Alba Foods Tart Shells, Round Sweet, 378-Count Box, 4.52 Lb

I still can't believe I bought a whole box of these just because it was my month to host our book club, but they were so cute I couldn't resist. The recent positive reviews were certainly encouraging, but I didn't see how they were going to arrive unbroken. Perhaps they were not as delicate as they look in the pictures? Well, when they arrived I could see for myself that the packaging was cleverly designed to keep them intact. They were in a very sturdy cardboard box that is designed to hold them without leaving extra room for movement in transit. The box’s attached top opened cleverly to disclose 6 sealed layers of plastic trays. Each tray contained 63 shells nestled into indentations that kept them secure and separate. So far I’ve used all of one tray and half of another. For book club I made a simple filling that mimics a quiche but is sublimely simple: Preheat oven to 350-375F. Put finely chopped (by hand or in a processor) sweet onion in a bowl. Stir in approximately the same amount of original (not diet) Hellman’s mayonnaise and shredded cheese (I used a packaged combo of Italian varieties) and a few shakes of hot sauce to make a spoonable mixture. Spoon it into the shells, filling to about the top (they will puff slightly in the oven). I added a sprinkle of celery seeds on top of each, totally optional. Bake on a sheet pan 8-10 minutes, until set, puffed and slightly colored. Keep an eye on them. Undercook slightly if not serving immediately You can cool them and put them back into the tray for transporting and reheating elsewhere. You can freeze them on a tray and then transfer into zipper bags. You can reheat from frozen as many as you please at a time. If you have leftovers you can even reheat them the next day. They are pretty forgiving, though if you use another mayo you may be sorry. I still have about 200 shells left, stored in their original box in my chest freezer. Next time I’m going to use mostly crab instead of onion. Or switch to sweet with pecan tart. Curried chicken, anyone? Post your ideas, please. I’ll be back with comments on freezer life and whether, after freezing, they need to be revived by baking a bit more before filling with, for example, chicken salad.

Flavor is good. I bought them to fill with lemon curd for a wedding and these are just what I need. About 10% of the shells are broken. I planned on making a batch of practice tarts, so I will use the damaged shells for those. The reviews are pretty hit and miss, so I'm just too afraid if I send them back I'll end up with a package with even more broken shells. I would order them again and I do recommend them. The shelf life is long enough that I would get them a few weeks before the event in case there needs to be an exchange.

I used these for both fresh fruit tarts as well as baked key lime tarts. Theybwourked wonderfully fornboth of them. The flavor is neutral which is good.The first 4 layers were perfect. Money were broken. The last layer in the bottom, about 8 of them were broken.They shipped fast, within one day.Would order again, 120 tarts that are a NICE petite size for $54 is a great deal.

These pastries were great, so convenient and easy! I ordered the mini square shells. They arrived in 2 days as guaranteed in a box marked with fragile signage. There was maybe 1 broken shell per tray, which isn't bad considering these are tiny pastry shells that survived shipping.I didn't sample the pastries unbaked so I can't tell you what they taste like prior to baking. However, I filled the square shells with both sweet and savory fillings: blueberry pie, spinach artichoke dip and some kind of crab blend I found online... Anyway, they all turned out delicious. The crust wasn't dry, sweet, or boring. It was the perfect compliment to my fillings.I will absolutely buy these pastries again the next time I host an appetizer party and highly recommend them for your special occasion.

These tart shells are very easy to use. I made delicious apricot tarts with them. The shells all arrived in tact. They taste good though not as good as real butter ones of course (I got to France a lot so I am spoiled by the best ones). The size is nice and small, no fancy edges but easy to add decorate with fruit or other.

So I purchased these. I was impressed. I thought they would taste bad, but they didn't. They were a little bland but had a nice texture to them. I baked them first before filling them. They held up pretty nicely!! I only gave them a 4 bc on my first order half of them were broken but Amazon handled that immediately and sent another order to me in two days.

Liked: Only 3 tart shells out of my whole packaged were damaged upon arrival. I concidered this excellent packaging. I was happy that the tart shells brown well6-8 minutes at 400 degrees. The tart shell stay crisp along time. Dislike: Terrible taste until brown! I thought I would have to send the tart shells back. Fortunately, I decided to try them a little bit toasty and that did the trick.

Taste wise, there is nothing wrong with these shells. The flavor was very light.. not too sweet with just a hint of vanilla. BUT.. they are so damn small! They literally can't hold more than three M&M's. They come in trays, stacked on top of each other, in plastic packaging. Several were broken (not enough to make me want to return the entire package) but many were "chipped". I think my box had a FRAGILE sticker, but clearly, it was ignored. I use them for mini key lime tarts and keep the shells in the freezer so they will last until I can use them all. They are just too small for me to order again.