The inaugural bake in my new tartlet pans! 🍎🍏 # 317: Caramel Apple Tartlets

Cheers to the first week chilly enough for socks and sweaters! *clinks tartlets and gets crumbs everywhere*

The floral vibe is putting these cuties halfway between Smitten Kitchen’s salted caramel apple tart and the apple roses.

I’m now the proud owner of palm-sized tartlet pans (Thanks Elaine!) They’re basically big siblings to my mini tartlet molds, being actually wide enough for fun with toppings and decorating. Doesn’t everyone ask for tartlet pans for their 30th birthday?

Forgive my lack of mise en place. It’s a freezer-clean-out kind of week and this leftover pie crust made eyes at me. I also have the smallest amount of craquelin topping that I’ll need to find a use for. Maybe just baked up as a thin crispy cookie? I’ll report back.

Super accurate and scientific over here.

Yep overshot it a bit. Don’t worry, I baked up all the dough scraps with cinnamon sugar.

To the oven!

Continuing with the freezer leftover theme, this is the last of the caramel from the millionaire shortbread bars. The espresso flavor is mild enough that it still plays well with apples.

Voila! Apples are finicky and demand a swim in a bowl of lemon water in order to look presentable. The lemon juice slows the oxidation process (it’s so acidic that the enzyme in the apples that oxidizes basically gives up) and keeps the slices from browning before your tarts are assembled.

Felt cute, might bake later.

My artsy fan of slices turned more into a book opened to a middle page. C’est la vie.

Happy munching!