Apple Walnut Mini Tarts
Servings
4
Servings
4
Ingredients
Shortbread Pastry
Apple Filling
Walnut Topping
Instructions
Shortbread Pastry
  1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, sugar & salt. Using a pastry blender or a fork, cut in butter & add vanilla & lemon zest. Mix only until combined, divide in half & wrap each piece in plastic wrap. Place in freezer until slightly frozen & ready to use.
Apple filling
  1. In a bowl, combine sliced apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour & spices. Set aside.
Walnut Topping
  1. In a small bowl, combine chopped nuts, brown sugar & melted butter. Divide mixture between 4 mini tart pans. If your tart pans have removable bottoms, I suggest using a large paper cupcake liner, placing it first in the pan & then putting ‘bottom’ on top. This will avoid having any of the filling leaking out.
Assembly/Baking
  1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
  2. Remove one half of the pastry from the freezer. On a CHEESE GRATER, grate pastry. Divide between the 4 mini pans, placing the pastry on top of walnut mixture.
  3. Strain apples, reserving liquid. Divide apples between mini tarts. Microwave reserved juice for a few seconds just to thicken it a tiny bit, then pour over apples in each tart.
  4. Remove second half of pastry from freezer & grate. Top each mini tart with grated pastry. Bake tarts for about 45-50 minutes or until apples are soft. If browning too fast, float a piece of foil paper over the tarts.
  5. Remove tarts from oven & allow to cool for about 5 minutes before inverting onto serving plates. Nice to serve warm with a little ice cream or whipped cream.
Recipe Notes
  • If you care to make your own, here is a recipe for apple pie spice. It makes about 1/3 cup & of course you can always customize the levels of the spices to suit your own taste. I like to keep some handy in my spice drawer to use for various baked goods.
  • 1 tsp nutmeg
  • 1/4 tsp ginger
  • 4 Tbsp cinnamon
  • 2 tsp allspice
  • 1 tsp cardamom
  • Mix together & store in an airtight container in a cool dark place.