Fir Cone Tartlets

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:
125g plain flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
50g butter, diced
30g lard, diced
50g soft margarine
50g caster sugar
1 egg
50g self-raising flour
1 tbsp finely-grated orange zest

For the Buttercream:
100g icing sugar
50g butter
15g cocoa powder

To Decorate:
Chocolate buttons

Method:

For the pastry: sift together the flour and cocoa into a mixing bowl. Rub in the fats until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. Add just enough cold water to bring the ingredients together as a firm dough. Turn onto a floured work surface and knead lightly. Form into a ball, cover with clingfilm (plastic wrap) and set aside in the refrigerator to chill for 15 minutes.

To make the filling, beat together the icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder in a bowl for 2 minutes, or until smooth.

Turn the pastry out onto a floured work surface and roll out thinly. Using a 6.5cm plain pastry cutter cut out 18 rounds from the pastry. Use these to line shallow patty tins.

Place a generous teaspoon of the filling into each pastry case. Transfer to an oven pre-heated to 180°C (Gas Mark 4) and bake for about 20 minutes, or until the filling is just beginning to colour.

For the buttercream icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Cream together the butter until fluffy and beat in the cocoa powder. Spread this evenly over the tartlets.

Arrange the chocolate buttons in overlapping rows (you will need about 18 per tartlet) over the cakes, pressing gently into the icing to secure them in place.

Chill for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator to set the buttercream before serving.