Mini tarts help please

[Saknussem]

Greetings all!
I am THRILLED to have found this forum, let me tell you! I LOVE to bake, even if I don't have as much time for it as I would like. I am hoping to bake tartlets for dessert this holiday season, and need some advice.

The tartlets I want to make are not the tiny one inch ones, but the larger ones, about 3 inches across. Does anyone know a good cookbook that deals with these in detail and has many different recipes?

The tartlets I want to make include:
lemon
key lime
bing cherry
mini-apple pie (covered with pastry as a pie would be)
bourbon pecan
pumpkin

Does anyone have recipes for these, please? Or a reliable source, maybe?

Thank you kindly!
Saknussem

 

[Janet H]

HI - and welcome to the forum. I use these small tart pan as well and just adapt regular pie and tart recipes. I make crusts a little thinner and if there's fruit involved, cut the pieces somewhat smaller. The same cook temps shoudl be fine but cook times will be shorter.

Here's a link to good info about pan size and conversions Pan Sizes - Joyofbaking.com

 

[Saknussem]

Thanks muchos!

To be more specific, what I am really looking for is a guide to making miniature pies. I want to make a pumpkin pie in a tart shell 3 inches across. I am also looking to make a cherry pie with a lattice top in a tart shell, an apple pie with a full crust cover in a tart shell, a pecan pie in a tart shell, and (and this is the really tough one maybe) a tart shell with lemon filling -- the stiffer lemon filling in a lemon bar, not the wobbly lemon filling in a lemon meringue pie. I am really hoping that someone might be able to lend a hand with this. It isn't easy, I know, but ANY sort of guidance would be most welcome.

Thank you everyone.

 

[Alix]

Why don't you make them in batches of 2? That way you can just use the amounts for a regular pie and it should work out about right. Here is my recipe for lemon bars, you can try this filling if you like. I think I'd buy the watkins brand pie filling and use that myself. It can be made pretty stiff if thats what you're looking for. I cheat with cherry pie and buy the tinned stuff, so I can't help you on that one. Do you need help with the apple tart?

 

[Saknussem]

I guess what I am MOST concerned about is the cooking time. When you make an apple pie, the crust, upper and lower are both made with an eye to the apple insides of the pie, and they cook at the same time. Will that happen with the MUCH smaller amount of crust and insides on something as small as a 3 inch tart shell sized pie?
Same goes for cherry lattice topped and pumpkin, etc etc

 

[Alix]

The lemon and cherry are already cooked. As for the apple, if you dice the apples smaller, the cooking time should be fine. I wouldn't appreciably reduce cooking time just because the tart shells are smaller. If you were worried about it, you could cook the apples a bit before you put them in the pie shell.

I can't comment on the pumpkin tart, I don't bake pumpkin anything.