Tarts shells

Tarts

Hi friends,

Today I am sharing receipe of tarts shell. You can use them with any filling sweet or spicy.Cute and small, thick and crusty, tarts form a great base for desserts. They are usually made of flour, salt and butter, but ingredients like almonds might be added for a special touch. Rubbing the butter lightly with your fingertips while making tarts is an art that you can perfect with practice. Only ice-cold water should be added during preparation, else the butter will melt making it sticky. Tarts taste great by themselves, but they are also used in delicious recipes like strawberry tarts, fruity chocolate tarts and many more.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups plain flour or maida
a pinch of salt
3/4 cup butter (at room temperature)

Method

1.       Sieve the flour and salt together on a plate.

2.       Rub the butter into the flour with your fingertips and mix well.

3.       Gradually add ice-cold water (approx. 3 tbsp) and knead well to make a stiff dough and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes.

4.       Lightly flour the rolling pin and pastry board and keep aside.

5.       Knead the dough again, divide it into 10 equal portions.

6.       Roll out a portion of the dough into a 100 mm. (4”) diameter circle. Place the circle into a 75 mm. (3”) diameter tart case and press the circle gently around the sides of the tart case.

7.       Repeat step 6 to make 9 more tarts.

8.       Prick all over the tarts with the help of a fork.

9.       Arrange the tarts on a baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven at 200ºc (400ºf) for approx. 10 to 15 minutes.

10.   Cool the tart cases and use as required.

Handy tip:

1.       Greasing of tart moulds is not necessary, unless the moulds are new.