Jam Tarts

In the large bowl of a food processor, combine flour, icing sugar, salt and butter. Process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Add the egg and vanilla essence. Process until the dough just starts to come together.

Turn out the dough onto a clean surface and lightly knead into a ball. Wrap tightly in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 180°C (355°F). Generously grease two 12-hole tartlet pans with melted butter. It is important that the pans are well greased so you can easily remove the cooked tarts.

Retrieve the dough from the refrigerator and divide into two equal portions. Roll out one portion of dough between two sheets of baking paper with a heavy rolling pin until it is 3 mm (⅛ inch) thick.

Use a 10 cm (4 inch) diameter round or scalloped cookie cutter to cut out 12 circles of pastry. Press gently into greased tartlet pans. Repeat for remaining portion of dough.

In a small bowl, mash the raspberries with a fork. Add the jam and mash together until consistent and smooth.

Spoon 1 small tablespoon of raspberry filling into the centre of each tartlet, being careful not to overfill (the jam will bubble up when cooked).

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until pastry is golden around the edges and the jam has bubbled around the edges. Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.