Mini Apricot Tarts are made with layers of light crispy filo (phyllo) pastry dough, fresh apricots and our honey sweetened apricot freezer jam recipe. Be sure to put a dollop of our homemade coconut whipped cream on top for a decadent treat.
Mini Apricot Tarts
You are just going to love these Mini Apricot Tarts because they are light and crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside and filled with fresh in season apricots. All the delicate layers of phyllo dough with the cinnamon sugar pair lovely with the slightly sweet and sour apricots and apricot jam.
Summer Entertaining has Never Been Easier
Expecting last minute guests? No problem! All you need is a package of phyllo pastry dough, fresh apricots, apple sauce, our apricot freezer jam recipe, butter or olive oil and a little cinnamon and sugar and you're good to go. These little jam tarts only need to bake for 15 minutes and they can be made in advance.
What is Phyllo (Filo) Pastry Dough?
Filo or sometimes spelled phyllo is paper thin unleavened pastry dough. Phyllo dough is made with flour, water and oil. Filo dough is sometimes used to make Baklava or other Middle Eastern dishes. However, today, we are going to make little individual dessert tartlets. Phyllo dough makes this tartlet super crispy because of all the little individual layers. We used 6 layers of filo dough. In between each layer, we put in melted butter and a little cinnamon and sugar. The layering of the phyllo dough in between the butter and the cinnamon and sugar are what makes it extra crispy, sweet and delicious.
Apricot Tart Filling
Have you had a chance to try our super easy apricot freezer jam recipe? You are going to love our apricot freezer jam recipe because not only is it fantastic on scones, toast, and oatmeal but fabulous in these mini apricot tarts. To make this apricot tart filling, we mix together apricot freezer jam, applesauce and a little cinnamon. How easy is that?
Store Bought Phyllo (Filo) Dough Rocks
You can certainly make your own filo dough from scratch, if you are so obliged. However, rolling out those ultra-thin layers of pastry dough in this summer heat is not our idea of fun. The store-bought brand Athens Phyllo dough (NOT a sponsored post) was so easy to work with. In addition, it came in one box with 2 separate packages and each package had about 20 sheets. You will only need a part of one package, and you can freeze the other package for a treat on another day.
Sweet or Savory Treats with Filo Pastry Dough
Our Salmon Parcels with Sweet Red Bell Pepper Pesto is a savory recipe wrapped up in crispy phyllo pastry dough.
Phyllo dough is very handy to have on hand because you can make so many things with it. For example, you can layer it up with a little bit of olive oil and parmesan cheese and between the layers and make a thin crispy pizza. For breakfast, you can also layer filo layers up with a little bit of olive oil or butter and then make a little quiche with eggs and some of your favorite vegetables, maybe little cheese and bake it until crispy ends and cheesy. The ideas are endless.
Fresh Apricots
One of our favorite stone fruits is the apricot. Not only are they sweet, fragrant and delicious, but their light skin essentially disintegrates when cooked or baked. This is very handy as you don’t need to peel them before using. One fresh whole apricot only has about 17 calories, according to Web MD.
Did you know that the best apricots are the first one of the seasons? Of course, this depends on where you live but this is usually in the summer. If you wait until later in the season, such as early September, they can be mealy.
Recipe Exchanges
Our Mini Apricot Tarts are delicious as the recipe is written. However, feel free to make the following changes as needed.
- If you cannot tolerate dairy, feel free to exchange butter with olive oil between the layers of phyllo dough.
- Feel free to exchange the granulated sugar with a sugar alternative of choice.
- Our Apricot Freezer Jam recipe just rocks but you can exchange with a store-bought jam and that is A -OK too.
- Fresh apricots are best for our Mini Apricot Tarts, but you can also use drained canned apricots.
- If desired, you can make one big apricot tart instead of individual tarts. You just need to find a tart tray and cut your sheet just a little larger than the tart tray, so they have a cute latticed edging.
- We love topping our little fruit tarts with a little homemade coconut whipped topping but feel free to scoop on a little of your favorite vanilla ice cream or maybe a scoop of our No Churn Dairy Free Mango Swirl Ice Cream.
Frequent Asked Questions about Filo (Phyllo) Dough
You can either remove the filo dough from the box and thaw overnight in the refrigerator or thaw it for about 3 hours at room temperature.
When you are not using the filo dough or in between steps, be sure to keep it covered with a damp tea cloth. We have found the best way is to fold it back over and use the plastic covering it came in on top of it and then the damp tea cloth over that. Works great.
At least 5, but if you add more it adds some structure and make the layers crispier. We used 6 layers in our recipe.
It takes between 13 to 15 minutes to make the pastry dough bronzed and crispy
Yes, either are fine to use in this recipe.
Sealed phyllo dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 weeks or can be frozen for up to 3 months.
No worries, as this tart is rustic. Just layer up another sheet on top after you apply a little butter and cinnamon and sugar mixture, and no one will ever know.
More Delicious Summer Dessert Ideas
Rainbow Berry Rooibos Ice Pops
Ice Box Lavender Lemon Angel Food Cake
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Mini Apricot Tarts
Equipment
- cupcake pan
Ingredients
- 12 sheets phyllo pastry dough (filo) thawed
- 8 tablespoon butter or olive oil
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar or sugar alternative of choice
- 2 teaspoon cinnamon ground (1 teaspoon for apricot filling and 1 teaspoon for the cinnamon sugar sprinkles)
- ½ cup apple sauce unsweetened
- ½ cup apricot freezer jam recipe (or store bought apricot jam)
- 2 apricots fresh, pit removed and sliced thin or chopped (leave the skin on)
- Homemade Coconut Whipped Cream optional garnish or vanilla ice cream or creme fresh.
Instructions
- Thaw phyllo pastry dough. You can either remove the filo dough from the box and thaw overnight in the refrigerator or thaw it for about 3 hours at room temperature.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F or 190 degrees C
- Microwave butter to melt it. Mix ⅓ cup granulated sugar and 1teaspoon of ground cinnamon and set aside.
- Use a little of the butter with a brush to lightly coat/grease the cupcake pan in each of the 12 sections to prevent sticking. You can also use a little oil spray if desired.
- Mix together ½ cup apple sauce, ½ cup apricot freezer jam and 1teaspoon ground cinnamon and mix together. Set aside.
- Open up phyllo (filo) pastry dough package and unfold the thin layers. Cover with a lightly damp tea towel. We found it is super helpful to prevent drying out to fold over the filo dough in the plastic it came in first and then cover with the damp tea towel.
- Remove one of the very thin phyllo dough sheets from the package and place flat on a clean dry surface. Brush the super thin phyllo pastry sheet lightly with the melted butter all over. Be very gentle. Then, sprinkle on a little bit of the sugar and cinnamon mixture. After that, add a new thin phyllo dough sheet right on top of the buttered and cinnamon sugared phyllo dough sheet. Brush this second phyllo sheet with butter and sprinkle on with a little cinnamon sugar mixture. Repeat this process 6 times for a total of 6 layers. Due to the sizing of our phyllo dough sheets, we continued the process for another6 layers with another batch so that we could make 12 mini apricot tarts. Remember:Cover the remaining phyllo pastry dough that you are not using with a damp tea towel to prevent drying out of the phyllo pastry sheets. If the phyllo dough sheets slightly tear, do not sweat it. Just butter it up and put a new layer on top. This is a rustic tart, and no one will ever know.
- Get a very sharp knife and cut the prepared layered phyllo pastries that have been brushed with butter and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar between layers once lengthwise. Then cut the pastry in 3 slices horizontally so you have a total of 6 squares in each of the two prepared phyllo sheets for a total of 12 squares.
- Then gently place each of the squares into the prepared cupcake trays and press down lightly to make room for the apricots and apricot jam mixture
- Place about 1.5 tablespoons of the prepared apricot jam, applesauce and cinnamon mixture in each of the 12 filo pastry shells. Then place on 2 slices of fresh apricots or about 2 tablespoons or chopped apricots on each. No need to peel the apricots
- Bake Mini Apricot tarts for about 13-15 minutes or until the phyllo dough is bronzed and the pastry dough is nice and crispy.
- Mini Apricot Tarts can be served hot out of the oven or at room temperature. Garnish with a little homemade coconut whipped topping or ice cream as desired. Enjoy!
- Leftover mini apricot tarts can be refrigerated for up to 3 days and can be reheated in the oven for just about 5-10 minutes at 325 degrees F (162degrees C) just to crisp back up. You can also store the prepared tarts in the freezer for up to one month. However, do not thaw the frozen mini apricot tarts at room temperature or they will get soggy. Instead, take them directly from the freezer to the oven to reheat to keep them crisp.
John / Kitchen Riffs says
Phyllo dough is one of those things I always buy -- too fiddly to make. And it makes such a nice trust for these tarts -- really good idea. And really good recipe -- like this, a lot. Thanks!
HWC Magazine says
We buy phyllo dough too. It is super convenient to have on hand so you can whip up quick desserts like our mini apricot tarts. Thanks so much John. Take Care
Priya says
These tarts looks so amazing dear. Simple loving it. Which place do you prefer to buy pastry sheets? walmart? I am so impressed by the result here. And loving your clicks totally dear.
HWC Magazine says
Hi there Priya and thank you! Actually, we buy pastry sheets from many different vendors such as Walmart, Kroger, Meijers or any place that was doing online delivery or pickup. We really are fond of this particular Athens brand as it has 2 separate packages individually wrapped. We can freeze the other one for another day. You can find them in the freezer section of the grocery stores.
Raymund says
Wow, I love the use of filo pasty here, it would definitely give an interesting texture to that tarts which I would really love.
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Raymund. Those light and crispy layers are really addictive. Just a light sweet ending for the end of a meal or maybe with a little tea.
letscurry says
This full post was a visual treat of apricots and that luscious looking, mouthwatering apricot jam. You have me craving for this now.
And what a clever idea to further spruce up the pastry sheet with cinnamon ,it never occured to me before that it could lift up the taste of every bite of the tart into
HWC Magazine says
Thanks so much for your sweet comment. In preparing savory pastry sheets we usually just add butter or olive oil but thought it might be fun to add a little sweetness in between each layer. This tart is still just delicately sweet. Wishing you a super week ahead.
Hannah says
I should have known you'd have something extra-special up your sleeve for that jam! I do actually have some phyllo in the freezer that's been waiting for a good use longer than I can remember. Perhaps it just found its calling... Thanks for the inspiration, as always!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Hannah! We love having as we call emergency phyllo dough in the freezer as you can whip up something delicious in a flash. Bet this would be fabulous with your plum jam as well. Take care
Katerina says
I don't usually bake with filo pastry (not sure why, probably just force of habit) but man, these look absolutely scrumptious! I love all the flavours and textures in here - I'd love a couple for a snack right about now!
HWC Magazine says
Thank you Katerina. We love the crispy light layers of filo (phyllo) dough, they just melt in your mouth. We hope you give this recipe a try soon as it really is simple and easy. Take Care