Taking advantage of the wonderful blood oranges we have in season right now, I’ve rustled up some delicious little treats that are a perfect mouthful of blood orange sunshine. There is a bit of work in these, as you can imagine, but the end result is well worth the efforts. To cut the labour time you could easily make one or two large tarts rather than 24 of them. I’ve incorporated gluten-free teff flour into my pastry to “brown” it up a little, but use store-bought sweet shortcrust pastry if you wish.

blood orange brûlée tartelettes

makes 24

pastry:

• 200 g plain flour
• 50 g teff (or buckwheat) flour
• 150g butter, diced
• 50 g caster sugar
• Iced water (approx 3-4 tbsp)

Place the flours, butter and sugar into a food processor and pulse to combine and granulate. Drop the iced water in 1 tablespoon at a time until until the mixture comes together. The quantity of water is determined by the flour and the weather. Tumble the dough onto the bench and quickly bring together with your hands, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour while you make the next step.

candied blood orange:

• 3 blood oranges, sliced 2 mm thick (use a mandolin)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup water

filling:

• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp blood orange zest (about 2 oranges)
• 85 g butter, melted
• 140 g caster sugar
• 2 tbsp blood orange juice

Beat the eggs, orange zest, melted butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until well-combined. Stir in the juice and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and roll on a floured surface until 4 mm thick. Using an 8½ cm drinking glass, cut rounds from the rolled pastry, then line the tartelette moulds. My moulds are 7 cm but if yours are different just cut the pastry a little bigger than your moulds.

Place the pastry-lined moulds on a large baking sheet and pour the filling evenly into each. Bake for 20-25 minutes until the filling puffs and browns. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the moulds before turning them all out.

To assemble:

Remove the tartelettes from the moulds and sprinkle some caster sugar over the top of each one. Using a brûlée torch, caramelise the tops of each one until nicely burnished. Finally, take a slice of the candied orange and cut a line from the centre to the outside. Twist the slice and place on top of the tartelette.