Coconut Tarts
Ingredients:
For the pastry:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 cup shortening
- 4 Tablespoons ice water
For the filling:
- 1/4 cup raspberry jam
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup salted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups unsweetened, shredded coconut
Instructions:
- Make the pastry. Cut shortening (or butter if you prefer) into flour and salt. Mix with pastry blender until it forms pea-sized bits.
- Add water and mix with a fork until dough forms. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour or more.
- Roll out the crust on a floured surface (I’m a big fan of pastry mats), making sure there is flour on your rolling pin as well. Keep the rolling pin constantly floured as you go to prevent the dough from sticking.
- This recipe makes 15-16 tarts so you will want to use a circular cookie cutter or a drinking glass to cut out circles. The tarts will be baked in a muffin tin so the circles should be just slightly larger than a muffin cup. You will have to sort of ease the pastry into the cups until it touches the bottom, and the sides should come up a little higher than halfway on the cup. If you have any tears in your pastry, you can use a little ice water and some pastry scraps to patch them up.
- Make the filling. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
- Spoon 1/2 teaspoon of jam into the bottom of each tart shell.
- Whisk the eggs in a small bowl until smooth.
- Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Then stir that mixture into the eggs until smooth.
- Stir in melted butter, lemon juice and vanilla and mix until well combined.
- Stir in coconut until it is evenly incorporated throughout the filling.
- Fill tart shells about 2/3 full. Bake at 375 degrees F. for 20-25 minutes until the coconut filling is golden brown, and the tart shell is browned. Immediately run a very sharp knife around the edges of the pastry so they do not stick as they cool.
- Cool tarts completely before removing from the pan. Sometimes I find it easiest to pop the whole pan in the freezer for 10-15 minutes before removing them.