Mini Apple and Almond Tarts : Elegant Little Treats with a Crunchy Twist!
Mini Apple and Almond Tarts: just three ingredients for a simple and refined dessert! Mini apple and almond tatin are a single-portion variation of the classic apple upside-down dessert of French origin, the tarte tatin. The presence of the almonds enhances the goodness of the fruit even more, and the caramel envelops the mouthwatering filling in an embrace of sweet and bitter notes. Once turned upside down, your mini apple and almond tatin will reveal themselves in all their beauty and elegance and will be the perfect end to your most special occasions!
Ingredients for 4 mini tatins (4 inches / 10 cm diameter each)
For the tarts:
- 600g (about 1.3 lbs) Fuji apples (approximately 2 large apples)
- 230g (1 sheet) puff pastry
- 30g (1/3 cup) flaked almonds
For the butter caramel:
- 100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
- 20g (1.5 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
How to make Mini Apple and Almond Tarts:
- To make the mini apple and almond tatin, first make the butterscotch: pour the sugar into a steel, or copper, thick-bottomed saucepan and let it melt over medium heat without ever stirring, just gently shaking the pan from time to time. After about 5 minutes you will have achieved a golden caramel, so remove the saucepan from the heat and add the room-temperature butter.
- Stir with a wooden spoon to mix everything well, after which you immediately pour the butterscotch inside molds with a diameter of 10 cm.
- Rotate the molds to distribute the caramel evenly over the entire base and keep them momentarily aside. Now take a nonstick pan, add the slivered almonds and toast them briefly over a high flame, being careful not to burn them-the almonds should just color.
- Wash and dry the apples, divide them first in half and then into quarters. Remove the core and cut each wedge crosswise into slices about 2-3 mm thick.
- At this point you can move on to the composition of the mini tatin. Take the molds again and cover the caramel base with a first layer of apple slices 13, then add a few toasted almonds and continue alternating layers of apples and almonds until you run out of ingredients, ending with a layer of apples: with these proportions you will manage to get 4 layers for each mold.
- Take the puff pastry roll and with a pastry cutter slightly larger than the mold for the mini tatin (we used an 11-cm-diameter one) cut out 4 disks. Lay the puff pastry disks in the molds on top of the apple layer, fold the edges inward
and prick the surface with the tip of a knife. Transfer the molds to a baking sheet and bake in a preheated, static oven at 180° C (350°F) for about 35 minutes, until the puff pastry is nice and golden. - When the baking time has elapsed, take the molds out of the oven and let them cool for about 15 minutes, after which tilt them slightly to let the excess liquid drip off, being careful not to burn yourself. Unmold the mini apple and almond tatin and serve them to your guests, perhaps accompanied by a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Bon Appétit!
