You Only Want Me For My Tartlets
I was kind of extra word babbly yesterday, huh? Sorry about that. I can’t promise it won’t happen again, because I’m pretty sure it will. But today I’ll keep it simple, because I have approximately 671 things I want to get done before Saturday, most of which pertain to Alaina’s upcoming baby shower party, and others for my own personal sanity.
I promised to share with you the absolute best party appetizer of all time — the thing that guarantees instant popularity at any function for the person who brings them. They’re not fancy, and most “foodies” would cringe at their unapologetic use of dried herbs and pre-made biscuit dough, but for some reason, people just can’t get enough of ’em. It is for these tasty little bites that I overcome my fear of refrigerated, popping biscuit tubes time and time again.
The recipe is called Bacon Tomato Tartlets, but you just might want to call them Tartlets in case you’re around anyone who has a fear of tomatoes or bacon. Plus, “tartlets” is just fun to say. Justin hates tomatoes, yet he would gobble up a whole batch of these if I let him. And if you don’t like bacon, then I think you might have problems.
My fantastic neighbor gave me this recipe, and she got it from her fantastic friend, and I’m not sure where it originated before that. I posted the recipe here on Tasty Kitchen, so go give me my first review if you make them!
But only if you think they’re good.

To make them, you will need:
- 1 (12 oz.) can refrigerated, flaky biscuit dough (This HAS to be the flaky stuff. You’ll see why in a sec.)
- 6 strips of bacon, cooked and crumbled
- 1 medium tomato, seeded and diced
- 3 oz. Mozzarella cheese, shredded (I probably use more like 5 oz. when I’m guesstimating.)
- 1/2 c. Hellmann’s Real Mayonnaise (I’m pretty sure this has to be Hellmann’s. Don’t argue with me about this, and don’t you dare use that crap they call Miracle Whip. The only miracle is that it doesn’t make me vomit. You have been warned.)
- 1 tsp. dried basil
- 1 tsp. dried thyme
- 1/2 tsp. dried oregano
- 3/4 tsp. garlic salt

You can see I used 2 Roma tomatoes this time in lieu of 1 medium tomato. Just go with what you have — the ingredients don’t need to be exact.
1) Cook your bacon on the stove until crispy. Even if you normally like chewy bacon, you have to remember that this isn’t about you right now — it’s about the tartlets. And the tartlets need it crispy. Just lay the bacon in a cool skillet (I love to use my cast iron grill pan), turn the heat to medium-high, and let it cook in its own grease for a bit. When the bottom turns brown, flip and do the same to the other side.

mmm… bacon.
Once it’s cooked, crumble it up on a paper towel to soak up the grease.

2) Mix all of the ingredients (except the biscuit dough) together in a bowl.

*TIP: At this point you can cover and refrigerate the mixture for a day or two before preparing the tartlets if you don’t want to make everything the day you need them.
3) Remove the biscuit dough from the refrigerator (this step is easier to do if the dough is cold), try not to jump out of your panties when you pop the tube open, and separate each biscuit into 3 layers. This is why they need to be the flaky kind.

See how they separate naturally?
Spray a mini muffin tin with non-stick spray and use each 1/3 biscuit to line each muffin cup. There will be enough for exactly 24 mini tarts. Aka tartlets. Why is that word so fun??

4) Fill each biscuit cup with your filling mixture and bake at 350-degrees F for 10-12 minutes until the biscuits are lightly browned.

Some might poof up more than others, but it’s very likely no one will notice since they’ll be gone in approximately 4.8 seconds.
And everyone will be like, Where did that extremely popular person go who made those delicious tartlets? I think those were like… the best tartlets I ever tasted in my life. Go tartlets! Tartlets. Tartlets. Tartlets. Why is that word so awesome?
And you can just sit back and bask in the glory.

Just try not to eat them all before you leave the house.
Comments
“Tartlets….tartlets…tartlets. The word has lost all meaning on me” – a stoned Jon Lovitz on Friends.
These look amazing, Katie. I’m gonna have to make them this weekend. Oh yeah, and it won’t even be for a par-tay.
You know, I was an avid watcher of that show, and I don’t remember that part! But now I love the word even more. :)
My sister and I sometimes make these just to eat them. Ain’t no shame.
This sounds so good! I’m going to have to substitute puff pastry, because we don’t do those refrigerated biscuits, but I’m definitely making these. They look delicious! Thanks for sharing.
I bet these would be so good with puff pastry. I’ll admit I use the biscuits for convenience, but a biscuit cutter would do the trick. Let me know what you think if you try them!
ohhh wow sounds awesome … just not sure about the mayo not that I have anything against mayo but bacon, cheese, eggs, spices ,,,,if i had that on a plate they would be the “in crowd” mayo would be like me just looking in the window but not part of the group …. so what does it actually do to get inside the party on this occasion. ….
The Mayo in this recipe is basically the glue that holds everything else together. I suppose you could try using egg or something instead, but trust me when I tell you that you don’t really taste it — the bacon, cheese, and spices are the show-stealers. :)
those look absolutely delightful.
damnit.
i’m still making that soup on a regular basis too
I think you’re the only person I know who regularly makes soup in the summer.
I kind of love that.
Do you post to Australia?
You mean do I send mail there?
Nice site!
Yes, do you send tartlets? I’ll have three dozen please. Warm.
Hmm. It’ll cost you $10 for a batch of tartlets, and $800 for shipping. OR, for the cost of a first-class airline ticket from North Carolina to Australia, I’ll bake as many as you want. In person.
We can track the recipe a little further.. The recipe is from Dave’s mum who got it from a local cookbook in Colleyville, Texas:)
Ahhh, it would’ve been so much nicer to say I got the recipe from a friend’s mother-in-law! Well THANK YOU for the recipe — it makes me feel loved. :)
(P.S. I love how you’re saying “mum” now that you’re in London. :)
Hmmm…tartlets or hummus for the picnic this weekend. choices choices.
Just go ahead and make ’em both. ;)
These sound awesome… but we don’t get pre-made biscuit dough (flaky or otherwise) in the UK – any ideas about what it contains so I can set about making these with a first step of making the dough… Thank you!
Hmmm… do you have frozen puff pastry dough? I think that would work quite nicely. Otherwise, I suppose you could make biscuit dough from scratch, but that would definitely be a lot more work! :)
We do get frozen puff pastry – great! Cross-cultural confusion – biscuits here are cookies to you, and the only reason I have a concept of biscuits as they are to you, is from reading American blogs, and an American cookbook that we had growing up. Thank you for your help on this – they look so good!
Just stumbled on this: “and don’t you dare use that crap they call Miracle Whip. The only miracle is that it doesn’t make me vomit.” I agree wholeheartedly, unfortunately chauffeur’s mother only used MW, see I can’t even say it (or type it), so I had to suffer through a lot of this.. Gotta try these, but more importantly I have to remember your blog when I need something different to cook, ohh, can you put up a feature that instantly downloads your recipes into my files? ;)
I just made these (and tweeted about it) for a Halloween party tonight. I don’t have mini-muffin tins, so I doubled the recipe and made larger tarlets. Then I stuffed the leftover filling into some Pilsbury crescent rolls – they all look delicious!
So great! I bet they’re awesome as bigger tartlets — did they cook up okay like that? How’d they taste? :)