Gala Apples and Vegan Feta Cheese Tartlets
You will be surprised how tasty these little Gala Apples and Vegan Feta Cheese Tartlets are. The perfect size to serve up as an appetizer or an after dinner dessert. Just watch how these little tartlet treat fly off the table. You may want to put some aside for yourself before they are all gone, because they will be.
The trick to making these delicious little Gala Apples and Vegan Feta Cheese tartlets is getting the pastry into the cupcake size pans. Rolling the dough thin helps the pastry to form into the these pans because it allows room for the apples and cheese. Using a cupcake pan is just another simple way to make them when you do not have baking tartlet pans, so this works well. When making the dough try not to over work it and get it too warm with your hands. This helps make it easier to get into the cupcake holders and mold the dough. If you have fingernails be careful not to put a hole in the dough when shaping it to the mold. You can use a pestle from a mortar and pestle to help mold the dough to the cups.
I made these with my Mothers little tricks of using small little tapioca pearls and fresh lemon juice over the apples. The tapioca is a really great way not to have a soupy little tart. This helps it absorb the extra juices of the apples and the cheese. Using a couple of drops of lemon juice really helps bring out the flavor of the apples. This adds just enough tartness and extra juice to these little tarts. I used dark brown sugar in the mixture as well to give it a more intense taste. All of this is a very nice combo of sweet and tart. The sugar in the dough makes this a very special pastry. Seldom do bakers put sugar in their dough. The sugar can make the dough a little weak and soft, but very tasty.
The vegan cheese used in these Gala Apple and Vegan Feta Cheese Tartlets does not keep it’s shape and density. Although, it is worth the melt down of flavor that sinks over and into the tartlets. This vegan cheese, “Violife” has such a creamy blend to the apples, but it does not reform into a sold cheese when it cools. So let it cool to lukewarm or it will be too runny. This allows the tapioca to help absorb the extra moisture and create more of a pie like filling. I hope you enjoy these cute little Gala Apples and Vegan Feta Cheese Tartlets.
Gala Apple and Vegan Feta Cheese Tartlets
Equipment
- 2 regular sized cupcake pans
- Pestle
- Sharp knife
- Rolling Pin
- Large bowl
- 7 to 8 inch plate
Ingredients
Tartlet Pastry
- 2 cups All-purpose Flour or Sub Gluten – Free Flour
- ¼ cup Sugar
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Vegan Butter Cold and cut into small cubes
- 5 Tbsp Cold Water
Gala Apple Tartlet Filling
- 3 Apples Cut into small chunks
- 1 Large Lemon Wedge
- ¾ cup Coconut Sugar or Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 Tbsp Small Tapioca Pearls Use 15 tapioca in each tartlet
- 1 brick Violife Vegan Feta Cheese
- 12 dashes Cinnamon
Instructions
- This is what you will need
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a large bowl mix together your flour, salt and sugar
- Mix in cubed vegan butter with a pastry cutter or blend it in with your finger tips blending the butter into very small bits. Add the water slowly and form into a doughy ball. Divide into two and roll out with a rolling pin in between two sheets of wax paper or on a floured surface. If you want exact size that will fit into the cupcake molds use a 7½ inch plate to use as a stencil to cut out the pastry shapes. Roll out the second ball of pastry and cut out more pastry shapes for the cupcakes. Use extra left over dough to roll out again and cut into more 7½ pastry cut outs until you have filled all of your cups. Use a pestle to help you form the pastry into the cupcake molds. Leave extra dough over lapping out of the cupcake mold. This helps hold the ingredients in the cup while it cooks.
- Cut apples into small thin chunks and fill the cups. Make sure nothing is overlapping the sides of the cups. Keep everything inside so that it doesn't bake out while cooking.
- Add 15 small tapioca pearls into each cup on top of the apples. It's ok if they fall to the bottom of the cups.
- Add a teaspoon of coconut sugar or dark brown sugar to each of the cups on top of the apples. Then add a dash of cinnamon to each cup on top of the sugar.
- Then add 5 drops of lemon on top of the sugar and apples
- Cut Violife Feta Cheese into ¼ inch slices and cut into 3 chunks. Add 3 of the vegan feta cheese chunks on top of the cups. Keep all the cheese inside the edges of the pastry crust.
- Wet the edges of the pastry crust with water with your fingers to smooth it out. It will look nicer after it is cooked.
- Put in the oven and cook for 20 to 25 minutes until the edges are browning.
- Let cool so that it's lukewarm before eating. The cheese will be too runny inside when they are hot. It will be like liquid. When it gets cooler it won't be runny.
- Top with regular candied walnuts or pecans and a side of vegan coconut wipe cream
