Apple Custard Tarts

Custard tarts with apples pieces stacked on white plate.

4.67 from 3 votes

These apple custard tarts are going to be your new quick go to when the moment calls for a dessert or sweet that comes together with ease.

Prep Time16

Cook Time24

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Western

Keyword: apple custard tarts

Servings: tarts

Calories: 116kcal

Author: Adrianne

Ingredients

Stewed Apples

4 granny smith apples Note 1
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice Note 2
⅓ cup water Note 3

Cream Cheese Custard

250 grams/ cream cheese Note 4
⅓ cup caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 medium eggs free range
250 ml/1 cup heavy cream

Tarts

3-4 sheets shortcrust pastry thawed

To serve (optional):

cinnamon sugar
thyme sprigs removed, leaves only

Instructions

Preheat your oven: to 180°C/400°F/gas 6.
Apples: use a vegetable peeler and cutting board to peel the apple skins and discard. Then use a sharp knife and cut the apples in halves then quarters and remove the apple cores. Once done finely dice the apples into small pieces.
Stewed apples: add the chopped apples, brown sugar, lemon juice 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.
Pastry: grease 2 12 cup patty pan tins with unsalted butter and then use a cookie cutter to cut circles from the thawed pastry. Place the cut circles onto the top of the greased tins and then use clean, dry fingers to push to pastry into the patty pan tin holes. Repeat to fill each hole.
Custard: add the cream cheese to a large mixing bowl and use electric beaters to cream until softened. Next add the sugar and vanilla extract. Follow these with the eggs and then pour in the cream. Continue to combine this mixture until the texture is smooth and consistent. It will not thicken at this stage.
Combine: place a flat baking tray under each patty pan tin for easy handling. Next use a tablespoon to spoon the cream cheese custard into the raw pastry. Repeat this process for all of the raw tarts. Once done, use a teaspoon and spoon some of the stewed apples into the custard for each tart. Repeat for all tarts. Next sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of each tart (optional).
Oven bake: once all of the tarts are filled, place the baking tray into the oven on the middle shelf. Set the timer and bake the tarts for 12 minutes. When the timer is up, use an oven mitt and remove the tart tins and place them onto a cooling rack. Let the tarts cool for a couple of minutes then take a teaspoon and gently remove each tart from the pan. Place the cooked tarts back onto the cooling rack.
To serve: sprinkle some thyme leaves over the top of the tarts and then serve warm.

Notes

Note 1 - Granny smith apples: we want to try and cut the apples into small pieces ie dice them. This is as to not have big pieces of apple that are too big to fit the mini tarts. Think 'bite size' not 'one bite'.
Note 2 - Lemon juice: bottled lemon juice is fine to use!
Note 3- Water: tap water is fine.
Note 4 - Cream cheese: if this is at room temperature it will be easier to cream. So grab it out of the fridge as a starting point so that it will be soft when you come to use it.
Note 5 - Custard: you will find that you end up with more custard than you need for 24 mini tarts using 2 x patty pan tins. This has been done so that it gives you a little bit of flexibility regarding the size of the tins you use without having to double or increase the custard volume. You can use this recipe for a muffin tin also which increases the amount of custard needed. If you find yourself with an abundance of extra custard, you can either make more of the tarts, keep it for another recipe or simply discard.

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