I recently made the most heavenly mini tartlets: instead of pastry cream, I filled them with a spoonful of rose petal jam from the Mandarin, then topped them with fresh berries. The baked dough is delicious enough to eat plain. Because of the high fat content - butter, cream and egg yolks - it is rich and delicate. You can use the dough for larger tarts, but if you are filling them with rose petal jam, the mini tartlet size (about 4 cm) gives the perfect proportion of crisp shell, perfumed jam and acid-sweet fruit. The tartlets are best eaten within two hours of filling, because the pastry becomes soggy. Sugar Dough 3 cups plain flour .5 cup castor sugar .125 tsp salt 1 pack (227 grams) cold unsalted butter 2 egg yolks .25 cup cold heavy cream Put the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into 2 cm pieces and toss them in the flour. With your fingers, break the butter into flour-coated pea-size pieces. Whisk together the yolks and cream. Make a well in the flour/butter mixture and pour in the yolks and cream. Stir with your fingers until evenly mixed but do not overwork. Knead lightly, until dough just comes together, then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate. To shape into tartlets, press a small amount of dough evenly into tartlet molds. It should be very thin because it rises slightly when baked. Chill in fridge for an hour before baking in a 180-degree Celsius oven. Cool before filling.
