Tag: tartlets

SWEET AFFAIRS OF THE HEART…Small Tarts Have Big Hearts

“Love is a fruit in season at all times, and within reach of every hand.”
Mother Teresa

SMALL TARTS WITH BIG HEARTS!

Its time for event # 2 at the Mini Pie Revolution HQ – “Small Tarts Have Big Hearts”. ..time to show off our small tarts for Valentines. Manggy sent me to the Mini Pie HQs…& I was hooked. Have always had this penchant for making small bites/petits fours…thanks a ton Manggy!

Mini Pie Revolution Event # 2 ‘Small Tarts Have Big Hearts’.

TOPLESS TARTS…hmmmmmmmm?

As the Mini Pie Revolution HQs say ‘Tarts, being sexy little things, like to go topless. Some tarts leave a little more to the imagination with strategically placed whipped cream or garnishes. No tart likes complete coverage!’. All that is required is that they must be mini-tarts (bite sized), sweet & baked from scratch.

An assortment of topless tarts on the platter.
A combination of chocolate, strawberries, cake, sprinkles etc. Great fun to make for your valentine…great fun to make anyway!

I made small tarts in assorted round fluted sizes from a left-over dough from a basic pie crust recipe. This was the dough remaining from the Daring Bakers Lemon Meringue Pie challenge; but you can use any other pie crust that you like. ( Approximately 1/4 the recipe should give you a dozen assorted small tarts).

For the Crust:
Pie recipe courtesy of Wanda’s Pie in the Sky by Wanda Beaver, 2002
Cold butter – ¾ cup ; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
Flour – 2 cups
Granulated sugar – ¼ cup
Salt – ¼ tsp
Ice water – ⅓ cup

For the Tops of the tarts:
  • I put a dollop of chocolate ganache on each tart.
  • I cut some small circles out of a layer of Strawberry sponge cake & placed a circle each on a few tarts shells. Topped the sponge with ganache, sprinkles & a slice of strawberry. Recipe for the sponge & ganache can be found here.
  • I mixed cake crumbs with melted chocolate, rolled them into flattish balls & placed them on others. Topped them again with a ganache, followed by sprinkles/strawberry slices.
  • Marbled one with cream; edged another tart with valentine sprinkles after drizzling melted chocolate around the edges; topped others with chocolate flakes; used sliced strawberries for others.
  • They were all extempore & loads of fun. I used whatever I could lay my hands on.
  • The kids had an absolute blast devouring them!
  • These can be made a couple of days in advance & stored covered in the fridge. Do place the strawberries just a little before serving otherwise they lose their fresh look & appeal.

    SMALL TARTS DO HAVE BIG HEARTS!!

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

SAVOURY TARTLETS…Crisp & pretty appetizers.

“Food is for eating, and good food is to be enjoyed…I think food is, actually, very beautiful in itself.”
Delia Smith
SAVOURY MINI TARTS…
TOPPED WITH SWEETCORN & MUSHROOMS…

I love the idea of using my spare time creating leftover sweet (or savoury) nothings! There is no ‘main dish pressure’, the leftovers are mine to use; no demands whatsoever. The end result is always full of suspense! These little tarts are the result of one such experiment…

A FRESH BASIL LEAF ADDS TO COLOUR & TASTE
I made these teeny savoury tartlets with the pastry dough left over from the quiche the other day. Once lunch was served & done with, everyone retired to whatever they wanted to; I took over the kitchen once again. The tartlets were lovely & crisp; vegetarian too.

I cut out circles with a fluted cookie cutter, placed the cut-out circles in a mini tart pan & baked them. Then topped the little bites with left-over corn & mushroom mix from the quiche. They turned out very enjoyable indeed & looked quite nice too. I loved the look of the crisp pastry, with the cheesy topping & finally the basil leaf. They got made real quick, went under the grill for 5 minutes & were tasty little bites. Perfect for finger-food & appetizers. These are vegetarian, but you can use any topping you like…just 1 tsp of topping is good for each tartet.

Here’s what I did…
  • The recipe for the pastry is the same as for the quiche, which you can find here.
  • The topping is also the same as the mushroom mix as in the quiche filling, just till the stir frying bit in the pan. The other tarts use just steamed sweetcorn which I made from a fresh ear of corn. You can use frozen sweet corn if you like.
  • Roll out the pastry as thin as you can. Cut out 2-3″circles with a fluted cookie cutter, or even a plain one will do. Place them in the tartlet pan & bake at 180 degrees C for 10 minutes/till light brown.
  • Cool on racks.
  • Place a tsp of the mushroom mix each on half the tartlets. Top with cheese spread, oregano & a basil leaf. sprinkle with a little grated cheese.
  • On the rest, add a tsp of sweetcorn (seasoned lightly with salt & pepper). Top with cheese spread, oregano & a basil leaf. Sprinkle with a little grated cheese.
  • You can also mix the sweetcorn & mushroom to get different flavours; I kept them separate because of the kids. Just make sure the topping isn’t watery/liquidy because that will ruin the crispness of the pastry.
  • Place under a medium grill (180degrees c) for 5 minutes.
  • That’s it…serve hot, warm or at room temperature.
  • Use toppings that you like…tuna & corn; chicken…whatever; this was just an experiment!
  • The pastry tarts can be baked a couple of days in advance. Store in an airtight tin in a cool place.

THEY WERE REALLY NICE…We loved them!

I found just the right platform to send these to…‘Leftover Tuesdays‘ at Project Foodie. As foodie Pam writes,”Leftover Tuesdays #11 challenges you to transform your leftovers into tasty temptations and tell us all about it.” How apt…always amazed by how much sense some things make.

Am tempted to, & so, will send these for Mansi’s ‘Game Night Party’ at Fun and Food as well. These make for nice finger food which can be assembled in advance. Let the party go on!!

Posted by Deeba @ PAB

JAM TARTLETS…..Pretty Ruby Petits Fours

“The rule is jam tomorrow and jam yesterday, but never jam today.”
Lewis Carroll

JAM TARTLETS…Petits Fours

A Tart is defined as a single-layered base of pastry (plain or puff) with a sweet or savory filling baked in either a shallow tart pan that has straight, fluted sides and a removable bottom or a metal tart ring placed on a baking sheet. The tart is removed from the tart pan or ring before serving. Broadly, the term ‘tart’ encompasses flans, quiches, and pies. Depending on the type of tart made they can be served as appetizers, entrees or desserts. Their size ranges from bite-size (hors d’oeuvre), individual-size (tartlet) to full-size (tart).’…quoted from ‘Joy of Baking‘…one of my favourite net-stops!

Sweet tarts have fillings of fruit, jams, custards, flavored creams, or nuts.

What do miniature tuiles, eclairs, fancy cakes, macaroons, glazed or candied fruits, tartlets, ladyfingers, cigarettes, etc. have in common? They all belong to a category of small fancy cookies, pastries, or confections called “petits fours”. The name petit four seems to have originated from the name of the ovens (petit four meaning ‘small oven’) they were baked in. In the 18th century the ovens were made of brick and once the large cakes were baked, small cakes were placed in the ovens as they were cooling down.
Petits fours can be eaten in one or two bites and these fancy pastries are further divided into “sec” or “glacé”. “Sec” meaning “dry” and “glacé” meaning “iced or frosted”. …Joy of Baking again!

‘LIQUID RUBY PETITS FOURS’…

I made these sweet little ‘Liquid Ruby Petits Fours’, with a jam filling, for my daughter’s birthday…& in all the confusion & excitement, forgot to put them out! What a feast my kids had over the next few days; it was tartlets all the way!! Since this months CLICK event has a liquid theme – ‘LIQUID COMFORT’, I’ve thought of sending in this one above as an entry…its atoms move freely & it took the shape of the pastry!

Moving on from there, the recipe for the pastry cases / pie shells are from a sweet little book of contemporary recipes called ‘What’s Cooking Chocolate’ by Jacqueline Bellefontaine, which she uses to make mini chocolate tartlets. I made those & some of these as well, variety being the spice of my life!!

Here’s the recipe as adapted from her book…
Ingredients:

Flour – 1 1/2 cups

Butter – 1/3 cup ; chilled & cut into pieces
Castor Sugar – 1 tbsp
Chilled water – 3-4 tbsp

Method:
  • Sift the flour into a mixing bowl.
  • Rub in the chilled butter with your fingertips to get a breadcrumb like mix.
  • Stir in the sugar.
  • Add enough water to make a soft dough.
  • Cover & chill for 20 minutes.
  • Preheat the oven to 190 degrees C.
  • Roll out to 1/4-1/8″ thickness & line the pastry/tart shells or mini muffin trays with them.
  • Cover the pastry with foil, put in pie weights ( I used beans) & bake blind for 15 minutes approximately till light brown.
  • Cool completely on racks & store in an airtight tin until use. I made mine 3 days in advance.
  • Heat about 1/2 cup of jam with 1 tbsp water in the microwave, 30 seconds at a time, until jam is runny.
  • Pour carefully into prepared tart shells, use sprinkles if you like, and leave to set.

‘Ruby don’t take your love to town’…this song has been playing in my head all the while I have been putting this post together. Kenny Rogers at his very best!! Used to be one of my favourite numbers & am glad to renew the link!!
Posted by Deeba @ PAB
Please wait...

Subscribe to my newsletter

Want to be notified when the article is published? Do enter your email address and name below to be the first to know.
SIGN UP FOR NEWSLETTER NOW
Exit mobile version