Do I have to make the pie dough from scratch?

I personally always like homemade pie dough, but if you're short on time you can absolutely use store bought. Just make sure to buy frozen sheets of pie dough, not a preformed pie shell, so you can cut the dough smaller for this recipe. I would buy 2 sheets to ensure you have enough.

How do I make sure my crust is flakey?

The best way to ensure your pie crust will come out beautifully light and flakey is to make sure the dough stays as COLD as possible throughout the entire process of making it. Start with butter straight from the refrigerator and do not skip any of the dough refrigeration steps. You want the butter to stay in cold, solid bits scattered throughout the dough, rather than melted and fully mixed with the flour.

How can I prevent my pie crust from puffing up in the oven?

I highly recommend pie weights to keep the shape of your crust intact. You don't have to go out and buy anything fancy, you can use any dry, heavy ingredient in your pantry, such as dried rice or beans. Just make sure you cover the crust beforehand with either parchment paper or foil so the weights don't make an impression on the dough.

What is the best way to thinly slice the apples?

I would recommend a mandoline to create uniformly thin slices. When I first created this recipe though I did not own a mandoline and just sliced the apples with a knife as evenly as I could, which still worked great! Make sure to brush the slices with the lemon juice right after slicing to prevent any browning of the apples.

Rustic Apple Frangipane Tartlets - Mia's Kitchen Counter

Description

Mini tarts filled with a rich almond frangipane, topped with a delicate fan of thinly sliced apples, and surrounded by a flakey, buttery crust.

Ingredients

Scale

Pie Dough

7 tablespoons (98 grams) unsalted butter, cold
1 1/4 cups (150 grams) all-purpose flour
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons ice water

Filling

3 tablespoons (43 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (53 grams) almond flour
pinch of salt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2–3 apples, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
demerara sugar (optional, for topping)

Instructions

Pie Dough

In a large bowl, mix cold butter, flour and salt until the butter is reduced to pea-sized chunks.
Add ice water 1 tablespoon at a time just until the dough starts to come together.
Shape the dough into a thick disk, cover, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
Once chilled, preheat the oven to 375ºF. Roll out the chilled dough to about 1/8-inch thick.
Cut out 4 small rounds just slightly larger than the tartlet dish and form to the shape of each dish, cut off any excess.
Prick the bottom of each pie shell a few times with a fork and refrigerate 20 minutes or freeze for 10 minutes.
Remove the pie shells from the refrigerator, gently cover with parchment paper, and fill with pie weights if you have them. Bake for 10 minutes.

Frangipane & Apple Prep

Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF.
In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until lighter in color.
Add the almond flour and salt. Mix until just combined.
Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until well incorporated.
Add the flour. Mix until just combined.
Divide the mixture between the 4 baked pie shells.
Cut the apples in quarters and slice as thinly as possible. Spread the slices apart to create a flat fan arrangement.
Place a fan of sliced apples on top of the frangipane in each tartlet and brush lightly with lemon juice. Sprinkle with demerara sugar before baking if desired.
Bake for 35-45 minutes until the frangipane has slightly puffed and is lightly browned. Cool 15 minutes.

Notes

If you want a quicker option you can use store bought pie dough, I would buy 2 sheets to make sure you have enough for the full recipe.
The pie dough can be made a day in advance and kept in the refrigerator.
I like to use a mandolin to slice the apples as thin as possible, but carefully slicing with a knife works just fine too.
Uneaten tartlets should be kept in the refrigerator once cooled.

Keywords: tartlets tarts apple