Mini Apple Tartlets combine crisp, pâte sucrée shells with a warm, spiced apple filling. Using tart Granny Smith apples, cooked with butter, brown sugar, and cinnamon, these elegant bite-sized desserts offer a French-inspired twist on the classic apple pie. Perfect for entertaining, they're easy to make ahead and serve with caramel, ice cream, or both.
There's something magical about combining the elegance of French pastry with the comfort of an American classic. These Mini Apple Tartlets begin with pâte sucrée, a sweet pastry dough that I first learned to make at a cooking school in Paris.
Unlike many tart shells that shrink or puff during baking, this dough bakes up perfectly crisp and delicate every time. Fill those golden shells with a glossy, cinnamon-kissed apple filling, and you have a dessert that feels both nostalgic and sophisticated.
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Recipe at a Glance
- Ready In: 25 minutes
- Ingredients: Granny smith apples, butter, brown and granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, and pâte sucrée shells
- Makes: 12 mini tartletss
- Difficulty: Easy
- Make-Ahead Friendly: Yes
- Kid-Ahead Friendly: Yes
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Classic meets elegant: Apple pie flavor tucked into French tartlet shells.
- Make-ahead friendly: Shells and filling can be prepared separately and assembled later when needed.
- Serving flexibility: Enjoy plain, with caramel drizzle, or topped with ice cream.
Ingredients - What You'll Need for the Filling
Simple Step-by-Step Instructions
- Prepare the shells: Bake and cool 12 pâte sucrée tartlet shells according to this recipe.
- Cook the apples: In a nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Stir in the apples, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and lemon juice. Cook 7-9 minutes until softened but not mushy.
- Thicken: To thicken the mixture, stir in a cornstarch slurry. Cook 1 minute until glossy and thickened. Allow the apple mixture to cool completely.
- Assemble the tartlets: Spoon 2-2½ tablespoons of filling into each shell. Serve plain or with toppings.
These Mini Apple Tartlets are proof that the best desserts can be both simple and elegant. With crisp Parisian pâte sucrée shells and spiced apple filling, they're bite-sized perfection, and just the right dessert for fall gatherings or holiday trays.
Serve them with ice cream drizzled with caramel, or simply as they are, and watch them disappear. Yum!
Recipe Tips and Serving Suggestions
- Make ahead: The pâte sucrée shells can be baked 2 days in advance and stored in a Ziploc bag. The filling can be refrigerated overnight. It's best to fill shells just before serving.
- Ganache & Apple Duo: Serve tartlets side by side with chocolate ganache-filled shells.
- Apple Pie à la Mode: Add a mini scoop of vanilla ice cream on top of the apple filling for a decadent dessert.
- Caramel Drizzle: In addition to drizzling caramel over the apple tartlets, decorate plates with caramel streaks or duo dots for an elegant presentation.
- Holiday Tray: For a festive holiday tray, serve with pecan tassies, chocolate tartlets, and cheesecake bites.
Chula's Test Kitchen Notes
- Ingredient photos aren't perfect: I forgot to include butter in my ingredient shot. That's real life! Recipes are about results, not perfect props.
- Yield check: 2 medium apples cook down to around 1¼ cups filling. Using 3 cups of raw apples gives around 2 cups, which is enough for 12 tartlets.
- Cornstarch slurry: The cornstarch slurry not only thickens the mixture, but also adds a glossy, spoonable texture that holds beautifully in tartlets.
Other Apple Desserts
For other delicious apple desserts, check these out:
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Easy Mini Apple Tartlets
Equipment
- 10-inch nonstick skillet
- Wooden or silicone spoon
Ingredients
- 3 cups (about 1½ pounds) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and diced into ¼-inch pieces with 1 teaspoon lemon juice added (See Tip 1)
- 3 tablespoons (1.5 ounces, 42 g) unsalted butter
- 4½ tablespoons (2.1 ounces,60 g) light brown sugar, packed
- 1½ tablespoons (0.65 ounces, 18 g) granulated sugar
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
- Pinch of table salt
- 1½ teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1½ teaspoons Cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon of water for thickening (See Tip 2)
- 12 Pâte Sucrée shells (See Tip 3)
Instructions
- Peel, core, and dice apples into ¼-inch cubes (you should have ~3 cups diced). Toss with a teaspoon of lemon juice to prevent browning.
- In a medium nonstick skillet, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, and lemon juice. Stir to coat evenly.
- Cook for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the apples soften but still hold their shape.
- If the mixture looks loose, stir in the cornstarch slurry and simmer 1 minute until glossy and thickened.
- Remove from the heat, cool to room temperature, and refrigerate covered until ready to fill tart shells. May be made in advance for up to 3 days.
- Fill the tart shells with 1½ to 2 tablespoons of the apple pie filling.
- Yield: About 2 cups filling, enough for 12 mini tartlets (1½ to 2 tablespoons each).
Video
Tips/Notes
- The lemon juice keeps the cut apples from turning brown.
- The cornstarch slurry helps thicken the mixture, producing a glossy finish.
- The pâte sucrée shells are easy to make in advance. I like to store them in a gallon Ziploc bag so that they are ready when I am.
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