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Tuesday, June 09, 2009

twd: parisian apple tartlets

This recipe is utter simplicity: a small round of puff pastry, half of an apple or stone fruit, brown sugar, and butter. Arrange, bake, eat.

And so, I decided to complicate matters.

By making homemade puff pastry. Not the elaborate ultra laminated kind, but a quick puff pastry. Thanks to Barbara, who posted a link to Nick Malgieri's version on the TWD website, I was able to make my own butter-laden crust in no time. The recipe was simple, but I had to improvise and mix the dough by hand, as the only food processor I have is a mini-prep, which is too small for even half a recipe of pastry. C'est la Vie!



I called up my friends T and J, whose farm I'm working on this summer, and invited them over for a Sunday evening snack. I assembled the treats about an hour before they arrived, popped them in the oven, and hoped for the best.

My puff pastry, while delicious, rich, flaky, and crisp, never puffed all that much. And, because it didn't puff around the edges of the peaches, the sugar melted out into a molten, ultra-caramelized (nay, burned) river surrounding the mini tarts, and blackening their outer bottom edges.



No matter--a few scoops of my vanilla ice cream saved the day.



T and J, who are foodies and honest critics, were very impressed. T declared the crust perfectly flaky, and J said it was delicious, even though she doesn't like crust. We sipped decaf coffee and tea, and swapped stories. T and J are relatively new friends, and it's fun to hear their history and begin to form the foundation of real friendship.

Thanks to Jessica of My Baking Heart for choosing this delightful recipe.

18 comments:

  1. I think T & J will be getting a lot more baked treats this summer! Nice job on the tarts and way to go on making your own dough!

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  2. Good for you making your own pastry, i wasn't that energetic and went with Pepperidge Farm LOL Looks delish!

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  3. Im glad your new friends enjoyed your tartlet. How cool you made your own pastry. I used the easy way out and went woth P.F.!

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  4. Oh wow - you totally nailed the puff pastry. Nice job - I am impressed!

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  5. Homemade puff pastry! You should win an award this week. Looks great!

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  6. Nice job with the homemade puff pastry!!!

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  7. Looks delicious. Kudos to you for making your own puff pastry. I thought about it for a minute but decided the grocery store would have to do.

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  8. Anonymous11:16 AM

    Wow, what an awesome Parisian Peach Tartlet! Especially since you made your own puff pastry and mixed it by hand! I wonder if you could use it for pies or tarts? I wish I had ice cream to offset my puff-less pastry!

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  9. Thanks so much for baking with me this week! I love that you tackled homemade puff pastry - awesome! :)

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  10. So wonderful to have friends over to share the bounty with.

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  11. oh wow, that looks fantastic!!

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  12. Anonymous12:45 PM

    It looks like it puffed a little bit, and the tartlet looks great, especially with the ice cream!

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  13. Looks fantastic!
    Nicely done with the homemade puff pastry!

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  14. Wow! Very impressed with the homemade pastry

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  15. You made your own puff pastry! You are a rock star! It looks totally puffy and perfect to me. Love the peach, too!

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  16. Congratulations on making your own puff pastry! I had hoped to try making some too but it didn't happen this week. I think your tartlet looks beautiful!

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  17. I'm so jealous of your beautiful tarts on homemade puff pastry! I know it isn't that hard, I just need to get off my rear and do it.

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  18. I'm glad my link helped you! I made the same recipe of puff pastry and it puffed really well. I did use the food processor (although I'm not sure how much that really mattered). Also, I gave it two extra "turns" and that may have helped too.

    Now I just need to get around to finishing the post...

    Aren't these easy? And fabulous!

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