Short Crust Pastry Cups

Shortcrust pastry cups is a very simple and easy recipe. It requires only five ingredients. All purpose flour, fat, salt, sugar and water and the ratio of flour and the fat is 1:1. You can make the pastry by hand or in a food processor. The secret is to handle the pastry as little as possible, and give it time to rest before baking. You can use any filling of your choice. I used a spicy lamb filling for this. But feel free to use any filling you like. 

(servings : 12 cups in a regular muffin pan)

Ingredients

300g all purpose flour

150g cold butter or margarine (diced)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp granulated white sugar 

6 -7 tbsp of ice cold water 

An egg yolk for brushing

Any filling of you choice 

Directions 

1. Mix the flour, salt and white sugar in a large mixing bowl. 
2. Add the diced butter/margarine and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. (I used margarine)
3. Then add ice cold water one table spoon at a time and make a firm dough. Knead the dough gently on a floured surface for a minute until everything is combined.  (Try not to over-mix the dough here which would create a lot of gluten and make it stretchy and rubbery. To know if the dough is mixed enough, gather some large crumbs/lumps and press them together in your hands. If they stick together, the pastry is ready.)
4. Wrap  the dough with a cling film and chill for 30 minutes or until you make the filling. 
5. Roll the short crust pastry dough into a large, thin disk about 3mm thick on a lightly floured surface. 
6. Cut out circles and gently slide each circle in to a muffin pan. Carefully press on the edge between the bottom and the sides to make sure there are no air bubbles stuck between the pastry and the pan.
7. Prick the bottom of each shell with a fork and add any filling of your choice. (I used mozzarella cheese to the base to hold the meat filling in to the pastry. )
8. Combine the left over pastry dough and roll out and cut strips to cover each cup as shown in the picture. (At this stage you can freeze them until you're ready to bake or bake them straight away)
9. Freeze at least for 30 minutes before baking. You have to put it in to the oven once you take it straight out of the freezer. 
10. Preheat the oven to 180 degree Celsius for ten minutes. Bake for around 25 -35 minutes or until the top is golden. Enjoy!