Apple Tartlets

This apple dessert is inspired from Micahel Roux's Apple Tart which I made this week. I came up with this dessert since I have leftover pie crust from making the Apple Tart. I like well portion desserts to help me with portion control. These apple tartlets are perfectly sized so you can enjoy the buttery flavor of the crust and sweet-tart apple compote. This dessert is easy to make and perfect for dinner parties. There is no need to take out a serving knife and worry about making the perfect slice.

Modification: I used honey instead of sugar to make the glaze, and used whole wheat flour instead of white flour.

Texture: The crust is thin, light, tender, delicate but with good structure to hold the soft cooked apples.

Taste: The rich flavor from butter makes the nutty whole wheat flavor light. The crust is lightly salty and enhances the natural sweet flavor of the apples, especially since sugar is not used in the compote. The compote is mildy sweet with a hint of tartness.

Pate Brisee

 A delicate buttery crust

This recipe makes 1lb (450grams), enough to make 22-23 tartlets. 

Ingredients for Pate Brisee
1 cup (250g) Whole Wheat Pastry Flour*
⅔ cup (150g) Unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces and is slightly soften
1 teaspoon (6g) Salt*
Pinch- Sugar
1 Egg
1 tablespoon (15ml) cold milk*

* Whole White Wheat Flour works too
*Salt- reduce by half for less salty crust
*Milk- I used 2 tablespoons (30ml) when I used Whole Wheat Flour since it typically needs more moisture for it to become a good structure builder in baking. Don't add more than two tablespoons of water. When adding more water,  add a little at a time, especially when working with pastry flour.

Method to make Pate Brisse
1. Place flour onto a clean counter and make a mountain with it. Then make a well in the center of the mountain of flour to hold butter, salt, sugar, and egg. With your fingertips, mix and cream the ingredients together. (Tip: Mix flour with salt first before making the mountain of flour)

2. Slowly draw flour into the well with the creamed ingredients until a grainy texture is achieved. Add milk and incorporate it into the mixture with your fingertips until the dough holds together. With your palm, push the dough away four to five times until the dough is smooth.

3. Roll the dough into a ball and wrap it with saran wrap.  Chill the ball of dough in the fridge for at least an hour or until ready to use. It can be stored in the fridge for up to one week or three months in the freezer.

Apple Tartlets

If using all the dough, you can make 22-24 tartlets. 

Each dough should weigh about 20grams each.

Ingredients for Apple Compote 
8 (950g) large dessert Apples* (skinned and diced, about 1cm to half cm big)
1 cup Apple Juice
2 ⅓ cups (200g) Butter
½  teaspoon Cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon Cloves
⅛  teaspoon Nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

*Apples: Best to use a variety of apples (ex. Braeburn, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, Red Delicious)

Method to make Apple Tartlets 
1. If using all 1lb of Pate Brisse dough, divide it into two equal balls. Roll each into a log and divide it into 11-12 equal pieces. You should end up with 22-24 small balls of dough. Place them onto a cookie sheet and cover them with syran wrap. Chill them in the fridge.

2. Make the apple compote by placing butter, juice or water, vanilla extract, diced and skinned apples in pan on medium heat. Stir it once in a while to prevent sticking. Cook apples until tender. Add spices and mix. Cool compote.

3. Take out dough. Roll out a ball of dough. Roll from the center of the dough to the top or bottom. Rotate the dough one quarter clockwise and roll dough to same direction as the first roll. Continue to do this method of rolling until the crust is about 3mm thick. It should be about the size of a CD.

4. With the cool compote, fill the center of the dough with 2 tablespoons. Then take an edge of the dough, use your index finger and thumb of your left hand to hold the edge. With your right hand, use the thumb and index finger to hold the edge of dough right next to your left hand. With the dough being held by your right fingers, bring it over the top of the dough that is being held by your left hand to make a pleat. Press the pleat to seal the fold. Continue to do this to make a pleated crust for your small tartlets.

5. Placed tartlet on baking sheet. Then repeat step 3 and 4 to make desired number of tartlets.

6. Cover tartlets with saran wrap and place them in the fridge to chill for 15 minutes.

7. Preheat oven to 375F and bake tartlets for 20 minutes or until apples and crust is lightly golden color.

Tip: Store in freezer for future use. Don't defrost them when ready to bake. Just bake them directly from freezer but add at least 5 minutes to the baking time.