Strawberry and Coconut Tarts and One Year Blog-iversary!

It is hard to believe that I have been blogging for one whole year already! I feel like I have learned so much in this year, about baking, blogging and about myself. Sugabuttacream has been a great way to express my creativeness and practice photography and writing (God knows I need it!). I have made things I never thought I would bother to attempt and learned some great skills and techniques along the way. Gosh its definitely about 'the journey' isn't it.

Admittedly this anniversary snuck up on me and I would have liked to have done something a bit more amazing and celebratory-like for this post. But shortcrust pastry tarts are something I have been meaning to make since I bought my food processor so it seemed as good a time as any to try it out now.  This is such a simple pastry recipe and can be used for any sort of sweet tart. These are my twist on the classic strawberry jam and coconut slice and taste just as delicious!

Strawberry and Coconut Tarts

Recipe adapted from Taste.com and Generations of Bush Cooking

What you will need

For the pastry

250g plain flour

125g chilled butter, cubed

1/3 cup caster sugar

1 egg yolk

1tbsp cold water

For the filling

1/2 cup strawberry jam

For the topping

1 egg

1/6 cup sugar

1 cup shredded coconut

What you will need to do

I plan to refer back to this recipe for future shortcrust needs so I have added some visuals for the steps. 

Place flour, sugar and butter into food processor bowl. 

Process until resembles fine crumbs.

Add egg yolk and water.

Process until comes together and forms a ball.

Turn out onto floured surface and kneed lightly until smooth.

Shape into a round disc and place in the fridge to rest for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180*C. Remove pastry from fridge and place on floured surface.

Roll pastry out to about 5mm thick.

Using a round cutter, cut out as many rounds as you can. Take the remaining off cuts and roll out again and cut out more rounds. You should be able to get about 8-10 rounds.

Place the rounds into silicone cupcake trays and gently push down to line the bottom and sides.

Using a fork, poke some holes in the bottom of the tarts.

Bake for 10 -15 minutes or until slightly golden. Leave to cool slightly in tray then gently remove and place on cooling rack.

For the filling, place about 2 teaspoons of jam into each tart to almost fill them. 

For the topping, beat the egg and sugar together until light and fluffy. Stir in the coconut until completely combined. Divide the topping evenly between the tarts, spoon onto the tops. Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes until toppings start to brown. For extra crisp top, use a blowtorch to scorch the tops.