Mixed Nut Tartlets Recipes

CARAMEL-NUT TART

Steps:

• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Have ready two 9-inch tart pans with removable bottoms. Cut out two 12-inch parchment circles, and set aside. Lightly flour a clean work surface. Roll out one disk of pate sucree to a 12-inch circle with a 1/4-inch thickness. Roll dough onto rolling pin, and unroll over one of the tart pans. Press pastry into place, being careful not to stretch dough; use a paring knife to trim any overhanging dough. Repeat with remaining disk pate sucree and tart pan. Chill both pans for 30 minutes.
• Line pastry with parchment circles, and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until pastry begins to take on color, about 25 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights; continue baking or until light golden brown all over, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Wrap in plastic; set aside until ready to use.
• Reduce oven to 325 degrees. Place butter, both sugars, honey, and heavy cream in a large saucepan set over high heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Boil 5 minutes. Stir in nuts and vanilla; remove pan from heat. Pour filling into reserved tart shells.
• Bake tarts on the center rack until the filling bubbles, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer tarts to a wire rack to cool.

MIXED MUSHROOM TARTLETS

Steps:

• In a large skillet, saute mushrooms and onion in butter and oil in batches until tender. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in wine, thyme and salt. Cook until liquid is reduced by half. Stir in cream. Cook until thickened, about 10 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside., Unfold 1 puff pastry sheet. Roll out into a 12x8-in. rectangle. Cut into 8 rectangles. Using a sharp knife, score 1/2 in. from the edges of each pastry (do not cut through)., Transfer to baking sheets. Repeat with remaining sheet of puff pastry. Spoon mushroom mixture into centers. Whisk egg yolk and water; brush over pastry edges., Bake at 400° until golden brown, 13-16 minutes.

NUT COOKIE TARTLETS

Steps:

• To make Pastry: Cream together butter and cream cheese. Add the 6 tablespoons white sugar, 2 cups flour and blend well.
• Shape into balls about 1 inch in diameter (flour palms of hands to facilitate rolling). Place ball in greased tartlet pan and flatten. Should fill pan by 3/4.
• To Make Filling: Mix together vanilla, egg, brown sugar, and chopped nuts.
• After flattening ball in tartlet tin make a thumb print in center and fill with a full 1/2 teaspoon of nut filling.
• Bake in a 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) oven for 17 to 20 minutes. Cool completely before removing from pan.

CARAMEL NUT TART

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine flour and salt; cut in cream cheese and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Gradually add water, tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. , Roll out dough into a 10-in. circle. Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-in. fluted tart pan with a removable bottom; trim edges., Line unpricked crust with a double layer of heavy-duty foil. Bake at 450° for 8 minutes. Remove foil; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce heat to 400°., For filling, in a small heavy saucepan, combine the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in nuts and vanilla. Spread into crust. , Place tart pan on a baking sheet. Bake until bubbly, for 15-20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.

FRENCH PEAR TART WITH NUTS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
• Unroll the puff pastry sheet and line a tart pan with it. Cut off any overhanging pastry. Prick pastry several times with a fork.
• Stir together creme fraiche, egg, and sugar in a bowl until smooth. Fold in nut mix.
• Arrange pear slices on puff pastry and cover with creme fraiche mixture.
• Bake tart in the preheated oven until the filling is lightly colored and pastry has puffed up and browned, about 25 minutes.

HONEY SALTED MIXED NUT TART

Steps:

• Cube 8 tablespoons of the butter and place it in the freezer until it is very cold and almost frozen, about 15 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• Pulse the flour, 1/2 cup of the mixed nuts, 3 tablespoons of the granulated sugar and a pinch of salt in a food processor until the nuts are finely ground. Pulse in the cold cubed butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Pulse in 2 tablespoons ice-cold water until the dough holds together when squeezed. Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap (it will still be quite crumbly), form into a disk, cover in the plastic and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• Put the dough in a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom and press into an even layer over the bottom and up the sides of the pan with your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup. Use a fork to dock the bottom of the tart. Freeze until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Place the tart pan on a baking sheet. Line the crust with parchment and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the edges of the crust begin turning golden, about 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and pie weights and continue baking until the crust is lightly brown and dry to the touch, about 10 minutes longer. Transfer to a rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
• While the crust bakes, make the filling: Combine the remaining 3 tablespoons butter, the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, honey and a pinch of salt in medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat and, stirring constantly, continue to boil for 1 minute.
• Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly, about 10 minutes. (If the crust has cooled, return it to the oven for 5 minutes to warm through.) Whisk the vanilla extract and beaten eggs into the filling until smooth. Arrange the remaining nuts (about 2 1/2 cups) in a flat layer in the tart shell and pour the filling over top.
• Bake until the edges are set but the center is still slightly loose, 20 to 30 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

MIXED NUT TARTLETS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll out crust dough on lightly floured surface to 16-inch round (scant 1/8 inch thick). Cut out 3-inch rounds. Gather and reroll dough scraps. Cut out enough rounds to make 18 total. Spray 3-inch-diameter fluted tartlet pans with 1/2-inch-high sides with nonstick spray. Line prepared pans with dough rounds. Freeze crusts 15 minutes.
• Arrange tartlet pans on large baking sheets. Bake crusts until pale golden, piercing bottoms with toothpick if crusts bubble, about 13 minutes. Cool crusts on baking sheets.
• For filling:
• Bring cream, sugar, honey and butter to boil in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Boil without stirring 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Mix in Grand Marnier, then nuts. Refrigerate until filling is thick, stirring occasionally, about 45 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Divide filling among prepared crusts. Bake tartlets on baking sheets until filling is golden brown and bubbles, about 12 minutes (filling may bubble over). Transfer tartlets to rack; cool 5 minutes. Using tip of small sharp knife, cut around crusts to loosen. Remove tartlets from pans. Cool completely on racks.

WALNUT RAISIN TARTLETS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.
• Cut the pie crust into 12 pieces and press them evenly into the bottoms and up the sides of the muffin cups to form a crust.
• In a medium bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs, pumpkin pie spice, and vanilla and mix well. Stir in the raisins and walnuts. Spoon the mixture evenly into the crusts.
• Put the muffin tin onto a baking sheet and bake until the filling is set, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Carefully unmold the tarts, put them onto a rack, and let them cool to room temperature.

CHOCOLATE AND MIXED NUT TART

Steps:

• FOR CRUST: Combine flour and sugar in a food processor.
• Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Add 2 tablespoons cream and vanilla extract.
• Using on/off turns, blend until moist clumps form, adding more cream by tablespoonful if dough is dry.
• Gather dough together.
• Press dough over bottom and up the sides of an 11-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom.
• (I used a 9-inch pan with very little crust and filling left over.) (Dough can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill, but let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before filling.) FOR FILLING: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine all toasted nuts in a food processor; chop coarsely, using on/off turns.
• Whisk corn syrup, brown sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl to blend.
• Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract.
• Mix in chocolate chips, then nuts.
• Transfer filing to the prepared crust.
• Bake tart until firmly set in center and top is deep golden brown, about 50 minutes.
• Cool tart in pan on rack 30 minutes.
• Push up pan bottom to release tart.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

CARAMELIZED NUT TART

Steps:

• Make crust:
• Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in processor. Add butter. Using on/off turns, process until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in vanilla and enough ice water by tablespoonfuls to form moist clumps. Gather dough into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Roll dough out on floured surface to 12-inch round. Transfer dough to 9 1/2-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Fold overhang in and press, forming high-standing double-thick sides. Pierce dough all over with fork. Freeze 15 minutes.
• Bake crust until set but still pale in color, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool. Increase oven temperature to 400°F.
• Make filling:
• Combine sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat. Boil without stirring until caramel is deep amber color, occasionally brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush and swirling pan, about 9 minutes. Reduce heat to medium. Gradually whisk in cream (mixture will bubble). Stir until caramel is smooth. Add butter, honey and vanilla. Stir until well blended. Mix in all nuts.
• Pour caramel mixture into crust. Bake until filling bubbles all over, about 20 minutes. Cool completely on rack.
• Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler set over hot water just until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Using fork, drizzle chocolate decoratively over tart. Let stand until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes. (Can be made 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.)
• Serve with cream, if desired.