Strawberry Coulis Tartlets are these gorgeous mini phyllo pastry tarts that have a simple filling and an easy strawberry coulis or compote, you decide. Normally, there are two phyllo individual rolls in a box. One of the rolls I used for this savory Vegetable Tart and the other roll made these beautiful and crispy strawberry coulis tartlets.
These strawberry coulis tartlets are very easy to make and using phyllo pastry need not be intimidating at all. There's only one rule to remember with phyllo "keep the phyllo sheets damp" and I have the perfect tip for that besides brushing them down with oil or butter.
For as along as I've been cooking and creating recipes I've been using phyllo and puff pastry. I'm confident that you will find a few helpful tips so do read through. Yes phllyo is paper thin and that's where it becomes intimidating, working with the sheets. Once you get the hang of it however, the flaky results are utterly impressive!
The Difference Between Phyllo and Puff Pastry
These are both thin pastries but with different fat contents. Puff pastry is made with butter (inside layers of dough) while phyllo is made with oil. Both need fat to create crisp crunchy layers.
Phyllo is also known as filo "leaf" (Greek) but the originality of phyllo is Turkish " yuf ka".
Strawberry Coulis Tartlets With Phyllo Pastry
You can make your own phyllo pastry if you like but it's a real labor of love and there's no need. With so many quality dough brands out there, it's convenient to buy frozen phyllo.
What You Will Need
Its always a good idea to have everything ready before you start.
Muffin Pan I used a 9 hole muffin pan.
Phyllo Pastry You need one roll of phyllo pastry. They normally come frozen packaged in a box and there are two rolls of phyllo inside. You need one roll for a 9 hole muffin pan.
Baking (Parchment) Paper We use a sheet of baking paper under the pastry, to work on.
Damp Kitchen Towel To cover the remaining pastry sheets while you work.
Cooking Spray It's easier and helps with the non stick effect.
Pastry Cutter or Knife To cut the pastry. Pastry cutter is best, otherwise use a pizza cutter or a knife.
You can find the ingredient list in the full recipe card below. You will also need strawberries, the star of the recipe. Find the full recipe for Strawberry Compote.
How To Cut The Pastry
There are two ways you can cut the pastry;
Rounds: Cut rounds into the pastry (with a cookie cutter) and fit each round into the muffin tin.
Strips: Cut rough thick strips and stack the strips into each cup. Stack one strip (which will be a few layers) in and then take another strip and place it the opposite direction.
How To Make My Strawberry Coulis Tarts
Perhaps the most intimidating part is working with the paper thin pastry but with these simple steps you will are going to love your strawberry coulis tartlets!
Muffin Pan Generously spray your tin and set aside.
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Baking paper Dampen the paper but first squash it in your hands, make it wet and squeeze the excess water out.
Prep Spread the damp baking paper down on the work surface. Open the phyllo pastry from the plastic cover by unrolling the pastry. Take two to three sheets of pastry and lay it on the damp baking paper.
TIP! Working on the wet baking paper prevents the pastry from drying out. However you do have to work quickly and not leave it out for long.
Damp Kitchen Towel Cover the remaining sheets with the kitchen towel.
Shape and Bake Brush the sheets that you working with, with a little melted butter (you can also use olive oil). You are brushing in-between the sheets so that you can get a crispy flavor and golden layers.
Cut the strips Use a pastry cutter to cut the oiled sheets into large strips. If you try and push the whole phyllo sheet into a single muffin cup it won't fit so cut the pastry into 4 equal parts. Take one strip and place into the muffin cup and take the next strip and place it across (opposite direction) the one that you've just fitted in.
Look and Feel You will end up with 2 cups done. Each with a few buttered layers. Now you keep going with the rest of the pastry filling up all the cups.
Baking The Strawberry Coulis Tarts
Once you've filled the muffin pan with all the oiled or buttered down phyllo sheets you will bake them.
Preheat the oven to 180 C and bake the cups till a light golden brown. This takes about 10 minutes but please watch them since all ovens are different. Take them out once they are a beautiful light golden brown.
Cooling The Cups
The phyllo tart cups will remove easily from the muffin tin once baked. Place them on a cooling rack to cool down completely.
Strawberry Coulis Filling
While the pastry cups cool make the strawberry coulis if not already done.
You can use any filling in the cups. Here I've used cream, fresh strawberries, coulis and a touch of sweetness from the sugar coated raw nuts.
Crunchy Sweetness
Toast raw nuts in a dry pan on medium heat. Add sugar and stir for a couple of seconds watching it doesn't burn. The sugar will be sticky holding onto the nuts. Remove and cool before roughly chopping. Use as a crunchy filling for pastries.
Tips and Suggestions
These are beautiful to serve as a dessert or afternoon treat with tea. I would've said with coffee but I've been watching The Crown on Netflix so high tea????
Damp paper: Working on the wet baking paper prevents the pastry from drying out. However you do have to work quickly and not leave the pastry out for long.
Filling: You can also use honey or maple syrup with or without the above crunchy sweetness. Adding a teaspoon of vanilla into the pan is also a great way to boost the flavor and aroma of your filling.
If you make this recipe please let me know by leaving a comment below and if you do share your wonderful photo's on Instagram, do tag me @anosmickitchen or use the hashtag #anosmickitchen because we at The Anosmic Kitchen would love to see yours too!
Strawberry Phyllo Cups
Ingredients
Strawberry Coulis
- 1 recipe strawberry compote
Phyllo Pastry
- 1 roll frozen phyllo pastry thawed
- 100 grams melted butter roughly 7 tablespoons
Filling
- 200 grams crème fraiche or thick whipped cream
- 1 cup strawberries cleaned and sliced into quarters or cubed
- 1 /3 cup raw nuts toasted and roughly chopped (Pecans, almonds etc)
- 2 tbsps soft brown sugar
- fresh mint
Instructions
- Toast the nuts in a dry pan on medium heat until lightly browned and toasted. Add the sugar, stir for a couple of seconds to melt the sugar and remove from the heat to cool. Once cooled, roughly chop and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 180C
- Use cooking spray for a 9 hole muffin pan, spray generously and set aside.
- Measure out a sheet of baking paper larger than the phyllo pastry looks. Squash the paper between your hands and then wet it under the tap so it's damp. Squeeze access water out and spread it out onto a clean work surface. Lay out the phyllo pastry onto the damp baking paper. Peel the plastic covering off and remove the one sheet that you will be working with. Cover the remaining phyllo pastry with a damp cloth.
- Spread the one phyllo pastry onto your work area or board. Use a pastry brush to brush the melted butter between the sheets of the phyllo. Lift one sheet, spread butter, set one side, butter another sheet, set it on top of the one you've just done. Keep going until you've finished the one sheet (layer)Use a couple of sheets of phyllo to press into the muffin tin cups. How many you fit into each cup will depend on you. Just repeat the same process with the remaining phyllo and make sure they all fit more or less equally into the muffin tray.
- Brush the cups with any left over melted butter but be gentle with the layers.
- Bake on the middle rack for 8 to 10 minutes till light golden brown. Do watch them since all ovens differ.
- Cool on a rack until properly cooled down and fill with cream, strawberry coulis, sticky sweet nuts and fresh mint.
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