Salted Caramel and Walnut Tarts

I love salted caramel! The perfect balance of sweet and salty is not easy to achieve in a caramel, perhaps, because personal tastes are subjective. Some people like things a little more sweet – others a bit more salty. But these delicious, sweet, salty crunchy and nutty tarts came out to be just perfect for me. Although, I must admit, I’m a bit biased. Totally 100% biased. But you will still love them. Who can resist the perfect salted caramel?

The salted caramel sauce is the rockstar of this recipe. I have to confess, as much as I love salted caramel, I have never done it myself before this recipe. And it took me only three batches to get it right. I’ve tried out three different techniques, and this last one that I’m about to show you is the one to use.

Ingredients:

1 cup coconut flour

1 cup butter

2 cups walnuts

1 egg

1/2 lemon juice

2 1/4 cups sugar

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup milk or heavy cream

1 tsp of salt

First, slightly toast the walnuts in the pan over medium high heat, for about 8 minutes. You can roast them in the baking sheet, but I find the pan method is even more convenient.

To prepare the crust, combine coconut flour, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/2 cup butter, lemon juice and egg in the food processor and mix well until the dough ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic film and place it in the freezer for 15 minutes to get it harden up a bit.

In the meantime, make the caramel sauce. Most homemade caramel sauce recipes call for heavy cream. However, this isn’t an ingredient that everyone has on hand at all times. If you want to make the caramel sauce without running to the store, the combination of milk and butter would work just fine.

Heat 2 cups of sugar and a few tablespoons of water in a medium-sized saucepan over medium-high heat. The sugar will begin to melt. Do not stir until you see all the sugar liquified and it turned a nice deep caramel color. Give it a gentle swirl once in a while, but it’s important not to stir, so be patient for about 8 minutes. Carefully add the remaining 1/2 cup butter, and stir quickly until all of the butter is melted and fully incorporated into the melted sugar. Be careful not to burn yourself as the butter will bubble a bit. Remove the pan from the heat and add 1/2 cup milk, whisking until a nice smooth caramel sauce forms. Stop whisking and allow the caramel to cool to room temperature. Then stir in the salt.

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Then remove the dough from the freezer and press it into a well-greased tart tins using your fingers. Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the tins from the oven and allow it to cool completely.

To assemble the tarts, evenly space the walnuts on top of the crust and pour the cooled salted caramel sauce over them.

Store the salted caramel and walnut tarts in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. If you have any remaining caramel sauce, you know what to do with it, right? Right!