I’ve been experimenting with gluten free recipes, because someone dear to me is on a gluten (and egg) free diet. I love the properties of gluten that give us beautiful airy breads and flaky pastries, but some people must go without it. I am almost hesitant to share my new recipe as I have only made it once and I’m sure that I will make changes in the future. That being said – the tarts came out pretty good!
Recipe
Pastry Dough
- 4 oz. (~3/4 cup) gluten free all purpose flour blend (I used Hannaford’s Nature’s Promise)
- 1.3 oz. butter (1.5 tablespoons)
- 0.7 oz. cream cheese (1.5 tablespoons)
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda (could probably eliminate)
- 3 tablespoons milk (could use water)
Fruit Filling
Mix together the following right before filling the tarts:
- 3 cups of fruit pieces ( I used diced apples, diced pears and blueberries)
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
Above is a little video I made a while ago showing how I roll and shape this style of little tarts (crostatas). The dough in the video is my regular pie dough, not gluten free.
Method
- To make the pastry the dough: Blend all ingredients except for milk (or water) in a food processor or with a pastry blender, until crumbly.
- Gradually add liquid using a fork to toss ingredients together until moistened. May not need all of the liquid.
- Shape into 3 balls of dough. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes or longer.
- Roll out each piece of dough to about 7 inches using a little cornstarch to prevent sticking. I actually used my tortilla press for the tarts shown above and pressed the dough between sheets of plastic cut from a ziplock bag.
- Place 1/3 of the filling on the rolled out dough and fold the dough over the filling. (See video above.) Repeat with the other two pieces of dough. Sprinkle with sugar if desired and bake at 400ºF on parchment paper lined bowls or sheet pan for about 25-30 minutes. Check oven often. Filling should be bubbly when done and the crust a golden brown.
- Happy baking!