Longan Dulce De Leche Tartlets

My brother-in-law brought over a big crate of longans to share with the rest of the family, so we took some and ate some, but still had some, many actually, left over. I surfed through the internet for some interesting longan recipes and came up with longan cake (covered in jelly on top..eww), longan cooling remedy soup, longan ice-cream - that was all, basically. Nothing that really interested me.

Then.... then I came across some tartlets filled with dulce de leche. Now that, that caught my interest! My first encounter with this South American sweet was when I was about, oh, I think 10 years old. My father, who had spent about a month touring ranches in Argentina on a mission buy polo horses, came back with tins and tins and jars and jars of the stuff.  I remembered the thick, sweet smell and sinful taste of the caramelised milk and truth be told, I must've eaten spoonfuls of it! Glanced over at the fresh longans, then looked back at the can of sweetened condensed milk and thought, why not? *happy sly grin*

My homemade dulce de leche.....mmmmmmmnyumm!

Simply put, these decadent tartlets have a graham biscuit or Digestives shell filled with dulce de leche and topped with fresh longan.

Longan Dulce De Leche Tartlets
Makes: 16pcs of 2" tartlets
Ingredients:
Tartlet shells
9 tablespoons butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/4 cup finely ground graham biscuits/Digestive crumbs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of salt

Dulce de leche
1 can condensed milk
Pinch of sea salt

Method:

1. Make tartlet shell dough: In a mixer, cream the butter with the light brown sugar until very smooth and light in color.

2. On low speed, add the vanilla, flour, biscuit crumbs, salt and cinnamon and stir just until well mixed. Turn mixture out onto counter, shape into a flat disk, and wrap with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 200C. Place dough into the tartlet molds and press into the base and side. Trim off excess dough using just your fingers.

4. Prick bottom of shells with fork and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until dark golden brown. Let tart shells cool and tap them gently out of the molds. Set aside.

5. To make the dulce de leche, pour a 400g can of sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish. Stir in a pinch of sea salt. Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate. Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary.

6. Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.

7. To assemble the tartlet, spoon a teaspoonful of dulce de leche into a baked shell. Peel the longan skin and carefully remove the seed, releasing the flesh from the base of the seed. Place one fresh longan on top of the dulce de leche and serve.