This recipe is adapted from Tortoises and Tumbleweeds cookbook by Lannice Snyman.

 

Ingredients

Shortcrust Pastry

250g cake flour or all purpose flour

50g icing sugar or confectioners sugar

1ml salt

150g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1 egg

Filling

450g smooth apricot jam

2 egg whites at room temperature

100g castor sugar or granulated sugar

2ml vanilla extract

50g desiccated unsweetened coconut

 

Directions:

For the shortcrust pastry sift together the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until crumbled and only pea-sized pieces remain. Add the egg and mix until dough comes together. Shape the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 200C or 400F. Roll the pastry dough out onto a floured surface until about 1/8inch thick. Cut into 4 inch circles using either a cookie cutter or a large glass. Grease a standard muffin tin and line with the pastry circles to form little baskets. Prick the bottoms then freeze for 30 minutes. Bake for 12-15 minutes until pale golden. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling reduce the over the 180C or 360F. Fill the tarts with 1-2 tablespoons of apricot jam. In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or in a bowl using a hand mixer, beat the egg white to stiff peaks. Slowly add the sugar in batches, beating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla extract. Using a spatula gently fold in the desiccated coconut, taking care not to overmix.

Spoon or pipe the coconut meringue onto the jam filled pastries and bake for 15-20 minutes until the meringue is crisp. Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then lift out and cool completely on a wire rack.