APPLE TARTLETS IN A LIGHT, CRISPY PASTRY
“Featherlight sweet (not too sweet) pastry. Quick to mix, easy to work with and bakes perfectly when filled (as for tartlets or a lattice pie) or baked blind (as for milktart).”
- 75 g/150 ml corn starch
- 225 g/400 ml cake flour
- 5 ml baking powder
- 50 ml castor sugar
- 200 g/225 ml butter or margarine at room temperature
- 2 eggs
- 2½ teaspoons vanilla essence
- pinch of salt
- icing sugar, for serving
- Apple filling
- 1 tin (385 g) pie apple slices
- sugar, cinnamon, mixed spices, nutmeg and ginger to taste
- 1½ teaspoons corn starch
- a little bit of apple juice or water, to make corn starch slurry
If made using an electric mixer or food processor, place all ingredients in the bowl and mix or process only until the pastry holds together.
If made by hand, mix all ingredients and knead together lightly only until a smooth pastry is formed.
Press the pastry into a ball, cover or seal in clingwrap and refrigerate until required. Shape and bake as per the recipe you are using it for.
For these small tartlets, I rolled out the pastry, cut circles to fit my muffin tray and pressed it gently into the hollows. I got eight pastry cases out.
I did not roll it out too thin, it could have been thinner. Spoon your filling of choice into the pastry case (I made it level with the muffin tin).
Press out any fancy pastry shapes or make a little lattice for the top. No need to brush with milk or egg wash.
I baked in preheated oven (second shelf from bottom, my oven has five shelf positions) at 190 °C for 10 minutes then turned down to 170 °C for another 10 minutes. Let it cool in the muffin tin until completely cool as it will break when removed straight away. Sift icing sugar over before serving.
Can be warmed up a bit in airfryer and served warm with ice cream.
Apple filling
Cut pie apple slices into smaller pieces and cooked for 10 minutes with sugar, cinnamon, mixed spices, nutmeg and ginger.
Make a slurry with apple juice and corn starch and stir into the apples. Let it simmer and thicken and remove from the heat.
Spoon into a plate and spread it to cool down quicker.
Recipe source: Art of Cooking by Carolié de Koster
Edited posting and photo: Elsabie Templeton
