Hazelnut Tartlets

We were looking around a home ware store the other weekend and they had mini tart cases on sale at 60% off - I brought them (of course). I also HAD to use them straight away and these cute little hazelnut tartlets are the result.

I adored these tarts. The pastry was deliciously short and reminded me of the pastry in the tarts from a specialist bakery (I was pretty impressed with myself actually!!)  and the simple, no bake filling was light and bursting with delicious flavor. This tarts make a fantastic, simple dessert. They also keep very well in the fridge for about 3 days.

Hazelnut Tartlets

Makes 6

Pastry:

2 1/4 Cups plain flour
1/4 Cup sugar
1 tsp salt
175 g (6 oz) butter, chilled and chopped
2 egg yolks
2 Tbsp chilled water

Filling:

500 g (18 oz) mascarpone
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 Cup Nutella (or other hazelnut spread)
a handful of crushed hazelnuts to garnish

1. To make the pastry, combine the flour, sugar, salt and butter in a food processor until it resembles a fine crumb. With the processor still running, add the egg yolks and water. Continue to process until the dough comes together.

2. Turn out onto a clean surface and bring the dough together into a ball. Shape into a thick disk, wrap in cling film, and chill for at least 30 minutes.

3.  Preheat your oven to 200C (400F) and grease 6 mini tart cases (or 1 large tart case). divide the dough into equal portions and roll out each portion to about 1/2 cm thick (0.2 inch), Line the pastry in the tins and return to the refrigerator for 10 minutes. Blind bake the pastry cases with baking beads for 15 minutes, remove beads and baking paper and bake for a further 10 minutes. Allow to cool before removing from the tins.

4. Make the filling by mixing the mascarpone, vanilla, and Nutella together in a bowl. Divide the filling equally between the pastry cases, sprinkle with crushed hazelnuts, and serve.