japanese cookbook (optional): Using your index finger, gently press the dough onto the side so the dough will peek out 2 mm from the pan. The dough tends to shrink while baking, so this helps to keep the height of the crust.
- With a fork, gently prick the dough several times. Cover the tart pan with plastic wrap and place in the freezer until firm, about 30 minutes. Freezing the dough before baking prevents it from shrinking.
To Blind Bake the Crust
- To prevent the crust from becoming soggy, I always like to blind bake the crust. Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC) and place the rack in the center. For a convection oven, reduce the cooking temperature by 25ºF (15ºC).
- When the oven is ready, tightly line the chilled crust with 2 layers of parchment paper, covering the edges to prevent them from burning. Fill the crust with pie weights (or dried beans, uncooked rice, pennies, and so forth). Make sure they are evenly distributed over the entire surface.
- Bake the crust for 20 minutes, until the foil no longer sticks to the dough. Transfer the crust to a wire rack and remove the pie weights and parchment paper.
- To partially bake the crust, continue to bake the crust for 5 minutes longer. Proceed with your tart recipe: add the filling and finish baking. Check your recipe to see if the crust should be used while warm or after it’s been left to cool on a wire rack.
- To fully bake the crust, bake for 10 minutes longer or until it is dry and the bottom turns lightly golden. Remove the crust from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
To Store the Baked Crust
- The baked crust can be stored at room temperature or refrigerator for 2 days or frozen for 2 months. When ready to serve, let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then let sit at room temperature before filling and decorating.
Nutrition
Just in case you guys want to save some time, you can also make this in a stand mixer. Simply cream the butter salt and sugar for about 2 minutes using paddle at medium speed, scrape bowl, add flour and mix on low for 30 seconds, until it looks like sand. Then add egg and vanilla and mix for 30 seconds and follow the recipe as indicated. Same result as pastry cutter, just easier on hands!
Technique adapted from Joanne Chang’s pate sucree recipe.
Hi Jason!
Thank you very much for sharing your baking experience and tips with us!😊
Beautiful presentation, thank you. Tomorrow we test the crust. Will be used to make a custard or flan tart. Then soon when persimmons ready a persimmon tart. The fruit tar will be cold so tart crust will be baked then a thin custard layer, then the persimmons. We blanch the persimmon slices in a sugary water first. Ciao
Hi Carmine!
WOW!🤩 Your Persimmons tart sounds delicious!!!
Thank you for sharing your baking inspiration with us!🤗
I will definitely be trying this for my Thanksgiving season.
Hi Candy!
Thank you for your kind feedback!
Please let us know how it goes!😊
Hey Nami!
Do you think this crust could be used to make your kabocha squash pie? I don’t want to go out and buy a frozen crust, so I was wondering if this recipe would work for the pie.
Hi Katherine,
Sure! Homemade pie is the best!🙂
Thank you so much for trying this recipe!
Hey! Thanks for this recipe! I just tried it, partially blind baking per your instructions, then filled and baked at 180 for another 20 mins. I’m still not sure if the base of my crust is fully baked…I ate it and it seems fine (but could be better texturally) and I could see some white specks in the base. I think it might not be cooked through? How do I tell! My base thickness is about the same as yours in the pictures!
Also I plan to make this again, but I wonder if I can bake it without the pan after I fill it? Will it disintegrate in the oven? I found the complete tart a little difficult to remove from the pan after it comes out of the oven the second time round!
Thanks in advance!
Hi Jae! Not sure what tart you’re baking but if I understood correctly, did you bake without the weight?
1) bake at 375 ºF (190 ºC) for 20 minutes (with pie weights)
2) bake the crust for 5 minutes (without pie weights)
3) add the filling and bake according to the recipe you are following… (to cook the filling/top)
I wasn’t sure what type of tart you made with this recipe, so I can’t tell if 20 minutes was good enough. 🙂
May I know how to use the baked crust after it is frozen? Do I need to thaw it? Also, can I freeze a partially baked crust, or can I only freeze fully baked crusts? Thank you!
Hi Esther! When ready to serve, let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then let sit at room temperature before filling and decorating. Fully or partially is up to how you use it. If you’re going to bake the filling, then do partial. If you are ready to serve non-bake filling, then fully bake. 🙂
If I have cake flour that I am looking to use could I use that instead for the same amount? Or would you recommend all purpose for a sturdier crust?
Also, I’m looking to recreate a fruit tart that is not being sold anymore and I see in the photo that the crust seems quite thick. Should I up the amount a bit, or would that not work?
Hi Ann! You can make it thinner crust as you like as long as it’s not too thin.
Hi Ann! You can use cake flour, the same amount. Hope you enjoy! 🙂
Complete success, thanks to your concise yet highly informative instructions.
With other recipe websites my results have varied from disappointing to very disappointing. Not so with yours, I’ve achieved consistent results each time I’ve followed this recipe.
Excellent work and, thank you.
Hi Jeremy! Thank you so much for your kind feedback. I’m so happy to hear my instructions were helpful. It means so much to me! I sometimes worry that I overexplain a simple thing, so your feedback was very kind. 🙂 Thank you again!
Thank you ! I love making pastry and I cannot wait to try this. At this time of the year the English make ‘mince pies’ (the ‘mince’ is fresh and dried fruit in brandy)
Hi Anne! Oh that sounds delicious!!! Have fun making Mince Pies! 🙂
The pastry was a delight to work with, as Jean said follow the recipe and you cannot fail. It’s definitely going to be my “go to” sweet pastry. Thank you so much Nami.
Hi Anne! I’m so happy to hear that your tart came out well! Thanks so much for your kind feedback! xo
Hi Anne! I’m so happy to hear your tart came out well. Thank you for your kind feedback! xo
How would I adjust this recipe if I wanted to make a chocolate tart crust with cocoa powder?
Hi Melissa! I’ve never done it, but you have to subtract the cocoa powder amount from the flour amount; otherwise, it has too much dry ingredients.
https://food52.com/hotline/19632-using-cocoa-in-place-of-flour for reference. 🙂
I made this crust to the tee. Trust the process if you’re using a pastry cutter!! I was super doubtful because when forming the ball because the dough will stick when you pack it together, but it also crumbles super easily with certain pressures. I just did the best and chucked it in the freezer. I also don’t know if 30 minutes in the freezer wasn’t enough, because when I tried to roll the dough, the edges kept cracking. It was an easy enough fix to meld it back together. Just trust the process and you’ll have an amazing crust at the end of it all!!!!
Aww thank you for the kind feedback, Jean! I’m glad yours came out well. Yes, the tart crust is pretty forgiving and easy to work with. Now I crave for some delicious tart… 🙂
Hi, can I make this crust savory by not adding the sugar?
Thanks!
Hi Su! Yes, but you probably need to increase the flour by 1/4 cup. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
I love your recipe and process. It is very easy to follow. I made this dough today to make mini tarts. They are the best I ever made and I’m not an experienced baker. Thank you so much for sharing it.
Hi Alma! I’m glad you liked the recipe. Thank you for your kind feedback. 🙂
Hi! Would the partial baking time be the same if I were to use 4 inch tart pans instead of the 9 inch?
I recommend slightly less. 🙂
Im in the process of making this sweet pastry, hopefully it tastes as good as it sounds, pumpkin pie is the best
Hi Amanda!
Yes! We love pumpkin pie too! Let us know how it goes!😋
OMG, I learned so much from your post. Thanks so much for educating me.
Hi June! Thank YOU for reading this post! 🙂
Hi Nami,
Do you prefer the pastry cutter or the magimix when making the tart crust?
Hi Charlotte! I don’t have Magimix but I own a food processor. If you ask me if I prefer pastry cutter or food processor…. I may pick pastry cutter because it’s less thing to add in my dish washer… I have a big food processor so if I want to put it inside it takes up so much space. And I have to put on the counter after dish washer’s dry cycle (it’s always wet because water traps in gaps). Anyway, my reason may be very silly. I just don’t like dealing with all the pieces… it’s easier though.
One thing to consider is that you can’t overmix, and I’ve made a mistake by kneading too much in the food mixer (until nice ball shape). It should be still crumbly when you take out.
Sorry it’s a long answer, but if you don’t need to use a food processor for other recipes, you don’t need to get it just for this recipe. And if you already have it, it’s really up to you. More arm work with the pastry cutter, but it’s my small work out for a big slice of pear and almond tart… 😉
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