Some foods go in and out of fashion.  A cooked avocado entrée is a good example.  As I mentioned in my last post, they were very exotic and glam in the early eighties but haven’t been seen on fashionable tables since.  And some food will always please …  I have been making this recipe for 25 years and it is as good today, and as well received, as it was 25 years ago.

I would have, originally, honed in on the recipe because Maus loves coconut.  I probably made them as a treat for her but they are equally perfect for a kid’s lunchbox or as an end to a dinner party.

Maus has been eating these non-stop since I made them.  I don’t know how she stays so slim.  She just loves them.  The recipe makes quite a few so, if you haven’t a Maus in your house, it is good to know they freeze well.  Take them out of the freezer a short while before you want to eat them and they will be perfect.  They are even good straight from the freezer.

It is very difficult to gauge how many you will make.  I seem to make a different number each time.  It all depends on how big your cups are, how thickly you roll your pastry and how generous you are with the filling.  Don’t over-fill the cases, though.  If you put in too much filling, it will seep out over the tray whilst they are cooking.

The recipe is from The Australian Women’s Weekly Easy Entertaining Cookbook.  You will need two 12-cup patty tin (tartlet tin) trays or 18 tartlet tins.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup plain flour
• ½ cup self-raising flour
• 2 tbs* caster sugar
• 125g cold butter, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs* cold water (approx)
•  jam (the recipe said apricot but I used blackberry)
•  red glacé cherries

*These are 20 mil tablespoons.

Filling:

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 3 tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3½ cups coconut
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 60g butter, melted

1. Combine flours, sugar and butter in your food processor and process until combined.
2. Add the egg then process until combined.
3. Whilst the processor is still running, drizzle in (very slowly) the cold water.  Stop when the dough begins to clump together.
4. Tip the dough onto your work bench and knead to form a ball (if you can’t, add a drop or two more water).
   Alternatively, if you don’t have a food processor, make the pastry by hand .
5. Cover the pastry and refrigerate, at least, 30 minutes.
6. Take the pastry out of the fridge.  If it is a little stiff, wait until it softens a bit.
7. If your pans are not non-stick, rub a little butter into each cup.
8. Take a piece of pastry and roll it out until it is nice and thin.  Using a 7.5cm scone cutter, cut out a circle.  Place it into one of the cups, gently easing it into the corners. (I find it easier to roll the pastry a bit at a time, rather than the whole lot at once.)  Repeat until you have used up all your pastry.
9. Place ½ teaspoon of jam into each pastry case.

Filling:

1. Combine the water and sugar in a saucepan and stir over low heat until sugar is dissolved.
2. Bring to boil.  Boil 3 minutes without stirring.  Set aside to cool for 5 minutes.
3. Lightly whisk the eggs in a small bowl then add the milk and vanilla.  Mix to combine.
4. Place the coconut in a large bowl, add the baking powder and whisk it to ensure it is well combined.
5. Add sugar syrup, egg mixture and butter to the coconut.  Mix well.
6. Spoon the coconut mixture evenly into pastry cases.
7. Top each tartlet with a piece of glacé cherry.
8. Bake at 180°C for 30 minutes.  Cool 5 minutes before removing from tins to a wire rack to cool.