PASTRY CASES

1. Combine sifted flour, icing sugar, (plus cornstarch and xanthan gum if making GF pastry) in a large bowl. Add softened coconut oil and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingers until your flour looks like breadcrumbs and there are no lumps of coconut oil left.
2. Add cold water – be careful, do it gradually – how much water you’ll need depends on how absorbent your flour is. I added just under 2 tbsp. Combine all the ingredients into a dough gently, but do not knead (that’s important for the gluten version) or the pastry will be tough. Wrap it in a piece of cling film and chill in the fridge for 45 minutes.
3. Remove the dough from the fridge and divide into 6 portions. Roll each portion out between two sheets of baking paper until you get a rough circle, about 2 mm in thickness. Place the rolled-out dough over a mini tart case and gently line the inside of the hole with the pastry. Tuck the pastry in well, ensuring that it snugly fits into all the nooks and crannies. Trim the excess pastry with a sharp knife. Repeat with the remaining tart cases.
4. Pierce the pastry with a fork in a few places and chill pastry-lined tart cases in the fridge for about another about 60 minutes.
5. 45 min into pastry chilling time, preheat the oven to 175° C / 350° F. Line the pastry cases with pieces of baking paper and fill with baking beads or rice for a blind bake.
6. Blind bake the pastry for 10 minutes. Remove the paper and beads and bake for another 10 minutes.

PISTACHIO FRANGIPANE FILLING

1. If you can’t find pistachio meal, grind shelled pistachios in a coffee grinder and sift. Return large pieces that remain on the sieve back into the grinder and grind again until you get a fine powder. Mix the two together well. If you don’t have a coffee grinder, you can use a food processor instead , but that will result in a coarser grind and therefore a less delicate frangipane.
2. While the pastry cases are baking, prepare the filling. Cream oil and sugar with an electric whisk. Next, whisk in the flour. Finally add aquafaba, one tablespoon at a time. Whisk well after each portion of aquafaba.
3. Gently fold in ground pistachios with a spatula. If prefer less sweet desserts, try adding a bit of matcha powder to the batter, it will contrast the sweetness nicely. You should end up with a very sticky and thick batter.
4. Divide the batter between pastry cases – use a silicon spatula or clean fingers to tap the filling into the cases snugly. Place half a strawberry on top of each filling – don’t worry about it sticking above the level of the filling – the filling will rise during baking a bit and be snug around the strawberry. If you have large strawberries though, you can chop the bottom of the halves off to make them a little less tall.
5. Bake the tarts for about 20-22 minutes, until the filling is just a touch browned around the rim. Remove from the oven and allow the tarts to cool down before removing them from the tins. The tops will crisp up nicely as the tarts cool down.