Tiny Caramel Tarts Recipes

Steps:

• Place cookies into plastic bag and smash until fine crumbles form, or use a food processor and make it as fine as possible.
• In a large bowl, combine cookie crumbs and melted butter and mix until it clusters.
• In a cupcake tin, put a spoonful of the crumb mixture and form into crusts.
• Freeze for 2 hours.
• In a medium saucepan, heat sugar and water until amber brown. Do not stir!
• Take off the heat and pour in the heavy cream and vanilla, stirring until caramel forms. Caution: adding the cream will cause sugar to boil, so carefully mix.
• Quickly pour caramel into the cookie crust and let it sit until caramel is firm. Approximately 5 minutes.
• Heat up the heavy cream and add the dark chocolate. Let the chocolate sit for a minute and stir until smooth.
• Pour a spoonful of chocolate over the caramel and then refrigerate for an hour or until the chocolate is firm.
• Sprinkle the tarts with some sea salt to balance sweetness if desired.
• Enjoy!

Steps:

• Preheat the oven toe 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
• Beat softened margarine or butter and cream cheese until thoroughly combined. Stir in flour.
• Using 24 ungreased 1 3/4 inch mini muffin cups, press a rounded teaspoon of pastry evenly into the bottom and up the sides of each cup.
• To Make The Filling: Beat the egg and mix in the brown sugar, melted margarine or butter and the chopped pecans.
• Fill each pastry-lined muffin cup with about 1 heaping teaspoon of pecan filling. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for about 30 minutes or until pastry is golden and filling is puffed. Cool slightly in the muffin cups, then remove and cool completely on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Between 2 sheets of wax paper roll out dough into a 14-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Transfer dough to a baking sheet and chill 10 minutes. Lift top sheet of wax paper from dough and gently replace on top (this will facilitate removal of paper later). Flip dough over, discarding wax paper now on top, and carefully invert dough into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim. Lightly press dough up side of rim, using pieces from overhang to patch any holes. Chill shell 30 minutes, or until firm.
• Line shell with foil, folding over edge to cover pastry entirely, and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake shell on a baking sheet in middle of oven 35 minutes and carefully remove foil and weights or rice. If bottom of crust still has patches of translucent undercooked dough, return shell to oven without foil and weights or rice and bake until pastry is completely cooked and golden, 3 to 5 minutes more. Cool shell in pan on a rack.
• Reduce temperature to 350°F.
• Coarsely chop nuts. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and honey, stirring, and simmer 1 minute. Stir in nuts and cream. Simmer mixture 1 minute and pour into shell. Bake tart on baking sheet in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until filling is a few shades darker. Cool tart in pan on rack.
• Chop chocolate and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring until smooth. Cool chocolate slightly and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a #3 plain tip (slightly smaller than 1/8 inch). (Alternatively, transfer chocolate to a small heavy-duty sealable plastic bag. Squeeze chocolate into one corner of bag and with scissors cut a tiny slice off corner to form a small hole.) Pipe thin lines of chocolate over tart in a back and forth motion to form stripes. Tart may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.
• Serve caramel tart chilled or at room temperature with ice cream and tuiles.

Steps:

• Prepare chocolate dough: In bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, confectioners' sugar and cocoa. Beat until smooth. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and beat until blended.
• Sift flour into dough mixture. Beat on low speed until combined. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch tart pan. (You can use a 9-inch pan, but the crust will be thicker and the caramel may take longer to set in step 4.)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line tart with foil, and fill with dried beans, rice or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, and bake until pastry is dry and set, another 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Prepare caramel filling: In a large saucepan, bring sugar, water and corn syrup to a boil. Stir or swirl the pan occasionally, until mixture is a medium amber color, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat. Caramel will continue to cook and darken off of the heat. Carefully but quickly whisk in the butter, cream, creme fraiche and salt until smooth (mixture will bubble up). Pour hot caramel into tart, and allow to cool and set, at least 1 hour.
• Prepare chocolate glaze: Place chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate and whisk until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Pour glaze over tart, tilting tart for even coverage. Refrigerate until tart is set, at least one hour, then sprinkle with a few granules of fleur de sel. Keep refrigerated until serving.