If you love all things pumpkin, add these elegant tarts to your baking repertoire. The crisp pastry shell contains a decadently smooth pumpkin filling and the salted caramel nuts add a marvellous layer of additional flavour.
Pumpkin Tarts with Caramel Salted Nuts
A wonderfully decadent dessert with warm notes of pumpkin and caramel.
Ingredients
Scale
For the pastry
- 300 g (2 1/2 c) all-purpose flour
- 125 g (1 c) confectioners’ sugar
- 15 ml (1 tsp) kosher salt
- 284 g (10 oz) unsalted butter, softened
For the filling
- 506 g (1 15-ounce) can pumpkin
- 150 g (¾ c) firmly packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- 1½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ¾ tsp ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
- 2 large eggs
- 1 (12-ounce) can evaporated milk
For the topping
- 283 g (10 oz) salted mixed nuts
- Caramel Sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F Convection or 350°F regular.
Make the pastry shells
- In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse flour, confectioners’ sugar and salt until combined. Add the butter and pulse until dough begins to form.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange twelve 4″ tart rings or pans with removable bottoms onto the baking sheet. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough evenly into 12 roughly formed balls. With lightly floured fingers, press each dough ball into the bottom and up the sides of the rings or pans. If you’re using fluted pans, use the blunt end of a chopstick to push the dough into the curves. Place the shells in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Make the filling
- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, brown sugar, salt and spices. Add the eggs and evaporated milk, whisking until the mixture is smooth.
- Spoon the pumpkin mixture into the prepared pastry shells. Bake until the centres are set (25 to 35 minutes). Let cool completely on wire racks. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours and up to 2 days.*
- Before serving, mix the nuts with enough caramel sauce to coat the nuts. Spoon over the tarts.
Notes
- *The tarts can be frozen at this point if you want to have some in reserve for another occasion. Simply remove them from the freezer about an hour before you wish to serve them and top with the nut mixture tossed with caramel at that time.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 12
Thanks for a cute Thanksgiving idea…essentially shortbread with pumpkin custard filling. One of two good uses for tinned pumpkin (the other being quick soups). But seriously, Smuckers?? If I’m doing that much work, I’ll take another few minutes and make my patented butterscotch topping…butter, sugar, cream, Lyle’s, vanilla. Boil to just before soft ball stage. Yum. End of.
Haha! By all means, Beatrice. It would be even more delicious. I had some caramel topping left over from when the grandkids visited and liked the ease of the final presentation. No question that homemade is always preferable. Have a good day!
These look terrific. I am a sucker for individual or bite sized treats so I will definitely be trying these. I might try a few in a mini cupcake pan. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Lori,
One of my readers expressed dismay at the Smuckers caramel, so when I get a moment I’ll update the recipe with a from scratch version, too 🙂
I noticed that. Not too worried. My sister’s signature pie is a French Silk and I didn’t know for years that she used Pappy’s or similar for the crust. Last fall she was having trouble finding it and we ended up going to several stores in search of it. I struggle with pie crust so I rarely bake pies. Using store bought does provide a consistency that is nice.
Since it appears that the topping goes on shortly before serving I would certainly consider a prepared caramel especially if the meal had other last minute things to do.