Jam Tarts

How to prepare jam tarts

1. Put the butter (cold, from the fridge) and the milk for the dough in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.
2. For the dough, put the flour in a large bowl. Cut the butter into cubes and add on top. Using your hands, mix the flour with the butter (don't knead, just mix until the butter is covered with flour). Then take the butter between your fingers (your hands should be cold) and press gently to obtain butter flakes. You don't have to press all the butter, but do this for about 1 minute, until most of the butter is made into flakes. Add the egg yolk beaten with the milk and mix gently.
3. Put the dough mixture on your work surface. With the heel of your palm, start pressing the mixture, pushing it forward. This maneuver is called "fraisage". It is a technique for mixing flour and butter without kneading, which results in a special texture for the pie dough.
4. When you've finished all the dough, gather it into a mound, and you'll see it's still gritty. This means it needs another round of fraisage. Apply the fraisage technique again on all the dough. Gather it again into a mound, pressing with your hands (but without kneading!) and you'll see it comes together pretty well into a ball shape, although you'll feel it's slightly crumbly. That's okay.
5. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Flatten them with your hand into discs and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
   * you can leave the dough in one piece if you have strong hands; the dough is quite stiff, so I find it easier to work with smaller pieces
6. Roll out each piece of dough on a floured surface into a rectangular sheet, not too thin. Fold it in three. Roll again and fold again in three. During these rollings, you'll see the dough isn't very pliable yet, it cracks at the edges, but it's okay, don't despair, with each rolling it will become easier to work with.
8. Refrigerate the folded dough for another 30 minutes.
9. Roll out the dough pieces again into a not too thin rectangle. Fold in three. Roll again and fold again in three. Refrigerate until the oven is heated to 200°C.
10. Take each piece of dough and roll out a thin sheet, 21 x 24 cm. Trim the edges with a pastry wheel to make them straight. Cut the dough into 7 x 6 cm rectangles.
11. Put a level teaspoon of jam in the center of one rectangle. It's important not to put too much jam, otherwise it will burst out during baking. Moisten the edge of the dough around the jam with water using your finger. Cover the jam with another rectangle and press gently all around the filling. Press along the edge of the dough all around with the tines of a fork. Repeat until you finish all the pieces.
12. Place the tarts on the baking tray lined with parchment paper. Poke them with a fork on top.
14. Bake the tarts at 200°C for 20 minutes.
15. Dust them with vanilla powdered sugar. I also sprinkled some pink sugar on top which I made like this: I mixed the granulated sugar with beet juice. If the pink sugar is too wet, add a little more granulated sugar and mix again.

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