-
1
To make pastry, dice butter coarsely.
-
2
Sift flour and salt into a bowl.
-
3
Add butter with lemon juice and water.
-
4
Mix lightly with round bladed knife to make a soft dough, incorporating bits of butter.
-
5
Turn on to floured surface, knead and roll lightly into a thick strip 30x 10cm, keeping edges straight.
-
6
Fold up bottom third of pastry, dust off excess flour.
-
7
Fold down top third of pastry and dust.
-
8
Turn so that top fold is towards left side, Seal edges lightly and reroll and refold four times in all, giving pastry a half turn each time and chill between rolling if pastry becomes too sticky.
-
9
(Always roll in one direction and never over the edges of your dough.)
-
10
Wrap and chill or freeze until ready to use.
-
11
To prepare filling, peel, core and quarter apples.
-
12
Slice quarters into thin crescents 4mm thick.
-
13
Divide puff pastry into six equal parts and roll out each piece to a thickness of one centimetre.
-
14
With a small saucer, cut out pastry discs 11cm in diameter and place on a baking sheet.
-
15
With a biscuit cutter 10cm in diameter, press lightly on each round to make an incision on each, about 1 mm deep.
-
16
This incision allows the edge to rise and form a border around the apples.
-
17
Overlap thinly sliced apples in the inner circle to form a pretty pattern.
-
18
Dot each tartlet with small pieces of butter and sprinkle with sugar and 2-3 lemon peel slivers.
-
19
Cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes, then bake at 200 C for 15-20 minutes.
-
20
When tartlets are well baked, place under the grill for a few minutes to brown apples and paint immediately with hot apricot jam.
