Today, I was gchatting my mom about tradition, and we both concluded that we are anti-tradition for the sake of tradition.  I believe she said something to the exact tune of: If it’s poop, it’s poop — tradition or not!

Still, there are some culinary traditions that I’m willing to honor for the sake of deliciousness, like caramel apples every fall.  This year, Alex and I bought two bags of Kraft caramels for the task.  We were all set to start dipping when we became distracted by the leftover pie crust in the refrigerator.  Abandon tradition to incorporate soon-to-spoil leftovers in an attempt to recreate my favorite fall flavors in a new and improved dessert?  Yes, plz.

These tartlets are inspired by pimped-out caramel apples: the ones with caramel, chocolate, nuts, the works.  They taste as delicious, and stick to your teeth with the same persistence (in case you were worried about that).  They were well worth the betrayal of tradition, but no guarantees that we won’t sneak in some old-fashioned caramel apples before the season’s over.

Ingredients:
1 recipe pie crust
2 apples, peeled and sliced into the thin, 1-inch pieces
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp bourbon
½ cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
20 caramels
½ cup chocolate chips

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350.  Roll out dough and press into mini tartlet pans.  Add weight to pans by lining them with tin foil, and filling each with rice.  Bake shells for 15 minutes with the weights, and an additional 5 minutes without them.  While shells are cooking, heat butter in a pan.  Add apples, cinnamon, sugar, and bourbon and cook for 5 minutes, until apples are soft.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Once shells are cooked and ready to fill, melt caramels in the microwave by heating for 30 seconds, then stirring.  Add a tsp of caramel to the bottom of each tart, then fill with apple.  Top apples with toasted walnuts, then drizzle additional melted caramel.  Melt chocolate chips by microwaving for 30 seconds then stirring, and drizzle chocolate on top.