Description
These mini coconut tartlets are naturally gluten free and are a versatile dessert. They’re fancy enough for a holiday dessert tray and can have a variety of fillings. Yet they can also be a tiny dessert, perfect after a big meal yet not too filling.
These tartlets are also a year round treat that will hold any filling, lemon curd is my personal favourite.
Participants at my Thai cooking class made these tartlets with an Asian spin. We filled them with vanilla-whipped cream and topped them with slivered crystallized ginger. Other options include lime curd or mango mousse. A garnish of fresh mango or other exotic fruit would make a slightly more substantial dessert.
Baking Pans for Coconut Tartlets
A mini muffin tin with smooth sides is all you need to recreate many little treats. For everyday home cooks you only need a few baking pans. Using your imagination to decorate and serve your baking is what adds variety to the food your serve.
Tips For Making Coconut Tartlets
There is a hack for just about everything from peeling garlic to opening young coconuts and cutting pomegranates. There is a hack for slicing mangos and ripening avocados. And there is a hack for these coconut tartlets.
Readers told me they had trouble getting these little tartlets out of the pan after they were cooked. Here are some tips for getting them in and out of the mini muffin tin.
- Press the coconut mixture into a round 1-tablespoon measuring spoon.
- Bang the mixture out of the measuring spoon into the tart tin.
- Flip the little half-ball over so the rounded part is on the bottom.
- Push the coconut into the sides of the tin making an indent for the filling.
- Remove the tartlets before completely cooled.
- Use a small, firm spatula, to loosen the outsides of each tartlet and remove it from the pan.
Let me know in the comments below if you got the cooked tartlets out of the pan with ease. Next time I make them I’m going to skip the sugar as Gill suggested. (See notes in the recipe.)
A Thai Menu
These tartlets are perfect to end any Asian inspired menu like this Dinner Club Menu – Thai Menu.
Mini Coconut Tartlets
These cute, little coconut tartlets garnished with candied ginger are the perfect dessert to end an Asian inspired meal. They are equally delicious filled with lemon curd any time of year.
Servings: 16 tartlets
Ingredients
COCONUT TARTLETS
- 2 egg whites
- 1½ cups shredded, unsweetened coconut*
- ¼ cup sugar** (optional)
VANILLA-WHIPPED CREAM
- 1 cup whipping cream
- 1 vanilla bean (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
- ½ oz crystallized ginger, cut into slivers
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray mini muffin tins with oil.
- In a large bowl stir egg whites until frothy.
- Stir coconut and sugar into the egg whites. Mix until the mixture holds together when you squeeze it in the palm of your hand.
- Form a heaping tablespoon of the coconut mixture into a ball and place it in the tin. Using your thumb or a liqueur glass, press the ball into the sides of the tin. The crust should be about ¼ inch thick.
- Bake tartlets until golden brown, about 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let cool slightly. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely. Can be made several days in advance.
VANILLA-WHIPPED CREAM
- Cut vanilla bean in half lengthwise. Scrape seeds into cream (reserve pod for another use). Beat cream until soft peaks form.
SERVING
- Fill coconut tartlets with vanilla-whipped cream just before serving.
- Garnish with crystallized ginger. Serve.
Notes
*I sometimes find it hard to buy unsweetened coconut. Sweetened coconut works well too.
**Thanks to Gill for this tip - Try these without sugar and they come out of the pan beautifully. Since coconut is sweet this makes perfect sense, I just haven't tried it yet.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
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