These late summer mini peach tarts use super ripe peaches and a minimum of ingredients for a subtle, sweet flavor that really lets the peachiness shine through.
Yields 40 mini tarts
What you'll need:
Sharp kitchen knife
Large mixing bowl
Dry measuring cups and spoons
Mini muffin/cupcake pan
4'' Round cookie cutter with scalloped edge
Ingredients:
5-6 Ripe peaches
1 c. Sugar
2 Tb. Minute tapioca
1 Tb. Flour
½ tsp. Lemon juice
1 tsp. Cinnamon
¼ tsp. Nutmeg
1 tsp. Vanilla bean paste
1-2 Tb. Butter
1-2 Tb. Butter
Ingredients in depth:Quality of ingredients matters! Get ripe peaches that smell really good — if they don't have much of a smell, they won't have much of a taste. I always recommend cane sugar for baking. It has a great consistency and because it's not super-processed, it's going to have a lot more flavor than refined white sugar. Fresh lemon juice — even if it comes from a bottle — will be a lot tastier than the stuff from the lemon-shaped squeezer. If you've had that cinnamon in your spice cabinet for the past five years, chuck it and go buy new. Spices aren't meant to hang around for that long, and won't do you much good if they've been collecting dust. Finally, for the vanilla bean paste, I definitely recommend Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste. For the price of two vanilla beans, you can get a jar of paste that will last you a good long while. This stuff is delicious and eliminates your need for buying costly vanilla beans while still giving you that nice speckled look.
Preparation:
1. Prepare your pie dough. Check out my recipe for Perfect Pie Crust. Get the dough fully made and in the fridge to chill.
2. While dough is chilling, preheat oven to 375°
Fahrenheit.
4. Add the sugar, minute tapioca, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla bean paste.
If you've never worked with minute tapioca before, you'll notice that it's rather hard and grainy. Minute tapioca is a common thickener used in fruit pies. Peaches, especially, are really juicy and need a little something to hold everything together. I believe minute tapioca provides a better texture than something like cornstarch. Once baked, you'll barely know it's there.
5. Stir everything until all peach pieces are coated and sugar and flour have been absorbed. Use a gentle shovel and turn method rather than mixing them around in a circle. This will avoid breaking up or damaging the peaches. Set aside.
6. Use some of the butter to grease the inside of your mini muffin pan. Then, sprinkle flour over top of it, getting a little bit into each indentation. Hold the pan vertically and slowly turn and tap (over the sink or trash!) to coat all of the butter with a thin layer of flour. Knock out the excess and set aside.
5. Stir everything until all peach pieces are coated and sugar and flour have been absorbed. Use a gentle shovel and turn method rather than mixing them around in a circle. This will avoid breaking up or damaging the peaches. Set aside.
6. Use some of the butter to grease the inside of your mini muffin pan. Then, sprinkle flour over top of it, getting a little bit into each indentation. Hold the pan vertically and slowly turn and tap (over the sink or trash!) to coat all of the butter with a thin layer of flour. Knock out the excess and set aside.
7. Remove your dough from the fridge. Hopefully it has chilled for about a half an hour at this point. Roll each ball out separately. Refer back to the Perfect Pie Crust instructions for tips on rolling out dough. Dough should be about ⅛'' thick. Since you'll be using a cookie cutter on the dough, don't worry about what shape it turns out.
8. Dip your cookie cutter into the bag of flour to coat the edge. Place straight down on the dough and give it a few jiggles to get a nice clean cut.
9. Cut out as many rounds as possible — keep the edges of each cut really close together. Start gently placing them into the muffin tin. You want to make sure that the dough is touching the bottom and the sides of the pan, but try not to smoosh or press it in too hard. Gently fold a couple spots on the sides if you have excess dough. This helps to fit it into the tin and looks fancy.
8. Dip your cookie cutter into the bag of flour to coat the edge. Place straight down on the dough and give it a few jiggles to get a nice clean cut.
9. Cut out as many rounds as possible — keep the edges of each cut really close together. Start gently placing them into the muffin tin. You want to make sure that the dough is touching the bottom and the sides of the pan, but try not to smoosh or press it in too hard. Gently fold a couple spots on the sides if you have excess dough. This helps to fit it into the tin and looks fancy.
10. Take all of the dough scraps, pack them together and roll them out again. I am so against over-working your pie dough, but you end up with so much scrap that you can't not make use of it. Re-rolling it once will be fine. You'll still have some scrap when you cut out all the rounds you can from the re-rolled dough, but resist the temptation to re-roll it a third time.
11. By now you should have at least one pan filled. It took me one ball of dough, plus a little from the second ball to fill a 24 count pan. If you have more than one pan to use, go ahead and fill that one too. Otherwise, place your dough in the fridge until after the first batch has baked.
12. Your filling has now had a chance to macerate, which causes all the juice from the peaches to get somewhat syrupy. Give it a a couple stirs to make sure everything is evenly distributed. You can now begin filling the tarts.
I like to use a small metal spoon to add the filling. This gives you more control over how much filling you're adding. You also want to have a good ratio of peach pieces to juices. I added peach pieces until they were almost even with the top of the tart, then filled in the remaining space with the more liquidy parts of the filling.
Keep going until all of your tarts are filled. Filling should be just even or a little above the top of each tart.
13. Dot the top of each tart with a little bit of butter. No, it's not excessive, it's delicious!
14. Bake for 30 minutes or until crust starts to turn golden. Due to the size, these will bake at a lower temperature for less time than a standard pie, but everyone's oven is different. Don't be afraid to make adjustments if they start browning too fast. The filling will start to bubble almost right away, so go by the firmness of the crust to tell if they are done.
15. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. You should then be able to easily pop them out of the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Get your second batch going, or sit back and enjoy!
12. Your filling has now had a chance to macerate, which causes all the juice from the peaches to get somewhat syrupy. Give it a a couple stirs to make sure everything is evenly distributed. You can now begin filling the tarts.
I like to use a small metal spoon to add the filling. This gives you more control over how much filling you're adding. You also want to have a good ratio of peach pieces to juices. I added peach pieces until they were almost even with the top of the tart, then filled in the remaining space with the more liquidy parts of the filling.
Keep going until all of your tarts are filled. Filling should be just even or a little above the top of each tart.
13. Dot the top of each tart with a little bit of butter. No, it's not excessive, it's delicious!
14. Bake for 30 minutes or until crust starts to turn golden. Due to the size, these will bake at a lower temperature for less time than a standard pie, but everyone's oven is different. Don't be afraid to make adjustments if they start browning too fast. The filling will start to bubble almost right away, so go by the firmness of the crust to tell if they are done.
15. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. You should then be able to easily pop them out of the pan using your fingers or a butter knife. Get your second batch going, or sit back and enjoy!
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