Apple Tart Parcels
Welcome to my Ayurveda & Yoga blog! I’m Evangeline and I’m an RMT and holistic health coach. I started my blog during covid to stay connected to my clients and share my love of cooking healthy, AYURVEDIC INSPIRED meals.
Ayurvedic cooking is a conscious approach to preparing and cooking tasty, nutritious, balanced meals using spices and herbs, and taking into consideration the external conditions such as the season and time of day, in addition to how you are feeling.
It’s back to school season! To kick it off my son is getting a couple of these cute, wholesome apple tarts in his lunch bag today. With pastry dough on hand, an apple and a muffin pan, these delightful little dessert parcels filled the kitchen with the sweet smell of apples and cinnamon along with all the the excitement of the first day back.
In the past I would never have attempted making a pastry dessert from scratch in the morning for a school snack. We can all agree that mornings are the busiest time of the day for families. But one morning as I was making school lunches, I saw a little ball of pastry dough left from an apple pie made prior, and it just made sense to use it up and make something out of it!
For this recipe I used a whole grain flour called einkorn, and recently I used red fife, a Canadian heritage whole wheat grain. If the apples are sour sugar is added. I bake with sucanat, unrefined cane sugar. We can all use more wholesome ingredients in our baking and for this recipe it works. I have used refrigerated ghee instead of butter to make the dough and has worked out just fine, though you will need to add a bit more chilled water.
Einkorn- an ancient whole wheat grain
Sucanat- unrefined whole cane sugar
Ghee- butter that has been clarified to remove milk solids; traditional ghee is made with fresh cultured butter at a low temperature and has probiotic benefits. Read more about the benefits of ghee here, and of cooked apples.
Putting it all together. Apples with fresh ground cinnamon and rolled out pieces of dough.
Apple Tart Parcels
Yields: 6 tarts
Prep Time: 5 minutes with pastry dough ready
Cooking Time: 25 minutes
Ingredients for pastry dough
1 ¼ cups einkorn or red fife flour
¼ tsp salt
½ cup chilled butter or ghee, cut in cubes or pieces
¼ cup chilled water + 1 tsp more if you are using ghee
Directions for making pastry dough
Put the flour and salt in a bowl and combine all together.
Add chilled butter or ghee and with a fork or pastry cutter combine until butter or ghee is coated with flour like fine crumbs.
Add chilled water a spoonful at a time, pressing into the dough each time. Do not over mix the dough.
Shape the dough roughly into a ball and transfer onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough in half and shape into 2 balls.
Wrap each ball tightly with a plastic film and refrigerate for up to 3 days or up to 3 months in the freezer.
Ingredients for Filling
1 large apple or 2 small ones
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp arrowroot flour or any flour
1 Tbsp sucanat (optional)
Directions for putting it all together
If the dough is in the freezer take it out the night before you make the tarts and put it in the fridge. Take out the pastry dough from the fridge to thaw for 5 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°C.
Peel and cut the apple in bite size pieces and stir in cinnamon and flour, and sucanat if the apples used are sour. Set aside.
Take a palm size piece of dough, flatten on a floured surface.
Roll out the dough ⅛ inch thick and 4 ½ - 5 inches in diameter using a medium size ungreased muffin tray, large enough so that it overlaps the each muffin cup about an 1 inch around the edge.
Place pastry over a muffin cup, gently pressing down to the bottom and touching the sides.
Fill the apples ¾ high and pinch opposite ends of the pastry towards the centre.
Repeat Steps 4-7 making each apple parcels.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool for 5 minutes before removing from muffin pan.
