Makes 24-30 (depends on size)
Preparation time: 45 minutes
Oven temperature: 180°C
Baking time: 15 minutes

• 250g butter
• 150ml sugar
• 2 eggs
• 750ml cake flour
• 10ml baking powder
• pinch of salt

1 Preheat the oven and grease 2-3 small tart trays.

2 Cream the butter and eggs until light and fluffy, and beat in the eggs one by one.

3 Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and add to the egg mixture, Mix thoroughly into a soft, pliable dough.

4 Roll out the dough between two sheets of plastic and then cut out rounds to fit the greased trays. Prick the dough and bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes, or until golden brown and cooked.

Nine tempting fillings
1 Whip fresh cream until stiff and fill the cases. Drain a tin of pears and slice the fruit, then slice preserved ginger in syrup. Place the pear and ginger slices on top of the whipped cream, drizzle melted chocolate over and top with roasted nuts.

2 Mix 125g crumbled blue cheese and 125g smooth cottage cheese. Whip 125ml fresh cream until stiff, fold into the cheese mixture and spoon into cases. Slice green figs or dates, arrange on top and, finally, sprinkle roasted walnuts or pecan nuts over.

3 Fill the cases with a delicious chocolate ganache: combine 250ml cream and 200ml dark chocolate, melt and allow to cool slightly. Spoon into the cases, half-filling each, and top with berries of your choice.

4 Use the filling from your favourite milk tart recipe for a classic filling.

5 Lemon curd is also a classic. Fill your cases with it and top each filling with a spoonful of whipped cream.

6 Sprinkle a layer of sugar over the lemon curd and caramelise with a blowtorch to form a crunchy layer, then top with a sprinkling of pomegranate pips.

7 Whipped cream, caramel and bananas with a sprinkling of nuts are a winner.

8 You can also make lemon meringue tartlets: use your favourite recipe for the filling, spoon into the cases and bake until the meringues are golden brown.

9 Halve fresh figs and panfry them in a little butter until golden brown. Fill each case with mascarpone cheese (sweeten it with a little castor sugar and even add vanilla seeds, if you like), top with 1 or 2 figs and drizzle a little honey over the top.