Tartlets: cooking features
Appetizing baskets, boxes and boats can be made from any dough: unleavened, puff, custard, waffle, shortbread. For those who do not like to mess with pastries, they sell ready-made tartlets of any size, which you just need to fill and put on a beautiful dish. However, home-made baskets turn out to be much tastier, because not substitutes are used for their preparation, but good, high-quality products: premium flour, whole milk, natural butter. Experienced housewives try various tartlet dough options by adding mashed potatoes, cottage cheese, corn or buckwheat flour. Dessert baskets can be made from meringues, tartlets will turn out to be very elegant and delicate in taste.
Properly prepared baskets look very beautiful and turn out great in the photo. That is why the dish is served at various presentations and receptions, weddings and anniversaries. Salads, finely chopped vegetables, cheeses, seafood, pates are laid out in a container made of shortbread or puff pastry. By varying the toppings, you can create an extensive snack table. For dessert, tartlets are prepared with meringue, custard or butter cream, whipped cream, fresh or canned fruit. For children’s holidays they make cakes with funny animal faces, wedding tartlets are decorated with fresh flowers.
Seafood tartlets
Spectacular appetizer for a banquet table. It looks elegant and is very easy to prepare. From the indicated amount of products, 6 servings are obtained.
Ingredients:
- 3 plates of ready-made puff pastry (yeast or unleavened);
- 100 g butter;
- 225 g cod fillet;
- 100 g of champignons;
- 12 canned asparagus shoots;
- a bunch of green onions;
- 100 g of peeled shrimp;
- 12 mussels;
- 1-2 tbsp. l. soy sauce;
- salt;
- freshly ground black pepper.
Boil shrimp and mussels in salted water, put in a colander and cool. Finely chop the onion, chop the mushrooms into thin slices. Cut the fish fillet into small cubes. Melt the butter in a frying pan.
On a floured board, cut the dough into rectangles 6 by 10 cm. Lubricate each blank with melted butter and place in molds of 2 pieces so that the corners of the second layer are between the corners of the first. Bake in an oven preheated to 200 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool the tartlets and remove them from the moulds.
Put the cod cubes in a frying pan with the remaining oil and, stirring, fry over medium heat for 5 minutes. Pour in soy sauce and fry for a couple more minutes. Add chopped green onions, mushrooms. Mix everything, simmer for 3 minutes. In conclusion, lay out the asparagus, shrimp. Mussels. Warm everything well, season with pepper and salt, mix. Fill the tartlets with the resulting mixture, put them on serving plates and serve.
Tartlets with chicken and prunes
Excellent fillings for snack tartlets are prepared on the basis of chicken fillet. Boiled or smoked chicken should be supplemented with cheese, dried fruits, herbs, tomatoes and other delicious additives.
Ingredients:
- 300 g flour;
- 200 g butter;
- 3 egg yolks;
- a pinch of salt;
- 300 g smoked chicken fillet;
- 100 g pitted prunes;
- 150 g of fatty semi-hard cheese;
- 1-2 tbsp. l. mayonnaise;
- 3 eggs.
Sift flour, mix with salt. Beat the yolks with softened butter using an immersion mixer. Gradually add flour, knead a soft dough. Gather it into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for half an hour.
Roll out the dough into a layer, lightly dusting with flour. Cut out circles, put them in flat low molds, form sides with your fingers. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Take out the products from the molds, cool.
Rinse prunes and soak in boiling water. After half an hour, drain the water, dry the fruit and cut them into small pieces. In the same way, chop pre-boiled and chilled eggs, smoked chicken. Season the mixture with mayonnaise and mix, if desired, season with freshly ground black pepper.
Cheese grate on a fine grater. Fill the tartlets with chicken and prunes filling. Sprinkle cheese on top. Put the appetizer on a dish, decorate with fresh herbs. Keep snack in refrigerator until serving.
Puff pastry tartlets with red caviar
Delicate and fatty puff pastry goes well with any appetizers, from salads to pates. A particularly sophisticated option involves the addition of red caviar, it will take quite a bit.
Ingredients:
- 550 g wheat flour;
- 220 g butter or high quality margarine;
- 2 eggs;
- 1 glass of filtered water.
For filling;
- 80 g of red game;
- 50 g butter;
- parsley for decoration.
Beat the eggs with warm water, sift the flour in the form of a slide. Frozen butter grate on a coarse grater, put in a recess at the top of the flour slide. Add the egg mixture and quickly knead into a smooth, uniform dough. Gather into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Take out the dough, divide into small pieces, roll out and put into molds, pressing lightly with your fingers. It will rise a lot during the baking process. Lubricate the surface of the puffs with water, place in an oven preheated to 220 degrees. Bake for 7-10 minutes, being careful not to burn the dough.
Remove the finished tartlets from the oven, remove them from the molds and cool. Squeeze a little softened butter from a confectionery syringe into the center of each, giving it the shape of a flower or curl, put a little red caviar on top, garnish with a parsley leaf.
Waffle dough tartlets with mushroom julienne
Light and crispy waffle dough is ideal for a spectacular presentation of snacks and desserts. Tartlets are baked quickly, fill them gently just before serving, otherwise delicate products will get wet.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 cups flour;
- 1 egg;
- 1 glass of milk of any fat content;
- 0.5 tsp soda;
- 50 g butter;
- salt to taste.
For filling:
- 400 g fresh champignons;
- 80 g of hard cheese;
- 1 onion;
- 1 st. l. refined vegetable oil;
- 100 g of thick sour cream;
- salt;
- ground black pepper.
Sift flour, mix with soda. Melt the butter, add the egg, milk, salt. Beat the milk-egg mixture until smooth. Add flour in batches, continuing to beat. The consistency of the finished dough should resemble thick sour cream. Let it stand for 5-7 minutes, then start baking.
Grease the molds with oil, pour the dough over them. Preheat the oven to 220 degrees, put the forms on the middle level and bake for 10-15 minutes. Take out the tarts, put them on a board and refrigerate.
Prepare the filling. Cut the mushrooms into thin plastics, peel the onion and chop finely. Heat oil in a frying pan, add onion, fry until translucent. Add mushrooms, stir, fry until tender. Salt and pepper to taste.
Pour sour cream into the pan, mix, simmer until the liquid has evaporated. Add finely grated cheese. Mix everything and heat for another 5 minutes. Pour filling into tartlets and serve immediately.
Tartlets with gooseberries and custard
A delicate summer dessert, perfect for outdoor celebrations. The degree of sweetness depends on the taste and variety of gooseberries. If it seems too sour, the amount of sugar for the syrup can be increased.
Ingredients:
- 200 g shortcrust pastry;
- 300 ml of milk;
- 120 g of sugar;
- 2 tbsp. l. flour;
- 50 g butter;
- 1 egg;
- 450 g fresh gooseberries;
- 3 art. l. lemon confiture or gelled jam;
- 125 ml of water.
Roll out the pastry dough on a floured board. Cut out circles with a glass, arrange them in greased molds, press the dough with your fingers so that it fits snugly against the walls. Line the baskets with baking paper and fill with dry peas or beans.
Put the molds on a baking sheet and place it on the middle level of the oven, heated to 200 degrees. Bake for 5 minutes, remove the paper with the peas, return the molds to the oven and cook for another 20 minutes, until the dough becomes golden. Remove the baking sheet, remove the tartlets from the molds and cool on the board.
Wash gooseberries. Peel off the stems and tails, dry, scattering on a towel. Mix a few tablespoons of milk with an egg, flour and 4 tbsp. l. Sahara. Grind everything into a homogeneous mass. Heat the remaining milk, without boiling, pour into the egg-flour mixture, mix vigorously. Cook the cream over low heat until thickened. Remove the saucepan from the stove, cool the cream, add the butter and beat everything with a mixer into a fluffy mass.
Put the gooseberries and the remaining sugar in a saucepan, cover with water, cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer berries for 5-10 minutes. Gooseberries should become soft, but not boiled. Remove the saucepan from the heat and strain the syrup.
Put the cream in the baskets, lay the berries beautifully on top. Bring gooseberry syrup to a boil, cook until the volume of liquid is halved. Add lemon curd, stir. Pour the mixture over the bowls before serving.
Lemon meringue tartlets: a festive option
In this recipe, the sour lemon filling harmonizes perfectly with crumbly shortcrust pastry and sweet meringue.
Ingredients:
- 90 g butter;
- 3 art. l. Sahara;
- 1 egg;
- 160 g wheat flour;
- a pinch of salt.
For filling:
- 2 lemons;
- 3 eggs;
- 2 tbsp. l. corn starch;
- 60 g butter;
- 70 g of water;
- 200 g of sugar;
- a pinch of citric acid.
Prepare shortbread dough. Put the softened butter in a bowl, add the egg beaten with sugar and salt. Gradually add the sifted flour, knead a soft homogeneous dough. Gather into a ball, wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
While the dough reaches the desired condition, work on the filling. Wash the lemons with a brush, dry them, remove the zest with a fine grater and squeeze the juice. In a deep bowl, mix it with water, zest, sugar, yolks and starch. Beat everything with a whisk or a mixer. At the end, add softened butter. Rub the finished cream through a sieve. It should become lush, light, uniform.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator, divide into pieces and distribute with roars into molds. Cover them with parchment, fill with dried peas. Bake in a preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. Then remove the products from the molds, remove the paper and peas, leave the tartlets to cool.
Divide the lemon curd among bowls. Beat the whites with a pinch of citric acid in a dense foam. Place the meringues from a pastry bag on top of each tart, put the products in the oven for 15 minutes. When the meringues are browned, remove the tartlets, cool and serve.
