Personal Tartlets with various fillings

These little mini-tarts are a perfect party dish, because they are very easy to make, taste great, and are very easy to serve. These are just a few suggested fillings, but you can use whatever you want with the same technique.

I also made a gluten free version of these using Cup4Cup flour and the recipe here. It came out great (the tarts in the picture are gluten free).

Personal Tartlets

 

 To make these, you need to start out with a sheet of thinly rolled puff pastry, and a cupcake tin (one standard American pack of puff pastry made between 9-12 tarts for me).  Cut the puff pastry into squares, and line each hole of the cupcake tin with one square, to make little pastry "cups".  Fill the cups with whatever filling you want, and bake in a hot oven (430 f/200 C) for about 20 minutes, or until the pastry is golden-brown and fully cooked.

Sweet Potato Filling (for 12 tartlets):
- 2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 1 pack of soft goat cheese
- A few sprigs of fresh thyme
- salt and pepper

Boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water, until soft. Drain and put in a bowl or return to pot. Mash the potatoes until quite smooth. Add the goat cheese and continue mashing until the cheese is fully incorporated into the potatoes. Season with salt and pepper and thyme leaves.

Potato filling: 
- 3 medium potatoes (or 2 very large), peeled and chopped into large chunks
- 2 tbsp milk (optional)
- handful grated cheese (cheddar or whatever you like) (optional)
- 2 eggs
- Salt, pepper, paprika

Boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water, until soft. Drain and put in a bowl or return to pot. Mosh the potatoes until smooth, adding the milk to help with creaminess. Add the cheese and eggs and mix well until incorporated. Season with salt, pepper and paprika.

Cheese filling:
This really isn't so much a recipe as an idea. Basically, take a bowl, and in it combine a mixture of softer and harder cheeses, as well as an egg or two and some seasoning, to create a thick liquid filling which you can pour into the cups. For my filling I use: 1 medium package of 2% greek yogurt, 1 small package of cream cheese or mascarpone, 2 eggs, and a couple of handfuls of a mixture of grated Parmesan and mozzarella, seasoned with salt and pepper. You can also add fresh herbs to the mix.