Recipe for the Most Delicious Pecan Caramel Tartlets
Oh, these tartlets… Let us warn you: they are dangerously delicious. That’s because they have just about everything that makes a person happy. They are creamy, salty, crunchy and rich, with a warm flavour. Nickname: the best caramel tartlets in Amsterdam. Pastry chef Steven Burggraaf serves them at Restaurant Scheepskameel, and now you can too, at home. Make them as the finale to a dinner to enjoy with your glass of port, but don’t be surprised if you want to eat them the next day for breakfast, as a snack and as a lunch dessert.
Steven Burggraaf always uses disposable aluminium tins (100 millimetres in diameter and 17 millimetres high), but you can also use other baking moulds of approximately the same size. These are perfect.
How to make them
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees. Spread the pecans over a baking tray and bake them for about seven minutes.
Pastry
Mix the butter, icing sugar and egg using a dough hook. If you don’t have one, simply use your hands. Once these ingredients are well mixed, add the flour. Knead until smooth. Let the dough rest for at least half an hour in the fridge. In the meantime, lightly grease the tins with a knob of butter.
Roll out the dough with a rolling pin on a clean surface dusted with flour until it is about three millimetres thick. Cut out circles ten centimetres in diameter and place them in the tins. Now blind-bake the pastry for fifteen minutes at 160 degrees. Do this by placing a sheet of baking paper over the pastry and sprinkling peas or rice on top. Remove the baking paper and peas or rice from the pastry, then bake for another five minutes at the same temperature until the pastry is nicely browned. Is the pastry still looking a little pale? Bake it for a few minutes longer.
The pastry shells are now ready. Put about 30 grams of pecans in each shell.
Caramel
Make sure to use a pan with a thick base. Put the sugar, water and glucose in the pan. Glucose syrup can be bought at an Asian supermarket. You can also use honey instead of glucose, but in that case there is a greater chance that the caramel will crystallise and become grainy. Heat everything over high heat until dark brown. Turn the heat down and carefully add the cream. Bring to the boil while stirring. Then add the butter and salt and continue cooking. Keep stirring well.
It is useful to do a ‘test’ to check whether your caramel has the right consistency. Put a spoonful of caramel on a plate; if the caramel no longer runs, it is ready. Is it still running? Then cook it a little longer.
Pour the caramel into a measuring jug and pour enough into each pecan tartlet—until the nuts are just submerged.
Serving
Make sure the tartlets have cooled completely before serving.
Storage
It is unlikely that you will have any tartlets left over, because they are delicious. But if you do, store them in a tightly sealed container outside the fridge.
Wine tip
When it comes to port, many people immediately think of cheese. That is, of course, a lovely combination, but port goes with so much more! Graham’s Port The Tawny is just as tempting as the tartlets from this recipe. That is thanks to the combination of flavours (orange peel, figs, raisins) and its rich, elegant mouthfeel. A glass with your dinner dessert and the next day with your lunch dessert? It could definitely happen!
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