Apricot Crumble Tarts

Makes 6 x 5inch tarts

Servings: 6

1 pack shortcrust pastry pre-rolled
400 g apricots canned, drained and cut into slivers
150 g butter unsalted, cold and diced (half for pastry, half for dotting on top)
100 g self raising flour
25 g ground almonds
75 g caster sugar
50 g flaked almonds
3 tbsp polenta grain or cornmeal

Preheat the oven to 190c / Gas Mark 5.
Grease the tart tins and line with the pre-rolled pastry, prick the bases to get rid of any air bubbles. Cover with parchment paper and baking beans and bake in the oven for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, rub 75g of the diced cold butter into the flour and ground almonds as if making pastry until you have sandy mix. Stir in the sugar and flaked almonds.
When the pastry bases have been in the oven for their 15 minutes, remove the parchment paper and baking beans. Sprinkle half a tablespoon worth of polenta grain on the base of each tart case.
Fill each case with 2 apricots cut into slivers (conveniently in my case, I found that a 400g can contained 12 apricot halves...) and sprinkle over the almond crumble mix. Dot over the remaining 75g cubes of butter.
Bake for a further 15-20 minutes keeping an eye that the pastry cases are not overdoing. Serve with cream or ice cream.