Sweet Tart Crust (Pâte Sucrée) (2024)

This homemade Tart Crust recipe is buttery, crisp, flaky, and easy to make. Pair it with Homemade Pastry Cream and it’s the perfect go-to base for making Fruit Tarts.

Just like homemade Pie Crust, or even Pizza Dough, making your own tart crust is much better in flavor, texture, freshness, and quality than store-bought.

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Tart Crust Recipe

I’ve always been disappointed with store-bought fruit tarts. They look so beautiful and they are tempting for sure behind the bakery glass window, but it’s the crust that I struggle with. They are typically so hard and thick that I’m literally sawing it with my knife which leads to the crust falling apart despite my best efforts to keep the tart looking pretty.

Making a Tart Pastry is as easy as making basic shortbread cookie dough. The beauty of this tart dough is you don’t need pie weights – it doesn’t puff up or lose its form. Incorporating an egg yolk also helps to ensure it doesn’t get overly tough and difficult to cut through later.

Ingredients for a Tart Shell

The ingredients for making tart dough are so simple and you probably already have them in your pantry and refrigerator:

• Butter – use softened, unsalted butter so you can control the salt
• Sugar – granulated sugar adds sweetness to the crust
• Salt – use fine sea salt to balance the sweetness
• Egg yolk – creates a tender dough
• Vanilla extract – use homemade vanilla for the best taste and aroma
• All-purpose flour – creates an ideal, sturdy crumb

How to Make Crust for Tarts

This dough is so easy to make and comes together in the bowl of a mixer (although you could make it by hand with a firm spatula and a mixing bowl).

1. Cream together sugar, salt, and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment.
2. Add yolk and vanilla and beat to incorporate.
3. Add flour and mix until a dough forms.
4. Press dough squarely and evenly into the tart pan and trim off the edges.
5. Bake over a baking sheet in the center of a preheated oven until golden brown.
6. Cool on a rack then remove from the mold. Now you can use it to make a Fruit Tart.

Pro Tip: Use a non-stick tart pan with a removable bottom which will make it much easier to remove the mold after the crust has baked and cooled. To remove the outer ring, you can place the tart over something that is narrower than the ring and gently pull down the outer ring to remove it. You can then slide a knife gently around the base to help the tart slide off the base easily or serve it on the base.

Common Questions

Make-Ahead Tart Crust

There are so many great options to make this sweet tart crust ahead of time, before or after it is baked:

• Baked tart crust – can be covered and kept at room temperature for up to 3 days
• Raw tart dough – can be refrigerated for up to 5 days.
• Frozen raw tart dough – cover tightly with several layers of plastic wrap then set inside a freezer-safe zip bag, remove excess air and freeze for up to 3 months.
• To Thaw – place frozen tart dough in the refrigerator overnight before using then let it sit at room temperature just until it’s softened and malleable enough to press into the tart pan

More Homemade Pastry Recipes

Learning basic pastry recipes like this Sweet Tart Crust will give you confidence for experimenting with new recipes and variations. Many pastries call for the same basic dough recipes. For example, the choux pastry dough used to make Cream Puffs is also used to make Churros!

• Peach Galette
• Easy Pie Crust
• Eclairs
• Zeppole (Italian donuts)
• Fluffy Biscuits