How To Make Tart Shells

5 from 23 votes

Easy and simplest way on how to make tart shells. They're flaky and buttery, suitable for both sweet and savoury tarts. It's my go-to recipe and I've been using it for all my tarts. Do try!

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Chilling Time40

Servings: shells

Author: Bea & Marco

Ingredients

Sweet Tart Shells

⅓ cup unsalted butter (75 g), softened
2 tablespoon sugar
1 egg yolk , room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all purpose flour (130 g)

Switch Them To Savoury Tart Shells

1 teaspoon sugar
½ teaspoon salt

Instructions

Add butter and sugar into a bowl. Using a spatula, mix everything together. Now add in egg yolk and vanilla extract. Continue mixing. Finally add in flour and bring everything together into a dough.
Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or until it's manageable.
Take a piece of dough and press it evenly into a 2.5 inch (6.5 cm) tart mould. Cut off excess dough with a knife. Using a fork, prick the base so that it doesn't puff up while baking. Repeat the same with the rest of the dough. Place them on a baking tray. Place them in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 340ºF (170ºC) , using upper and lower heat, on the lowest rack for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool completely. Once cooled, remove the shells from the moulds by flipping them and tapping a bit on the back of the back of the base to help releasing them. They're ready to be used!

Switch Them To Savoury Tarts

Instead of 2 tablespoon sugar, add 1 teaspoon sugar and ½ teaspoon salt together with butter. Follow the same steps onwards for the rest of the recipe.

Notes

Use spoon and level method when measuring the flour (for cup measurement)
Use portable oven thermometer (like this one) for a more precise temperature reading (I use it too)
Refer to my post above for ingredients notes and tips

Nutrition