These tartlets use gluten-free bread for an easy quick, crust. Filled with apple, walnuts, green onion and plant-based cheese, they are a perfect gluten-free appetizer. Use your own filling and make them savory, sweet or both.
Easy Gluten-Free Tartlet Crust
Non-gluten-free recipes often use puff pastry for a tart crust. Gluten-free puff pastry is hard to find in the US and is very expensive. Gluten-free bread is a great substitute. Use a moist pliable gluten-free bread – I have had excellent results with Canyon Bakehouse breads.
Here’s how it’s done
- Trim the crust and save it for bread crumbs. (place in zip top bag or container and freeze)
- Use a rolling pin to flatten the bread. Roll it top to bottom to shape it closer to a square. It does not need to be perfectly square.
- Brush both sides with olive oil or melted butter (vegan if you prefer)
- Cut it into four squares.
- Press the squares into a mini muffin tin.
- If fillings need to bake in the crust, first bake empty for 7 minutes, then add the filling and bake another 4-5 minutes. If using cold or pre-cooked filling, bake the crusts for 10 minutes, then fill.
Tartlet Fillings
The filling recipe below includes cheese (I use Violife plant-based Epic Mature), diced apple, walnuts and green onion. But these tartlet shells have endless possibilities for fillings. Cheese and fruit are always an excellent combination. Dried fruit like apricots, dates, pears and figs are good options. Fresh fruit like apples, pears, cherries work well. Fruits with high water content like citrus will make the tartlet soggy, Add a crunchy element like chopped nuts or seeds and something with a little zing like onion, hot peppers or chili flakes or and you have the perfect bite. If creating your own filling be sure to combine sweet, salty, and tangy with creamy and crunchy.
Here are a few other ideas:
- Brie and date with chopped walnuts
- Feta, honey and dried apricots with pistachios
- Sautéed mushrooms and onion with shaved parmesan
- Bacon, onion and cheddar
- Thai coconut chicken
- Eggplant Caponata
More Gluten-Free Appetizer Recipes
Be sure to check out more of my gluten-free appetizer recipes including my gluten-free tartlets with brie and date and gluten-free Thai coconut chicken on baby bok choy leaves and the ever popular gluten-free corn-dog bites.
Sweet and Savory Gluten-Free Tartlets
These tartlets use gluten-free bread for an easy crust and are filled with diced apple, walnuts, green onion and vegan cheese for a gluten-free appetizer that is a perfect, elegant bite.
Ingredients
- 3 slices pliable gluten-free bread
- 3 Tbsp olive oil, melted butter or vegan butter
- 3/4 cup finely shredded cheese (I use Violife Epic Mature)
- 1/2 apple, finely diced
- 1/3 c finely chopped walnuts
- 1 green onion finely chopped
Instructions
If using different fillings, see notes below.
- Preheat the oven to 350°
- See above for visuals on how to create the tartlet shells.
- Trim the crust off the bread and save the crusts for bread crumbs. (place in zip top bag or container and freeze)
- Use a rolling pin to flatten the bread. Roll it top to bottom to shape it closer to a square. It does not need to be perfectly square.
- Brush both sides with olive oil or melted butter (vegan if you prefer).
- Cut it into four squares.
- Press the squares into a mini muffin tin, molding it to the shape of the tin.
- First bake empty shells for 7 minutes. Then add the shredded cheese and bake another 4-5 minutes.
- Top with diced apple, walnuts and green onion.
- These tartlets can be served hot or cold.
Notes
If using fillings that need to bake in the shell:
Bake empty shells for 7 minutes, then add the filling and bake another 4-5 minutes.
If using cold or pre-cooked filling:
Bake the shells for 10 minutes, then fill.
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