Caramel Hazelnut Mini Tartlets Recipes

HAZELNUT CARAMEL MINI TARTS

Steps:

• Butter 30 metal mini muffin cups.
• Blend flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add butter and blend, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Add 5 tablespoons cream and vanilla and blend, using on/off turns, just until mixture begins to clump together, adding more cream by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry.
• Press 2 teaspoonfuls dough evenly onto bottom and up sides of each prepared mini muffin cup. Pierce tart crusts all over with fork. Freeze crusts 30 minutes before baking.
• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Bake frozen crusts until golden and baked through, about 25 minutes.
• Transfer to rack and cool crusts in muffin cups 10 minutes. Carefully loosen crusts from muffin cups. Transfer crusts to rimmed baking sheet and cool completely.
• Place 2 to 3 hazelnuts (or equivalent of chopped hazelnuts) in each crust.
• For caramel filling:
• Combine brown sugar, butter, corn syrup, 2 tablespoons water, and salt in heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves.
• Bring mixture to boil, then boil 2 minutes without stirring (mixture will bubble up and thicken slightly).
• Remove pan from heat.
• Add cream (mixture will bubble vigorously); stir until smooth.
• Pour caramel into 2-cup measuring cup; cool 10 minutes. Spoon caramel over hazelnuts in crusts, filling crusts almost to top. Refrigerate until caramel begins to firm up slightly, about 1 hour.
• Stir chocolate in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Drizzle melted chocolate over top of tartlets. Chill until chocolate is set, about 30 minutes.

CARAMEL NUT TARTLETS

Steps:

• Make shells:
• Preheat oven to 325°F. and spray tartlet pans with cooking spray.
• In a small bowl whisk together yolk, water, and vanilla. In a food processor pulse together flour, sugar, and salt until combined well. Cut butter into 1/4-inch pieces and scatter over flour mixture. Pulse mixture until it resembles coarse meal.
• Add egg mixture with motor running and pulse just until dough forms a ball. Turn dough out onto a work surface and with heel of hand press dough together just until smooth and cohesive.
• Form dough into fifty 1-inch balls. Press balls into bottoms and up sides of tartlet pans, making 1/8-inch-thick shells (if working in batches, keep remaining dough chilled). Trim any overhang and with a fork prick bottom of each shell several times. Transfer shells in pans to shallow baking pans. Gather scraps together and make more shells in same manner.
• Bake shells in batches in lower third of oven, checking after 6 minutes for signs of blistering (if necessary, prick dough with fork to deflate any air pockets), 15 minutes total, or until surface of crust is no longer shiny and dough appears set and golden. Cool shells in pans on racks until cool enough to handle and gently remove shells from pans. All shells should be baked before proceeding. Leave oven on.
• Make filling:
• In a large shallow baking pan toast nuts (if using hazelnuts, keep separate from other types) in one layer in middle of oven until golden, about 15 minutes. (To skin hazelnuts, wrap nuts while still hot in a kitchen towel and let steam 1 minute. Rub nuts in towel to remove loose skins; do not worry about skins that do not come off.) Cool nuts completely and in a food processor pulse until coarsely chopped. In a 2-quart heavy saucepan heat sugar, water, and corn syrup over low heat, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. Boil mixture, without stirring, until golden. Remove pan from heat and add cream (use caution; mixture will bubble up and vigorously steam), stirring carefully with a wooden spoon until combined well. (If lumps form, return pan to low heat and stir caramel until smooth.) Transfer caramel to a bowl to cool and thicken, about 10 minutes. Add nuts, stirring to coat.
• Spoon about 1 1/2 tablespoons filling into each shell. Tartlets keep, in one layer in airtight containers at room temperature or chilled, 3 days.