Let me start off by saying that I wish I would have planned this out better. It's 90 degrees in my house right now due to the failure of our air conditioner on Friday afternoon. I've been wanting to make these tartelettes for some time now, but I waited until I got enough apples in our CSA basket. This summer has been so busy. We moved to a bigger house (with an awesome kitchen), but with the moving, cleaning, and vacationing all summer, I haven't had any time to bake! (On a side note, I did notice that I never published my memorial day post--so I just officially published it today).
Apple Pie Tartelettes
What I used:
9 green apples -- peeled and cut into small cubes
12 tablespoons flour
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
Pie crusts (adapted from the Crisco recipe)
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups vegetable shortening
14 tablespoons water
How I did it:
Again, I should have planned better. I didn't take any pictures of my process this time--blame it on being out of practice with blogging, I guess. I did find this recipe on Pinterest though, and the original blogger has pictures of her process. I was really excited to use cupcake tins to make these mini-pies because it sort of combines my two loves.
I started out by peeling and slicing the apples. It was time consuming, and I wished I would have make the crusts first because the apples were starting to brown shortly after I cut them. I set the apples aside and went to work on the crusts.
I couldn't find the pie crust recipe that I usually use, but the Crisco recipe was very similar so I just used that. I started off making just one double crust batch, but I quickly realized that it wasn't going to be enough. I combined 2 cups of flour with 1 teaspoon of salt and cut in 3/4 cup vegetable shortening with a hand mixer. I added 8 tablespoons of water (2 tablespoons at a time) and mixed it in with a fork until it was all stuck together without being too mushy. I rolled it out with a rolling pin and used a large cup lid to make circular cuts in the dough for my bottom crusts. I should have just sized what I needed and cut the dough by hand because the cupcake tin was too deep and the dough didn't reach all the way to the top. After I filled one tin (12 tartelettes), I realized that I wasn't going to have enough dough.
I decided to just make the tartelettes in two batches because I needed to make more dough for the crust, so I moved on to make the apple filling and finish the first batch. Before I started mixing the apples with the sugar, I preheated the oven to 400 degrees. I decided to use the pie oven (yes, I have a pie oven in my new house and I love it) because it was so hot in the house, and I knew that I'd have to bake the 2 trays of tartelettes separately anyway.
I took the 8 cups of chopped apples and added the flour, sugars, cinnamon, and nutmeg. I mixed it all together and filled my first batch of tartelette pie crusts.
After I wove the tops of the first batch of tartelettes with dough, I spread a little melted butter on them and topped them with sugar. I popped them in the oven for 24 minutes--checking periodically to make sure they weren't burning.
While my first 12 were in the oven, I made the second batch of dough for the crusts--except this time I only had to use 6 tablespoons of water. I filled the second batch tins (2 tins--6 cakes each) and waited until the first batch came out of the oven. I put the second batch in and let those bake for 24 minutes.
I let all of the tartelettes cool before removing them from the tins. Only 2 fell apart because the bottom crust wasn't thick enough to support the weight of the apples and the top crust--I consider that a success for the first time I bake a new recipe! They still tasted good. I just put them in a bowl & shared them with Justin.
Rating:
These are delicious little tartelettes! They are rather time consuming because you have to shape each individual crust, and some of the crusts were having a hard time staying attached after I took them out of the tins. I would definitely make them instead of making a traditional pie if I was going to a gathering. They're much easier to pick up than pie and require no cutting. I'd like to try a different fruit next time--maybe strawberries or blueberries. I'll have to find a better way for the top crusts to stay on top too.
Now I'll have to run out and get some ice cream to go with these...
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