Instructions

1. To make the pastry, combine butter and sugar in a medium sized bowl and beat with an electric mixer until creamed together. Add egg yolks and vanilla and beat until mixture is a smooth paste. Add flour and salt and mix together with a wooden spoon until it comes together to form a ball of dough. Tip out onto a floured surface and knead until dough is completely smooth and uniform.
2. Form dough into a thick disk and wrap in clingfilm. Leave to chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Once chilled, remove dough from fridge and place between 2 sheets of parchment paper then roll out to about 5mm/0.2inches thick. Use a round or scalloped 9cm/3.5inch pastry cutter to cut pastry into circles. Gently press each circle into the wells of a cupcake tin. Re-roll and cut scraps as needed until you’ve filled 9 wells in the cupcake tin.
3. Chill pastry in the freezer for 1 hour. 30 minutes into the chilling time, preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Once chilled, line each pastry shell with parchment paper or clingfilm and fill with baking beads or dried beans. Blind bake for 10 minutes. Remove baking bean parcels and bake further until pastry is a golden brown, about 5 – 10 minutes. Remove from oven and leave to cool completely on a wire rack. Once cooled, gently remove pastry from cupcake tin before filling. Pastry shells should just pop right out if gently loosened with a twisting motion first to release it from the wells. Set aside.
4. To make the salted caramel, combine sugar and 60ml/2fl oz water in a large heavy saucepan. Stir together over low heat until sugar has mostly dissolved. Raise temperature to high and leave to come to a boil. Use a brush dipped in water to wash down any sugar crystals from the sides of the pot, but do not stir!
5. As soon as syrup starts to turn an amber colour, remove from heat and swirl caramel around in the saucepan. Caramel will continue to cook and become darker in colour even once removed from heat, but if it does not become a rich amber colour, return to heat for 5 more seconds, then remove from heat and swirl to mix.
6. Off the heat, immediately add double cream, whisking at the same time. Caramel will rapidly bubble up, but keep whisking to mix until it has stopped bubbling. Add the butter and salt and mix in until butter has completely melted and is mixed in to caramel.
7. Arrange pastry shells on a tray and spoon 3 tablespoons of salted caramel into each shell. Place tray in the freezer and chill for at least 30 minutes so that caramel becomes firm to the touch.
8. While caramel is chilling, make the ganache. Pour double cream into a small saucepan set over medium high heat. Remove from heat when cream starts to bubble around the edges. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl and pour scalded cream over chocolate. Stir together with a fork until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in honey. Leave to cool slightly, about 10 minutes.
9. To finish, remove caramel filled pastry shells from freezer and spoon ganache into each tart. Chill in the fridge for about 30 minutes to set the ganache, then sprinkle each tart with a pinch of sea salt flakes. Enjoy tarts at room temperature. Pastry dough can be made ahead and kept chilled in the fridge for up to 2 days. Allow pastry to sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes to 1 hour until just soft enough to roll out easily.
10. Tip: You can also bake pastry shells ahead of time. Simply bake as above, then once completely cooled, keep shells in an airtight container until ready to fill. Tarts will keep for up to a week.