These mini strawberry almond tarts combine a buttery almond flour filling with a sweet strawberry icing for an irresistible bite-sized dessert. They're simple to make, elegant to serve, and ideal for holiday tarts, Christmas cookies, or festive tartlet recipes. Find easy mini tart recipes that add a touch of sweetness to any occasion and are great for entertaining. Pin these simple recipes now to save for your next gathering or holiday baking session!

Mini Strawberry Almond Tarts on a wire rack

Why these are the best strawberry almond tarts

These mini tarts are easy to make. There are a few steps, but none of them are difficult. Your food processor is going to do most of the work.

The ingredients for this easy recipe are very common. You probably have most of the simple ingredients already in your pantry, and the remaining couple are available in every grocery I've ever visited.

These mini almond tarts taste amazing! The tart shells are buttery and rich, and the almond filling is sweet and delicious! Add a fruity glaze on top, and you have a decadent treat worthy of any gathering or holiday party.

These "mini" tarts are big. We are making these cookies in a muffin pan, so they are muffin-sized. You can use this recipe to make your tarts in a mini muffin pan, too. Do everything the same except use a smaller biscuit cutter to cut the tart shells and then adjust the cooking time. Smaller cookies will need to bake for a shorter time. Bake them only until the centers are set and the shells are golden.

This recipe is freezer-friendly. You can easily freeze the unglazed tarts after they've been baked.

What you'll need to make mini almond tarts

Equipment

Ingredients

See the printable recipe card at the bottom of the page for all measurements and nutritional information.

For the tart shells

Granulated sugar - This is plain white sugar.
All-purpose flour or cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix - This is the base of the cookie crust. You need some kind of flour to stabilize the dough. I have tried both AP flour and C4C gluten-free baking mix, and they both worked well.
Table salt - This helps the cookies to puff up a bit.
Cold butter - Some recipes will tell you the salted or unsalted butter is essential to the recipe. I have generally found this not to be the case, as salted butter contains less than a teaspoon of salt in an entire pound of butter. Feel free to use whatever butter you have.
Normally, you want to bake with room temperature ingredients, but this butter must be cold so that you can cut it into the dry ingredients to form a pastry-like dough. The dough should be cut into cubes.
You will also need additional butter for greasing the muffin pan. I prefer to grease my pans with butter when I bake. You can also use a nonstick cooking spray if you prefer, but I don't because it builds up on dishes over time and leaves a sticky residue that's nearly impossible to remove.
Large eggs - Separate these eggs because you'll use yolks only in this dough and save the whites for the filling step later. You want the protein from the eggs but don't want the extra liquid from the whites.

a Mini Strawberry Almond Tart cut in half to show the almond flour filling

For the almond filling

Almond flour - This is basically just ground almonds, but you can't grind them yourself because you don't get the particles small enough with equipment you have at home.
Granulated sugar - This is plain white sugar.
Table salt - This balances the sweetness in the filling.
Softened butter - This time, the butter should be room temperature and soft but not melted.
Almond extract - This also contributes to the almond flavor.
Large egg plus the separated egg whites from the shells - You want the extra liquid from the egg whites you separated earlier so make sure not to leave them out.

For the strawberry glaze

Powdered sugar - This is also called confectioners' sugar or icing sugar. You may need more or less as needed to achieve the correct consistency. Your goal is to make a glaze, not a frosting, but you don't want it to be so thin that it pours off the cookies.
Heavy cream - You will start with just one tablespoon and then slowly add more if needed.
Almond extract - This gives the glaze a very mild almond flavor.
Vanilla bean paste - I only use vanilla bean paste because it has a more pleasant and concentrated vanilla flavor, but you can use an equal amount of pure vanilla extract if you don't want to get the paste.
Freeze-dried strawberries - You can use fresh or frozen berries as well, but if you do, you will need less cream (and maybe none at all, depending on how wet your berries are).
Fresh strawberries - For garnishing the glazed tarts.
Sliced or slivered almonds - For sprinkling on the glazed tarts.

How to make almond tartlets

There are a lot of steps to this recipe, but don't let that intimidate you. They are all very easy, with no fancy techniques required. It's mostly just mixing and pouring.

Add sugar, flour, and salt to a food processor and pulse to combine.
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Add cold cubed butter and pulse until small, pea-sized clumps form. Add egg yolks and mix until the butter mixture forms a dough ball.
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Roll the dough out into a disc and wrap with plastic wrap.
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Chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour.
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While the dough is chilling, grease the muffin pan by rubbing a stick of butter over all the bottoms and sides of the cups.
After the dough has chilled, remove from the refrigerator and roll on a floured surface until it's about ¼-inch thick.
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Use a 3-inch biscuit cutter to cut 12 circles from the dough. Place each circles into a prepared well in the muffin pan. Press the circle up the sides of the well evenly until it reaches the top edge. Set the muffin pan in the freezer for about 15 minutes while you make the filling.
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Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
Add the almond flour, sugar, and salt and to the food processor (that you've cleaned) or to a medium mixing bowl and whisk together.
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Add the softened butter, almond extract, reserved egg whites, and whole egg, and beat with the food processor or a mixer until all ingredients are incorporated and smooth.
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Remove the shells from the freezer and pour filling into each shell to about ¼-inch from top.
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Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 30 minutes or until filling is set.
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Remove tartlets from the oven and let them cool in the pan for about 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool completely.
While the tarts are cooling, make the glaze. In a small bowl, whisk together one tablespoon of heavy cream with the vanilla bean paste and almond extract. Add powdered sugar to a medium bowl and pour the cream mixture on top. Whisk together. Break up bigger pieces of the strawberries with a fork and add them to the bowl with the icing. Mix. If the glaze is too thick, add additional heavy cream to thin it to your desired consistency.
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Pour the glaze over the cooled tarts and add a fresh strawberry slice and sliced almonds. Let the glaze set before serving.
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Variations & substitutions

You can use a cup-for-cup gluten-free baking mix such as Pamela's in place of the all purpose flour to make these almond tarts completely gluten-free.

You can use fresh, frozen, or freeze-dried berries to make the glaze. To use fresh berries, use a similar amount of finely chopped berries and mash them with a fork before adding to the glaze. To use frozen berries, thaw them and drain well before chopping and adding to the glaze. You may need to add additional powdered sugar as the juicy strawberries will dilute the glaze.

You can use any fruit in the glaze. It doesn't have to be strawberry. Blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, lemon, or cherries (cherry almond is my most favorite flavor combination - try this cherry almond cake!) will all work, as will many others.

You don't even have to use the glaze. You may prefer to use strawberry or raspberry jam on top of your tarts instead of the powdered sugar glaze. You can still sprinkle them with sliced or slivered almonds, but I don't think you would need the slice of fresh fruit on top of jam.

Mini Almond Tarts topped with strawberry icing and chopped almonds

Baker's Tips

Gather ingredients ahead of time: Gather all your ingredients at once and prepare equipment ahead of time.

Room temperature ingredients: Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature unless mentioned that they should be cold or frozen.

Separate eggs: Separate your eggs before starting the recipe because they separate more easily when they are cold. They will come up to room temperature faster after being separated as well.

Refrigerate and freeze your shells: Make sure you take the time to refrigerate and freeze the shells as instructed so they don't spread when you bake them. The dough needs time to rest so that the butter can firm up again before baking.

Glaze: Your glaze should be just thin enough to spread, but not so thin that it spills over edges and won't set up.

Mini Almond Tarts topped with strawberries

Storage

Store your tarts in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

You can freeze unglazed tarts. Place the fully cooled tartlets on a baking sheet in the freezer until they are hard and not sticky. Move the frozen cookies to a freezer-safe container or plastic freezer bag and store in the freezer for up to a month. To serve, move the tarts to the refrigerator overnight to thaw and then glaze before serving.

Mini Strawberry Almond Tarts

Why these are the best strawberry almond tarts