Apple Crumble Tartlets are super quick and easy to make! With homemade stewed juicy apples in a simple pastry base and crunchy crumb on top they are perfect for dessert. Dollop a little ice-cream on top and treat yourself with these apple pie tartlets 😉👌.
Recipes like the Blueberry Croissant Bake, Mini Pancakes and the Tinned Fruit Crumble are easy dessert recipes using simple ingredients.
The Microwave Chocolate Self Saucing Pudding, Caramilk Rocky Road, Chocolate Caramel Slice, and Vanilla Fudge are chocolate recipes perfect to curb a craving!
Jump to:
🤍 Recipe Highlights
I have summarised everything that you will come to know and love (LOVE ❤) about the recipe in the points below:
- Simple ingredients: everything that we need to make the apple crumble tartlets recipe can be sought from your local grocery store. They are all year round available ingredients that will be easy to get your hands on.
- Quick and easy: from start to finish it will take you around 30 minutes to bring together these mini apple pies. This makes them the perfect dessert when you want something homemade but not for the process to take hours to make!
- Versatile: these mini apple crumbles are versatile and lend themselves to a wide range of occasions. They are perfect for a pot luck, family gathering, festive party, bake sale or dessert.
- Fall flavors: when the apples are shiny and bright both apple crumble and apple pie come to mind. Sometimes with pastry or a crumble topping, these ever popular desserts demand getting your bake on 😂😍👌.
🥗 Ingredients
The photo below is to show you everything you need to make the mini apple pie tartlets recipe. Please refer to the printable recipe card for specific ingredient measurements as well as detailed instructions.
As you can see the recipe calls for:
- Butter: crumble for apples generally consists of flour, sugar, oats and butter. That is the combination we are working with for this recipe. Unsalted butter is the best type to use.
- Oats: rolled oats are also part of the crumble topping.
- Water: we use a small amount of water in the sauce pan with the apples. This gets absorbed as the apples cook.
- Plain flour: the plain flour is another of the ingredients used to make the apple crumble.
- Caster sugar: we use caster sugar as the 4th ingredient needed for the crumble topping.
- Lemon juice: we use a small amount of lemon juice as one of the ingredients in the apple filling mixture.
- Ground cinnamon: we use a small amount of ground cinnamon in the apple mixture. This flavors the apples but doesn't overwhelm the overall taste of the apples.
- Brown sugar: we use a small amount of brown sugar when cooking the apples.
- Short crust pastry: short crust pastry is used to create the tart shells. This is a store bought product that only needs to be cut into shape with a cookie cutter. It gives us a crisp shell without the extra effort of making our own pastry.
- Granny smith apples: available year round, these sweet apples are perfect to use to make many types of apples desserts!
😉 Substitutions and Variations
Here are my sub ins and outs that you might be thinking about as you read the post and I will tell you if I think they will work or why they won't
- You can use caster sugar (equivalent amount) in place of the brown sugar in the apple mixture if you wish too.
- In place of the ground cinnamon you can use cinnamon sugar. In which case, it would be best to reduce the brown sugar to ½ tablespoon as to not make the apple mixture 'too sweet'.
- You can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract if you wish too.
- If you want to short cut the recipe and use store bought tart shells you can.
- I don't recommend using puff pastry or bread for the pastry bases. Neither of these provide the 'sweet pastry' we are aiming to achieve.
🍳 Instructions
Here are the step by step instructions to make the apple crumble tarts recipe. We start by making the crumble to top the tarts.
- Add flour to bowl (Photo 1)
- Then add the sugar (Photo 2)
- Add the rolled oats (Photo 3)
- Then add the butter (Photo 4)
👩🍳 How to Make Apple Crumble Tartlets
To make the apple crumble tartlets, we start by making the crumble topping.
To do so add the plain flour, caster sugar, rolled oats and butter to a medium sized mixing bowl. Then use clean hands and your fingers to squeeze the butter and mix together the crumble mix. Once you have made the crumble (it will have an inconsistent texture) you can set the bowl aside.
- Mix the crumble together (Photo 5)
- Then peel the apples (Photo 6)
- Dice the apples (Photo 7)
- Add the apple pieces to a sauce pan (Photo 8)
Next, get started with the apples.
Use a vegetable peeler and remove the apple skin.
Then dice the apples into small pieces. Next add the diced apples to a large sauce pan as you can see me having done in the photos above.
- Add lemon juice (Photo 9)
- Then add the brown sugar and ground cinnamon (Photo 10)
- Add the water (Photo 11)
- Then grease the patty pans with butter (Photo 12)
Next add the lemon juice, brown sugar, ground cinnamon and water to the apples. The sauce pan can then be put on the stove top with the heat on high. Bring the apples to the boil.
Once the mixture has started to boil, reduce the temperature to medium-low. Use a wooden spoon to stir the mixture as the apples cook and soften.
Let the apples cook for 8-10 minutes until all of the liquid has been absorbed.
Next use unsalted butter to grease the 2 patty pans.
When ready use a cookie cutter with fluted edge (curly) to cut the pastry (needs to be at room temperature) into rounds. Repeat this until you have 24 pastry circles.
Next gently place the pastry rounds on top of each hole in the patty pan tin and push the pastry down so that it is molded to the inside of the pan. It will stick easily because of the butter 😉👌.
- Cook the apple mixture (Photo 13)
- Cut the bases with a pastry cutter (Photo 14)
- Push into holes (Photo 15)
- Then scoop the apple mixture into each tart shell (Photo 16)
Once you have filled each tart with some of the apple mixture, use the mini cookie scoop to spoon the crumble topping over the top of each tart, like you see in the photo below.
- Scoop the crumble mixture over the top (Photo 17)
Repeat this process until all of the tartlets have the crumble on top.
Once done, pop the 2 trays of mini tarts into a preheated oven and bake the tartlets for 18-20 minutes.
- Oven bake the tarts for 18 to 20 minutes (Photo 18)
When the cooking time is up and you can see that the tarts shells and topping have turned light golden brown you can use oven mitts to remove the 2 trays and place them onto a cooling rack.
Let them cool in the pan for a couple of minutes and then once they have, use a teaspoon and gently push the tarts out of the pan and onto the rack.
🍽 Serving Suggestions
Ice-cream!! A couple of scoops of vanilla ice cream are the perfect pairing for these apple crumble tarts 😍. And if you want to add a drizzle of maple syrup I won't stop you 😂.
When the freshly baked crunchy crumble is warm and the ice cream is cold, they go together like a match made in heaven!
You can also slice some Granny Smith Apple pieces and plate them alongside the tarts if you wish to. They offer an additional sweet touch that goes down a treat with the hot and cold, sweet and savory combination.
👍 How to Guide
How to Store
Once the tartlets have fully cooled, transfer them into a sealed, airtight container. They can be kept for 2-3 days and are best warmed before being served.
How To Reheat
You can place the leftover apple tarts onto a baking tray and back into the oven for 5-10 minutes to heat them through.
Or you can use the microwave and high heat and reheat them for 1-2 minutes until the filling feels warmed through when tested with a fingertip.
💡 Tasty Tips
Here are my top tips and tricks that I want to share with you so that you master the recipe from the get go:
- The short crust pastry needs to be thawed so that it is soft when we begin working with it. So grab it out of the freezer as a starting point and sit it on the bench. Let it soften so that it will mold easily and not crack when it is pushed into the patty pan.
- We don't want to use a food processor to make the crumble. Doing so would give us a crumble with finely processed crumbs. We want crumble that has an irregular clump texture.
- We do want to grease the patty pan tins before adding the pastry to ensure that the pastry doesn't stick.
- Regarding the above butter is better to use as we don't want an 'oil' based flavor in the recipe.
- I find a mini cookie scoop the easiest thing to use to scoop the apple mixture into the tarts. This also means that each tart gets an equal amount of apple mixture.
- You can also use the mini cookie scoop to scoop the crumble mixture over the top of each of the apple tarts.
- Once you have removed the cooked apple tarts from the oven, rest the pan on a wire rack for a couple of minutes. Then when the time is up, use a teaspoon to remove the tarts and place them onto a cooling rack.
- Love making tarts? Then you might also like the Apple Custard Tarts, Caramelised Onion Tarts, Brie Cranberry Tarts or the Crab Tartlets 😉👍.
- Or if you love getting your bake on during the festive season try theFruit Mince or Fruit Mince Tarts recipes.
🤓 Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can absolutely use a patty pan to make tarts. There is no need to use a 'tart specific' pan.
Granny Smith Apples are the best type to use for cooking. They have a distinct tart flavor.
A number of red apples like Pink Lady, Red Delicious and Royal Fuji apples are apple types to steer clear of when making apple pie or tarts.
The best way to prepare apples for apple tarts is to start by peeling them. Use a hand held vegetable peeler and completely remove the apple skin. Then use a knife and cut the apples in half. From there keep going to cut the apples into wedges. Once the apple has been fully cut into wedges, pick up each individual wedge and use a small knife to cut the core and seeds from the apple. Then dice the remaining apple wedges into small pieces.
😍 More Easy Sweet Recipes
If getting your bake or no bake on is your favorite way to spend some time then I have some more ideas I know you will love! Try these on when you are in the mood:
- 6 Egg Pavlova
- Malteser Truffles
- Baileys Cheesecake Balls
- 8 Egg Pavlova
- Malteser Rocky Road
- Microwave Chocolate Fudge
- Mint Aero Fudge
- Microwave Marshmallow Fudge
- Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
- Cherry Ripe Balls
It is time to get our apple crumble tartlets on my friend! You can also find all of my dessert recipes or chocolate recipes in the one spot.
Adrianne
PIN and save this recipe for later!
Hunger still got you? You can SUBSCRIBE to receive the latest recipes, follow me on Pinterest, Instagram or Facebook.
📖 Recipe
Apple Crumble Tartlets
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- ½ cup plain flour Note 1
- ½ cup rolled oats Note 2
- ½ cup caster sugar Note 2
- 60 grams butter unsalted, chopped into small pieces, Note 4
- ⅓ cup/80 ml water Note 5
Apple Filling
- 4 granny smith apples Note 6
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar Note 7
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice Note 8
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon Note 9
Tart Shells
- 3-4 sheets short crust pastry Note 10
Instructions
- Preheat the oven: preheat the oven to 180°C / 350-375°F / Gas Mark 4-5.
Apple Filling
- Apple filling: add the chopped apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, ground cinnamon and water to a medium sized sauce pan. Turn the heat to high and bring the contents of the sauce pan to the boil. Then reduce to low heat, stirring occasionally until the apple pieces have softened and the liquid has been absorbed. Once they have, remove the sauce pan from the heat.
Crumble Topping
- Crumble topping: add the plain flour, caster sugar, rolled oats and butter to a medium sized mixing bowl. Then use your fingers to combine the ingredients until the butter has softened and been mixed in. The texture will be inconsistent with some bigger clumps.
Tart Bases
- Tart bases: grease 2 x 12 cup patty pans using unsalted butter. Then place a sheet of short crust pastry onto a clean, dry chopping board. Use a 6.5cm cookie cutter to cut the pastry into 12 rounds, Gently press these rounds onto each hole then push into the greased patty pan tray.
- Apple Filling: use a mini cookie scoop to spoon the apple mixture into the 1st pastry shell. Then repeat to fill each of the tart shells.
- Crumble topping: next use the mini cookie scoop to spoon the crumble topping onto each of the apple tartlets. Repeat for each of the tarts.
- Oven bake: place the patty pans onto the middle shelf off the oven. Let the tartlets cook for 18 to 20 minutes. Once cooked, use 2 oven mitts to remove the patty pans and place onto a cooking rack. After a couple of minutes, use a teaspoon to remove each of the tartlets from the pan.
- To serve: plate the cooked apple crumble tartlets and spoon vanilla ice-cream over the top.
Notes
- Note 1 - Plain flour: the plain flour is another of the ingredients used to make the apple crumble. No need to sift, it is fine to use straight from the packet!
- Note 2 - Oats: rolled oats are also part of the crumble topping. All types of rolled oats will work ie 'quick to cook' or other.
- Note 3 - Caster sugar: we use caster sugar as the 4 ingredient needed for the crumble topping. We can't switch this with brown sugar, but we can use standard white sugar if you wish to.
- Note 4 - Butter: crumble for apples generally consists of flour, sugar, oats and butter. That is the combination we are working with for this recipe. Unsalted butter is the best type to use.
- Note 5 - Granny smith apples: available year round, these sweet apples are perfect to use to make many types of apples desserts!
- Note 6 - Brown sugar: we use a small amount of brown sugar when cooking the apples. You can use the equivalent amount of caster sugar or white sugar as an alternative if you wish too.
- Note 7 - Lemon juice: we use a small amount of lemon juice as one of the ingredients in the apple filling mixture.
- Note 8 - Ground cinnamon: we use a small amount of ground cinnamon in the apple mixture. This flavors the apples but doesn't overwhelm the overall taste of the apples.
- Note 9 - Water: we use a small amount of water in the sauce pan with the apples. This gets absorbed as the apples cook. Regular tap water is fine.
- Note 10 - Short crust pastry: short crust pastry is used to create the tart shells. This is a store bought product that only needs to be cut into shape with a cookie cutter. You will likely only need 3 sheets of the short crust pastry. However! As you can see from my ingredients shot, sometimes the pastry will be cracked when you open the packet (unavoidable). So have another sheet or 2 up your sleeve in case this happens so that you can carry on with the rest of the recipe.
Rebecca says
Amazing recipe! The warm tarts and ice cream was all I needed for dinner and dessert.
Evie says
Tried and loved these. They were delicious thanks.
Adrianne says
You are welcome Evie 😉👌.
Kara W says
Came out great and will do them again.
Adrianne says
Thanks Kara 😄😄