My dear friend Venna just turned 87...and if you think that's old you should see her! She is the picture of health - takes not ONE drug, has NO aches or pains, does all of her own yard work/house work and walks every morning up and down hills...I swear she's bionic! I can barely keep up with her and I'm half her age...or thereabouts...I'm still in the "lying about age" phase but Venna proudly announces her age because no one can believe she is 87!
When you're 87 you deserve some recognition, or a badge or a medal...but in lieu of those things, I invited a few of Venna's neighbors to come celebrate her birthday over lunch - and I wanted something special for dessert, but not too sugary or frosted because Venna is not big on sugar...she's more of a Wheat-grass kind of gal! After reading about these Peach Tartelettes here, I was inspired to create my own much simpler version and I am certain they are equally as tasty!
With a dollop of sweet, almond-flavored whipped cream on top, these Peach Tartelettes could hold their own along side ANY dessert. Don't wait for "peach season," you need to make these now and all summer long, they are definitely 5-dangers, as in they are dang, dang, dang, dang, dang good!
Peach Tartelettes - Pots and Pins
10 (5-inch round) tart pans with removeable bottoms
2 packages Pillsbury Refrigerated Pie Crusts rolls, (you will use 3 of the 4 rolls)
13 fresh, ripe peaches, peeled, seeded and sliced thinly (you could also use nectarines or a combination of both)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup toasted, chopped almonds
2 teaspoons almond extract, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup powdered sugar (less or more depending on how sweet your like your cream)
Put sliced peaches into a large bowl; sprinkle with sugar and stir in 1 teaspoon of almond extract. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 30 minute while you make the crusts. (Note: I allowed my peaches to sit overnight, in the refrigerator, because they were not quite ripe. If you are using really tasty, ripe peaches/nectarines, you can just let them sit while you make and bake the crusts. Allowing them to sit overnight in a bit of sugar makes their natural juices come out, so they sweeten up and it does not make them soggy, so no worries there!)
Make tartelette crusts: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Unroll refrigerated pie crusts. Using a 7-inch cookie-cutter (or an upside down bowl) cut out 10 circles of dough, rerolling dough as necessary. Set circle of dough over tart pan, press around bottom and up sides firmly, poke holes with a fork around bottom, about 4 times. Repeat with remaining tart pans.
Bake crusts in 450 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until lightly browned around top edges. If crusts puff up on bottom, prick gently with a fork to deflate. Remove crusts from oven and set on a rack to cool completely.
Whip cream in the bowl of a mixer until soft peaks form. Add in powdered sugar, the remaining teaspoon of almond extract and the vanilla extract. Keep in refrigerator until serving time.
To assemble tartelettes: Drain juice from peaches or remove peaches with a slotted spoon and reserve the juice for another use. (You could boil the juice down to a syrup and then pour it over the tartelettes!) When tart crusts are cooled, place peaches around edges of crust, in a circular pattern, staring with the outside and working in. Sprinkle chopped almonds on top, then top with a dollop of whipped cream. Makes 10 tarteletes.
You could change this up in a lot of ways - adding the almonds to the crust so they are baked in would be lovely. This could also be made as one large tart, if you didn't have 10 shiny new tartelette pans lying about!
