Saturday, October 13, 2012

Baklava Tartlets


























Finally I was able to take a picture that looks really fancy!

  I really wanted to make something for my new boss so I was looking around online and found this lovely recipe for tarts.  It's basically like baklava minus a lot of the syrup and sugar.  The recipe called for toasted almonds but I'm not sure I'll toast them as long next time, they were really bitter.

  The filling is a combination of a few things.  The recipe called for sour cream and greek yoghurt, but I used sour cream, mascarpone and whipping cream instead.  So it turned out to be a kind of creamy tangy cream cheese type mixture.  It was delicious, if not a little bit for the adult palet (aka a gourmet taste)...

   With the tartlets I used mini pie pans instead of tart pans, which I think made them a little bigger than they should have been.  In the picture the one on the right has just dried a little.  While waiting to make all 6 the others kind of dry up (not completely because I put ALOT of butter on there) but still.  I think they turn out the same in the end, so if you see this, just put a little more butter on and it should be fine.

   It's a little tricky too because the bottoms puff up even when I pricked the raw bottom with a fork.  I'm not sure if pie beans would work and still cook the filo but I'm going to try the next time I make them.  And if anyone tries this and they find a way that works please let me know! They really did taste like backlava though, so it was fantastic.  Like having two desserts all at once.

  Another thing I was adventurous enough to do, was to try the chocolate swirls. Unfortunately all I had the courage to do was a U-shape but they turned out fun, and looked like shavings so it wasn't half bad.    I also had some shards of chocolate but the shavings looked cooler so they got eaten faster.

  Instead of copying and pasting the whole recipe I thought I might put down the link to the website.  Even if you just glaze over this recipe you should check out the rest of the site.  It's kind of amazing; there are all kinds of tips on there, and new and different recipes (since it's an Australian site).  For instance I didn't know what Pavlova was, or Panforte, but both look crazy fun to make.  And the Pavlova is I believe, really similar to the meringue swirls I've made, but the guy in the video has some cool techniques to go with it.  Anyway I digress..

 http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/21183/baklava+tarts+with+berries                                                                                            

1 comment:

  1. I love this - it looks wonderful. Even though the sourness of the filling might make it more acceptable to an "adult palate", it was probably an excellent foil for the sweetness of the pastry. I bet pie beans would work well to keep the pastry from puffing too much. The baklava crust would probably be good with other no-cook or pre-cooked fillings - like apples with cinnamon, for instance.

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