Mandarin Crumble Questions

Can I use fresh mandarins instead of canned ones?

You can, but you will need to compensate for the juice the recipe relies on: the filling is thickened with the syrup from the can plus 1 tsp cornstarch. With fresh fruit, peel and segment about 175 g of mandarins, remove as much white pith and membrane as possible, and use roughly the same amount of fresh or bottled juice to cook the starch. Fresh segments hold more liquid, so drain them well before spooning them onto the bases.

My crumble turned into a paste instead of crumbs - what went wrong?

The topping only crumbles if the 35 g of butter is genuinely cold and you rub it in with your fingertips, not your palms. Warm hands or softened butter emulsify the butter into the flour and sugar and you get a smooth dough instead. If it happens, chill the mixture for 15 minutes and break it up again with a fork before scattering it over the filling.

How far ahead can I prepare the components?

The dough needs chilling anyway, so it can be made a day ahead and kept wrapped in the fridge. The mandarin filling also keeps well once cooked and cooled, and the crumble mixture can be rubbed together and stored cold in a sealed container. Assemble and bake on the day you want to serve them, and dust with powdered sugar only after they have cooled.

How should I store the baked tartlets and how long do they keep?

Let them cool completely first, otherwise steam from the fruit filling softens the crumble. Store them in a container at room temperature, loosely covered rather than airtight, so the topping stays crisp. Because of the moist mandarin filling they are best within a couple of days, and it is worth dusting with powdered sugar fresh before serving since it dissolves on standing.

Why did my filling leak out or make the base soggy?

Two things cause it: mandarins that were not drained thoroughly, and too much filling per tartlet. The recipe deliberately calls for only 1-2 tsp per base, and the dough circles line just the bottom of the mold, not the sides, so there is no wall to hold extra liquid. Make sure the cornstarch mixture is actually cooked briefly until it thickens - undercooked starch stays runny and will run out during the 30 minutes in the oven.