Red, White and Blue Tarts

Do you have any Fourth of July food traditions? If you’re looking for an easy, patriotic dessert, these cute berry tarts might just find a way into your celebrations each year. They are seriously addicting! The best part? You can blow everyone’s mind when they ask for the recipe—they are made with cake mix, jello pudding, and cool whip!

INGREDIENTS:

1 package White or Yellow Cake Mix

1/2 cup melted butter

1 egg

1 small package Instant vanilla pudding

1 cup Half & Half

8 oz Cool Whip, thawed

Fresh strawberries, blueberries and raspberries


INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. First, preheat the oven to 325° F. Grease a mini muffin tin with butter or cooking spray and set aside.

  2. To make the tart shell dough, combine cake mix, butter and the egg. Mix until all ingredients are fully incorporated. It should feel somewhat similar to cookie dough. Add a little bit of water if it feels too dry.

  3. Make small balls with the dough, and press them into the muffin tin until each muffin space is a little more than 2/3 full.

  4. Bake at 325° F for 10-12 minutes.

  5. While the tarts are baking, mix up some filling. Mix the Instant pudding with the Half & Half for 30 seconds. Gradually fold into the thawed Cool Whip.

  6. Remove the tarts from the oven and let cool for 1 minute. Here’s the fun part: use the top of a bottle, a cork, or another suitably sized object to press into the cooked tarts and press them into a bowl shape. We found that a soy sauce bottle was the perfect size, but you can look around your kitchen and see what fits best! The idea is to create a hollow shape that can be filled with cream. Let the shells cool down for a few minutes before trying to remove them.

  7. Pipe the filling into the shells with a Ziploc bag or piping bag.

  8. Top with fresh berries!

NOTES:

The fun part about these tarts is that they are extremely customizable. Here are a few other versions that you can try out!

  • Double chocolate: Chocolate cake mix and chocolate pudding! Top with strawberries, raspberries…or more chocolate.

  • Cookies and cream: Mix crushed Oreos into vanilla pudding, and use a chocolate cake mix for the shell.

  • Classic fruit tart: Top with mandarin oranges, kiwi, and strawberries.

  • S’more: Chocolate base with vanilla pudding, top with graham crackers and a mini toasted marshmallow

Trisha Zemp