Tuesday, June 9, 2009

TWD - Parisian apple tartlet


This week's Tuesday with Dorie takes us to Dorie's own backyard of Paris with a Parisian apple tartlet, chosen by Jessica of My Baking Heart. When I saw this recipe, my heart skipped a little beat - thanks Jessica! Why? Because it is one of the few baking recipes in the universe that is a serve for one. Hooray!

I actually ended up making two tartlets, because there are two halves in an apple. I had oodles of puff pastry, because I used Nick Malgieri's quick puff pastry recipe, suggested by Bungalow Barbara - thanks Barbara. (I now have Diplomat torte in my sites for the remainder of the puff pastry.)

Here is my block of quick puff pastry:


I have made puff pastry once before the traditional way, but this version holds up well beside it and is much faster. The layers are created by rolling the folded pastry into a "Swiss" roll" then flattening it out. A pretty neat trick, eh?

My tartlets pre-baking reminded me of ladies sitting in a hair salon with foils in their hair:


It's those butter pieces that did it.

I used a Granny Smith apple, a popular baking apple in Australia, and it was just perfect - it held its shape well during baking.

The finished result tasted sensational for something so simple - light and airy with the lovely sweetness of the baked apple, sugar and butter. I loved it warm, and it is another dessert that would be perfect served with a dollop of vanilla icecream.

You can check out the views of the other TWD bakers on this tartlet by going to the
TWD blogroll.

31 comments:

Susan @ My Wholefood Family Essentials said...

They look delicious and great job making your own puff pastry! I used pre-bought but we loved these too.

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

Thanks so much for baking with me this week! Glad you liked the tartlet - awesome job on the puff pastry! :)

Amanda said...

How fun, the first TWD poat I've seen this week ad I'm the first commenter! Your tart looks wonderful! )

Pamela said...

Yes, it would be perfect with some ice cream. And I loved the way this recipe was single serve, too!

Jules Someone said...

That looks excellent! See, I didn't do my own pastry. But I could picture cutting it into little circles to save in my freezer for when I needed a tart fix.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

Greta minds think alike! I made some apple tarts and made my own puff pastry too which was interesting and a challenge! Yours look great! :D

Heather said...

oh my gosh, those look amazing! i want one right now!!

Ivy said...

I love anything with apples in it and this one sounds delicious. I don't believe I've made so many recipes with apples during fall and winter and never posted them.

Cakelaw said...

Thanks Susan. Once I saw the recipe for the quick puff pastry, I was keen to try it, because I know what a pain it it to make it the other way.

Thanks Froggy! I loved this tart - fruity desserts and me get along just fine.

Thanks Amanda - I loved this one for all kkinds of reasons, and the single serve heat and eat thing really gets me.

Hi Jules, that is good thinking!!

Thanks Lorraine. (Read your quote too - very exciting to be in print.)

Heather, these are great because they are simple and quick and use nix ingredients - perfect!

Hi Ivy, you'll have to share some of them with us. I love apple desserts to.

Finla said...

My brother in law loves apple done like this.
This must have been really yummydelcious.

Lady Baker said...

I really wanted to make my own pastry just to say i did it..but then I broke down and went to the store for the frozen variety!

Love the comment about the ladies in the hair salon! You're so right!

I used G.Delcious but have some Granny SMiths in the house now (and more pastry) so think I'll try a Granny Smith version next!

Kayte said...

Great looking tart...I think it was that butter that did it! LOL. I carefully measured 1/2 teaspoon of butter and plopped it on and thought, "My that looks like a big glob." Then I laughed at myself...hello, we are using puff pastry, king of the butter crusts! I have made it before a couple of times for Whisk Wednesdays and it was so easy and great, but I am going to try NM's recipe on your recommendation...this was on great dessert! Thanks for tips!

MacDuff said...

I am so impressed that you made your own puff pastry! That stuff is HARD. I used green apples, too, and loved the tartness. Nice work!

Hindy said...

Your tartlet looks wonderful. I'm so impressed that you made your own pastry. Well done!

Banjo said...

Looks great, I am terribly impressed that you made your own puff pastry! well done!

Mermaid Sews said...

Wow, you made your own puff pastry, that is sooo cool. Looks great.

Maria said...

Lovely tartlets!

Soy*Baby said...

Your tartlets look great. Kudos to you for making your own puff pastry.

mike said...

Wow - I'm impressed, these look great! I love how simple they were, don't you? I made pastry too - just didn't use it this time, so I should get it out of the freezer for the next round! They look delicious!

Leslie said...

Wow, you made your own puff pastry for this?!? I'm impressed! It has to be one of the reasons yours looks so good!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that homemade puff pastry looks fantastic! I can see spots of butter in the dough! Your Parisian Apple Tartlet looks fantastic too - the shape is perfect and the apples look tasty!

Amber Marie said...

I also loved this one! And enjoyed not having to downsize this week :) I'm saving my left over puff pastry to make this again when I'm craving a sweet something.

Tammy said...

I really enjoyed this one too

Emily said...

Mmm delicious. Those apples have a whole new hairstyle! Lookin' good apples. Lookin' good.

TeaLady said...

Those look great. And you made your own pastry. Fantastic.

I want to try that quick puff recipe. If I'd had time I wanted to make my own, but.....

Cathy said...

You made your own pastry - I am so impressed! I am laughing at the visual of the old ladies at the salon - so funny! I wonder if the tarts were gabbing about their ailments, too. So glad you enjoyed these - they look great! We loved them, and I especially love the "single serving" aspect of the recip!

Unknown said...

Kudos to you for making your own puff pastry! I really wanted to but didn't get around to it this week. Your tartlets look wonderful. This was a really yummy recipe!

Teanna said...

Kudos (I love that word and it makes me want the snack bar!) to you for making your own puff pastry! I am still scared to do it myself! But yours looks absolutely beautiful!!!

Cakelaw said...

Hi Happy Cook - was delicious!

Hi Lady Baker - I know what you man, fate stands in the way sometimes. I only made the pastry because I refused to buy it and have the other 9 sheets waste space in my freezer.

Hi Kayte, LOL! Hope the pastry works well for you.

Hi MacDuff, seriously, Nick's puff pastry recipe is not hard at all - the yakka of mixing in the butter is done with a food processor and the folding is circumvented by rolling.

Thanks Clivia.

Thanks Banjo - not hard at all.

Thanks Lorelei - the great thing is that I now have blocks of pastry to use when I want in the freezer.

Thanks Maria.

Thanks Kim - it was more stubbornness that led to the pastry experiment.

Thanks Mike. I would usually have just used pre-made, but my poor freezer won't accept any more stuff.

LOL - thanks Leslie.

Thanks LA - the homemade pastry was easier to work with than shop bought because it hadn't been frozen (yet).

Hi Amber, absolutely - the pastry is very versatile and can be used for savouries too.

Hi Tammy - it was right up my alley.

LOL - thanks Em :)

Hi TeaLady, I made these on the weekend when I could be a lady of leisure.

Hi Cathy, it's great isn't it - you can scale up or down as necessary, and no math required!

Thanks Tracey, agreed - it was a yummy recipe.

Thanks Teanna. You'd be amazed at how simple the pastry is made this way, believe me.

Bungalow Barbara said...

I'm glad you found that recipe link helpful! I used it too -- wasn't it easy? And yummy!

Cakelaw said...

Thanks for the tip Barbara - it was very useful and very easy.