Description
These dainty Coconut Tarts or Baskets are a delight to the eyes and ohhh soo delicious! Today I am going to show you how to make tart shells from scratch. These tarts can be filled with a variety of goodness, including the traditional sweet coconut filling!
Ingredients
For the Tarts
- 1¾ cup (230 grams) All Purpose Flour, spooned and leveled
- ⅓ cup ( 63 grams) Powdered Sugar (Powdered White Granulated Sugar)
- ¼ tsp (2 grams) Salt
- ½ cup (113 grams) Unsalted Butter, cold & cubed
- 1 Egg, chilled
- 1 tbsp Heavy Whipping Cream
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
For the filling
- 2 ½ cups (235 grams) Unsweetened Desiccated Coconut
- ⅛ tsp Salt
- 1 cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
- ¼ tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
- A dash of Pink Food Colour (or any colour of your choice)
- A dash of Green Food Colour
Method
To make the Tarts
- In a bowl, mix the all purpose flour, powder sugar and salt.
- Add in the chilled butter cubes and using a pastry blender cut the butter into the flour till you get a sand like texture.
- In a separate bowl, mix the egg, cream and vanilla extract till well blended.
- Now add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients with the wet to bring it together.
- Once it has almost come together, empty it on a work surface and using your hands, quickly bring it to form a soft dough.
- Divide the dough into two portions and wrap them up in a plastic wrap and place them in the refrigerator for 2 hours or overnight to firm up.
- Preheat the oven to 325F/160C.
- Work with one disk at a time. Dust the work surface with a little flour and roll out the dough to about 1/8th inch thickness.
- We are using a 2¼” diameter tart form so we are going to use a 3¼” diameter cookie cutter to cut out disks.
- Place the cut out disk in the tart form without stretching the dough and gently press it on the bottom and against the sides of the form. Now using a knife or your fingers, shave off any excess dough.
- Place all the prepared tarts on a baking sheet and cover with a plastic wrap. Place them in the refrigerator for 20 minutes for the dough to firm up.
- While that is happening, roll out and make the tarts from the second disc.
- Keep all the excess dough from both the disks to make the handles.
- To make the handles, roll out the dough lengthwise and a little thinner than what you had rolled out for the tarts. Cut it into ¼ – ½ “ strips. Now take one strip and cut it down the center. Press one end firm to the work surface and separate the two strips. Intertwine the two strips to form a rope-like effect. Turn each strip to form into a “U” and place it on a lined baking sheet. It’s nice to make a few extra handles. Cover and place the prepared handles in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.
- Now take the first tray of tarts which has firmed up and using a fork press holes on the bottom of the tarts to allow the air to escape and prevent the tarts from getting air bubbles.
- Take a second set of empty tart forms and gently but firmly place them on top of the filled tart forms while trying to match the design of the forms.
- Place the tarts in the preheated oven and bake for 4 minutes. Then take them out of the oven and carefully press the top empty tart down so as to bring the dough back up.
- Now place the baking tray with the tarts back into the oven and bake for 6 minutes.
- After 6 minutes, take them out of the oven and remove the top empty tart form. The tarts dough would have firmed up by now.
- Place the tarts back into the oven for 10 minutes to finish baking.
- Once fully backed, allow the tarts to cool completely before unmolding
- Repeat the process for the remaining tarts.
- Now bake the firmed up handles for 10 minutes. Once baked, allow them to cool completely.
To make the Filling
- In a bowl add the unsweetened desiccated coconut and salt and give it a quick mix.
- Pour in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla. Using a spatula fold the desiccated coconut into the condensed milk till all the desiccated coconut has got well coated with the condensed milk.
For Assembling the Coconut Baskets
- Divide the filling into three portions. Mix a little green food colour in one, a little pink colour in the other and leave one white or you can colour it with your favourite colour if you like.
- In the cooled tarts, add a spoonful of the pink coconut in the center. Edge it off with the green coconut to create a leaf effect. Add a few dashes of white and green coconut on the top of the baskets to form a basket of flowers with leaves.
- For a little glitter, add a few silver edible ball on the top.
- Finish off the baskets by placing the handles on the top.
