Caramleized Onion Tartlets

Are you sick of all those parties yet? Hosting one of your own this weekend? Here is a great recipe I found on Food Network. It's by one of my favorite TV hosts, Sandra Lee. (This recipe is from her Semi-Homemade show. I love watching that show - if only to see what her new valance is!)  I've changed a few things from her recipe - for one, I used fresh onion. I also used ricotta cheese instead of goat cheese.

These tarts are really good, even for people like me who aren't wild about onions. The onions get sweet when you caramelize them. They pair really well with the ricotta too. And you know me well enough by now that if it has a crust I'll probably enjoy it.

The hardest part about this recipe is pressing the pie crust into the mini muffin tins. It's time consuming, but worth it. Save yourself the hassle and use the refrigerated crusts. Unroll the dough and cut out your circles for your mini muffin tin.

I don't have a 2 1/2" round cookie cutter, so I used a small glass. Just make sure it is close to the size you need.

 

Now press your cutouts into a mini muffin tin. The recipe said I'd get 24, but I only got 23. (I probably could have re-rolled the extra crust and gotten a few more.)

Now it's time to make your onions. Slice them thin and add them to heated pan lined with olive oil and butter.  Add some sugar and salt and cook until caramelized. Here's how mine looked:

I only used one onion and my tartlets could have used more. So I suggest using two medium sized onions. They are onion tarts, after all.

 

Mix together your ricotta, egg, cream, and thyme. I added it to the tartlets with a spoon. You can also use a pastry bag or a ziploc bag (leave a little section open for air to escape and snip one corner).

 

Fill your tartlet shells with onions.  Then top with your ricotta mixture. Bake for 10-15 minutes at 375 degrees until they are browned. Cool for a few minutes and remove from pans.

(The pan on the left is silicone. I highly recommend them if you are asking for pans from Santa this year. It's super easy to remove things from a silicone pan. I sprayed the nonstick one with cooking spray and still had to use a butter knife and lots of patience to remove the tartlets without ruining them!)

 

Yeah, 23 didn't quite make it to the plate. Mmmm...good!

Happy Partying!

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