Four mini apple tarts made from apple slices in puff pastry shells on a plate.

4.91 / 11 votes

Cheater's Apple Tarts

This cheater's apple tarts recipe, made with puff pastry, apple slices, cinnamon, lemon, and brown sugar, is an easy dessert baked in muffin tins.

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Total Time40

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings: servings

Calories: 476

Equipment

Six 1-cup capacity muffin cups

Ingredients

▢ 1 1/2 sheets puff pastry*, (see *What You Need To Know About Puff Pastry below)
▢ 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the pan
▢ 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
▢ 3 apples, cored and thinly sliced
▢ 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
▢ 2 tablespoons brown sugar
▢ 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
▢ Heavy cream or ice cream, for serving (optional)

US - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 355°F (180°C). Butter six 1-cup-capacity buttered muffin cups.
Brush the tops of the puff pastry sheets with the 4 tablespoons butter. Cut the sheets into a total of 6 pieces.
Press 1 piece puff pastry into each muffin cup. You want the pastry to just peep up out of the muffin cups. Trim and discard any excess pastry.
Sprinkle the puff pastry with the granulated sugar.
In a bowl, combine the apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, and lemon juice and toss to coat. Divide the mixture evenly among the puff pastry cups, nestling the apples among the pastry.
Bake directly on the oven rack for 20 to 30 minutes, until the apples are tender and the pastry is golden and crisp.
Serve the apple tarts warm with, if desired, a dribble of heavy cream or a dainty scoop of ice cream.

Notes

*What You Need To Know About Puff Pastry

Australian recipe maven Donna Hay cleverly notes that you may be able to order puff pastry from any of your local pâtisseries (that’s French for “bakeries”). Of course, you can instead just pick up a package of puff pastry from the freezer case at your local grocery store. While we’ve got nothing against store-bought puff pastry, which do you think is going to taste better, something made with countless multisyllable ingredients of questionable origins that’s been collecting ice crystals for lord knows how long or something, or that’s made from real butter, whether that’s the Dufour brand or you’ve gently kneaded the butter into the flour by hand? Exactly.

Nutrition