As a variation to Maids of Honour tarts I made these Apple and Almond Tarts. They have a lovely short pastry case. That is filled with a layer of stewed apple. Then the tarts are finished with a soft almond cake mixture.
This is a very simple recipe. It works so well, having a wonderful combination of textures and flavours. First the pastry crust is almost melt-in-the-mouth tender. Then that thin layer of fruity apple. The top, of almond cake, bakes to give a lovely caramelised top too.
So the recipe has a few steps. But they are all very easy steps. The recipe works well broken down into easy steps.
These are such delicious tarts. I enjoyed them with a cup of tea, in the afternoon. But they would be equally good as a dessert, with some whipped cream.
Although I used a both a silicone tart mould for some and a bun tin for others the recipe can be done in a muffin pan too. But in that instance the pastry should line just half way up the muffin cups.
Although I used stewed apples you could use apple sauce or apple puree. But in that instance it would be best to cook them down to remove some moisture from the apple. That is to prevent the pastry from becoming soggy on the bottom.
Baking takes just 25 to 30 minutes, enough time to cook the pastry and filling and giving a lovely caramelised top to the almond mixture.
My Bake
My tarts turned out so well. The pastry was cooked perfectly, with such a lovely texture. They had a sweet and fruity taste from just a teaspoon of apple. The top was caramelised giving a soft cake with a slightly chewy top.
I used just that one teaspoon of apple in each tart. However you can use more if you wish.
I baked my tarts for 30 minutes. Then I left them to cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
I needed immense restraint not to eat too many.
Another very good mini tart in Coconut & Almond Congress Tarts.
Apple & Almond Tarts
Course: Cakes, Pies, TartsDifficulty: Easy12
servings40
minutes30
minutesIngredients
- Pastry
150g(1 cup, based on scooping packed flour into a 250ml cup) plain flour
85g(6 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cubed
8g(1 tbsp) icing sugar
1 medium egg yolk(large in USA)
- Filling
60ml(1/4 cup) stewed apples, cooked until most of the moisture has evaporated.
25g(2 tbsp minus 1 tsp) softened unsalted butter
100g(7 tbsp) cream cheese
125g(1/2 xup+2 tbsp) caster sugar
9g(1 tbsp) plain flour
75g(3/4 cup) ground almonds
2 medium egg yolks(large in USA)
15ml (1 tbsp) milk, if required to loosen the batter to a dropping consistency. (I didn’t need to use this)
2.5ml (1/2 tsp) almond extract
pinch of salt
Directions
- Place the flour, icing sugar and butter into the bowl of a processor and blitz until the mixture is like fine breadcrumbs(or rub the butter in with your fingers).
- Add the egg yolk and mix again until everything clumps together into a dough.
- Tip the mixture out onto a work surface and squeeze into a malleable dough.
- Flour the work surface and roll out the pastry to a thickness of 3mm(1/8 inch).
- Cut out rounds with a cookie cutter, large enough to line the base and sides of a mini tart pan.
- Carefully place the discs of dough into the moulds and press around the sides. (see note below).
- Place a teaspoon of apple onto the base of each pastry case, and spread over.
- Place the moulds into the fridge and preheat the oven to 200C/180C Fan/400F.
- Place the softened butter, cream cheese and sugar into a large bowl and whisk them together until nice and creamy
- Add the egg yolks and again mix until fully combined.
- Then put the flour, salt and almond extract in and mix again until combined.
- Stir in the ground almonds until fully combined and the mixture has an easy dropping consistency. If necessary add a little milk to achieve this.
- Spoon the mixture onto the top of the apple, filling the cases almost to the top.
- Bake in the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, until the pastry is cooked. The top of the tarts will dome and then sink a little. They will brown all over.
- Remove the tarts from the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- If you don’t have tart moulds or a bun pan you can use a muffin pan, but only line the pastry half way up the sides of each cup.