Small semi-sphere tartlets filled with spiced caramelised apples and a super light and fluffy cheesecake cream, topped with apple petals. These pretty little dessert flowers will not only delight you from the outside but also from the inside.
Special material requirements
Semi-sphere silicone mold: 5cm diameter
Round cookie cutter: 6cm diameter
Small cookie cutter: petal/oval shape
Fine grater
Slicer (optional)
Recipe
Yield: 16 tartlets | Difficulty: easy
Ingredients
Almond pate sablé
155g butter (cold) 105g powdered sugar 250g all purpose flour 40g almond flour 1 medium egg pinch of salt
60g white chocolate
Spiced caramelised apples
167g apples (approx. 1 apple)
40ml lemon juice
80ml brown rum
19g sugar
13g raisins
5g butter
1/2 cinnamon stick
1/8 tsp cinnamon powder
Cheesecake filling
135g low-fat curd cheese
53g heavy cream (cold)
32g powdered sugar
13g cold water
2g gelatine powder
1/2 vanilla bean
Decoration
2 apples
120ml lemon juice
400ml hot water
Directions
Almond pate sablé
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine cold butter (cubed), powdered sugar, flour, almond flour and salt. Mix until you get a bread crumb consistency.
Then add the egg and mix just until well combined. Don't over mix it. If there are still some crumbs which are not incorporated, kneed it into the dough by hand.
Spread the dough between two baking papers and roll out to 3mm. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour, until the dough gets firm.
Preheat the oven to 165°C fan. Take the dough out of the fridge, remove one baking paper and cut out 16 circles with the round cookie cutter. Turn the silicone mold around, so that the semi-spheres are concave and place onto a baking tray. Place one dough disc on top of each semi-sphere. Since the dough is cold and firm, it sits flat on top of the mold. But don't worry, as soon as you place the mould into the oven, the dough will get soft and adjust to the shape of the mold.
Bake for about 16-18 minutes, or until golden brown. Take the mold out of the oven and let cool completely. Then remove the baked sablé cups.
Use a fine grater to flatten the bottoms of the cups, so that they sit firmly and don't roll around.
Melt white chocolate in the microwave in impulses, while stirring in between. Brush the inside of the sablé cups with a thin layer of white chocolate. This will prevent the dough from soaking and getting soft.
Spiced caramelised apples
Place lemon juice into a bowl. Peel the apples, cut into small cubes and immediately transfer to the bowl with the lemon juice. Mix well so that all apples are covered in lemon juice. This will prevent the apples to oxidise and become brown. Set aside.
Put the cinnamon stick, rum and raisins into a saucepan and bring to a boil on medium to hight heat. Let it boil, while stirring, until all liquid has evaporated. Remove the cinnamon stick and transfer the raisins into a bowl, set aside.
Place sugar and butter into the same saucepan and heat up on medium heat. When the sugar has melted and caramelised, add the apples and raisins into the saucepan and let it cook until most of the liquid has evaporated. Transfer into a bowl and let it cool down.
Cheesecake filling
Place the gelatine powder and cold water into a small bowl and let it soak.
Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and place into a bowl with the curd cheese and powdered sugar. Whisk until well combined.
In a separate bowl, whisk the heavy cream until you have soft peaks.
Heat the soaked gelatine up in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds, until it is liquid. Pour the gelatine into the curd cheese mix while constantly stirring.
Gently fold in the whipped cream.
Assembly
Evenly spread the caramelised apples on the bottom of the sablé cups.
Fill the cups up with the cheesecake filling. Place the cups into the fridge.
Decoration
Bring the water to a boil and transfer into a bowl. Add the lemon juice.
Cut the apples in approx. 3mm thick slices and immediately place each slice into the bowl filled with hot water and lemon juice. This will cook the apples just a tiny bit and prevent them from getting brown. Let the apples sit in the water for about 30-60 seconds.
Drain the water and gently dab the apples with a paper towel. Use your small petal cookie cutter and cut as many petals as possible from the apple slices.
Place the apple petals on the filled cups, starting from the outside working towards the middle.
Notes
Almond pate sablé: you will have some leftover dough from this recipe. You can either bake the rest into cookies or put it up to one month in the freezer and save it up for another recipe.