I am sharing my family favorite recipe that my mom always used to make specially in Ramadan! This Walnut Caramel tart made without corn syrup or any special ingredient starts with a buttery crispy crust, filled with simple caramel sauce and topped with walnuts, baked until nice and golden.
Recipe at a Glance
For Tartlets Shells
Butter– unsalted, chilled
Icing/Confectioner’s/Powdered Sugar
Egg– large, room temperature
Dry ingredients– all-purpose flour, salt
For Caramel Walnut Filling
Sugar – granulated
Water – room temperature
Egg – 1 large
Butter – unsalted
Flour – All-purpose
Vanilla – essence or extract
Walnuts – chopped, or you can substitute any other nuts
Step by Step Process
For Tartlets
- Rub in butter with flour, sugar and salt.
- Add in beaten egg making a well in the center.
- Combine to form a rough dough.
- Form a disc, cover with plastic wrap.
- Chill for 20-30 minutes.
- Roll out between two plastic wrap sheets or wax paper.
- Cut approximately 3 inches diameter rounds and place them in a muffin/cupcake pan.
- Prick with fork and chill while you preheat the oven.
- Bake for 15 minutes at 350F.
For Caramel Filling
- Caramelize 1 tablespoon of sugar in a saucepan by melting it on low heat until golden brown.
- Add water and mix till it forms a syrup.
- Add rest of the sugar and cook until dissolved.
- Cool slightly until only warm to touch and not hot.
- Add egg, flour and vanilla whisking well.
- Place walnuts in half baked tartlet shells.
- Pour the syrup dividing equally, carefully not to overflow.
- Bake again for 20 -25 minutes until golden brown.
FAQs
Serving Suggestions
If you want to serve these as dessert, serving with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with a mint leaf as a garnish is a great option specially in winters.
It is great with tea or coffee.
Substitutions & Variations
If you can get pecans more easily, you can substitute the walnut with it, even almonds (silvered, chopped, sliced) will work as well.
This recipe can also be made as a big tart instead of individual tartlets. You can find the video in the recipe card or here.
Storage and Make Ahead
You can store the cake at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 2-3 days.
You can also make the tartlets ahead of time, just before first bake, store in fridge for short period/freezer for longer period well wrapped.
Yield: 12 Tartlets
Walnut Tartlets
Prep Time
1 hour
Cook Time
40 minutes
Additional Time
20 minutes
Total Time
2 hours
Ingredients
For Tartlet Shells
- 120 grams (1/2 cup) Butter, cold, unsalted
- 50 grams (1/2 cup) Icing /Confectioner’s/Powdered Sugar
- 250 grams (1 2/3 cups) Flour (Plain, All- Purpose)
- Pinch of Salt
- 1 Egg, large, room temperature or cold
For Caramel Walnut Filling
- 1 cup Sugar, granulated
- 1 cup Water
- 1 teaspoon Flour, All-purpose, plain
- 1 Egg
- 1/4 cup Butter, unsalted
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
Instructions
For the Tartlets Shells
- Mix flour, salt and icing sugar in a large bowl using a whisk or hands.
- Rub in cubed butter pieces by using your finger tips, the idea is to coat little butter pieces with flour.
- You can also do this step using a food processor by pulsing the above ingredients till it resembles bread crumbs.
- Make a well in the center, and add in beaten egg.
- Mix to combine and form a rough dough and make a ball. Flatten, wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
- Take a muffin/cupcake tray and a round cutter about an inch bigger than its base and cut a circle out of it.
- Line the un greased tray with the pastry cutouts and lightly fit in each cavity.
- Dock it with a fork and freeze for 15 minutes while the oven is preheating.
- Preheat oven at 350 F. Bake the case for around 12-15 minutes until light golden.
- Meanwhile prepare the filling.
For the Caramel Walnut Filling
- Take a heavy base saucepan and add 1 tablespoon of sugar (from the 1 cup).
- Melt on low heat without using any spoon, just swirling the pan itself until golden brown.
- Add 1 cup water and mix. Add the remaining sugar and cook until syrup is formed and all the sugar has dissolved.
- Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool until warm to touch and not hot anymore around 10 minutes.
- Whisk in egg, vanilla and flour until smooth and no lumps are there. Add in butter which should melt in easily.
- Place the walnuts on half baked tartlet shells and pour the syrup, dividing equally. Make sure to avoid spill.
- Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.
- Cool a little, run a palette knife if necessary around the tartlets and they should pop out easily.
- Optionally dust with icing sugar and serve warm or cold with or without ice cream.
Notes
Using a weighing scale to measure ingredients is recommended for tartlet shells
I have given both methods to make tartlet shells however, I do not recommend beginners to use food processor because you might over process it resulted in dense and tough shells