Christmas Tartlets, a festive and eye-catching appetizer. Have you ever tried making tartlets at home? If you haven’t, you’ll discover that with my Savory Biscuits recipe you can make a fantastic savory shortcrust pastry that will let you create delicious tartlets. Once baked, we’ll fill and decorate them together to form indulgent colorful appetizers shaped like Christmas trees, which—together with the Savory puff pastry bites with smoked salmon, the Quick savory Christmas pastry bites and the other recipes in my collection dedicated to Make-Ahead Christmas Appetizers, will make a great impression! Let’s go to the kitchen, and if you want to stay updated on all my recipes you can follow my Facebook page (here) and my Instagram profile (here).
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- Difficulty: Easy
- Cost: Affordable
- Rest time: 20 Minutes
- Preparation time: 30 Minutes
- Portions: 12-14
- Cooking methods: Oven, Stovetop
- Cuisine: Italian
- Seasonality: Christmas
Ingredients to make the Christmas tartlets
- 5.3 oz butter (about 10 1/2 tbsp)
- 1 1/4 cups re-milled durum wheat semolina
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- Half teaspoon salt
- Half teaspoon baking powder
- 1 egg (large)
- 0.7 oz egg white (if needed (about 2/3 of a large egg white))
- 1.32 lbs potatoes (about 3 medium potatoes)
- 1 cup milk
- to taste salt
- 3 tbsp butter
- to taste black pepper
- as needed carrots (for garnish)
- as needed peas (for garnish)
- as needed cooked ham (diced)
- as needed pistachio crumbs
Tools
- Food processor
- Molds
- Baking pans
- Bowl
- Microwave
- Cookie cutters
Preparation
I made the dough in a food processor, but you can also do it by hand. In that case, make a well with the flours, add the butter and rub it in, then add the remaining ingredients and work quickly until you obtain a smooth, compact dough. If the dough crumbles too much, add a little more egg white.
Start by preparing the shortcrust pastry. Put the two flours into the food processor bowl, add the cold butter, the egg, the salt and the baking powder. Pulse for a few seconds until you obtain a breadcrumb-like texture.
A few seconds are enough. Turn the mixture out onto the work surface and knead until you form a compact dough. If the mixture is too dry, add a bit of egg white. Let rest for 10 minutes covered with plastic wrap, then roll the dough on a floured surface and form a sheet about 3/16 inch thick.
Using a 6-8 cm cutter, perhaps flower-shaped like mine, cut out discs or flowers and place them into muffin molds, shaping them. Prick the bottom with a fork or a skewer and bake the tartlet shells in a preheated oven at 356°F (conventional) for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Rework the scraps to make additional tartlets.
While the tartlets bake and cool, peel the potatoes, rinse them, place them into a bowl, add 100 ml (about 1/3 cup) of water, cover with microwave-safe plastic wrap and cook at 900W for 25 minutes. Let rest inside the microwave for 10 minutes, then remove the plastic and mash the potatoes thoroughly.
Add salt, pepper and butter, mix, and add the milk little by little until you reach a creamy but firm purée.
Fill a piping bag fitted with a star tip, and pipe a pointed rosette on each tartlet with the potato mixture. Decorate as desired—I chose blanched carrots and peas, diced cooked ham, and I finished with pomegranate seeds and pistachio crumbs. The tartlets are ready to serve!
Storage and tips
Store the tartlet shells in a cool, dry place inside an airtight container until ready to use (up to about twenty days). The potato cream keeps in the fridge for 24 hours. I recommend serving the tartlets immediately after filling or at most after a few hours; if you need to organize ahead, prepare the shells and the cream the day before and garnish shortly before serving.
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