Tartlets

A three-line formula that assumes you already keep puff paste and jam in the house. The only real difficulty is heat: puff pastry wants a hot oven, and jam at that heat will boil over unless you are careful with the filling.

• Patty-pansShallow round tins, commonly somewhere around 2 to 3 inches across, though sizes varied from kitchen to kitchen. A standard 12-hole muffin tin or individual tartlet tins both work; line them with rounds cut about an inch wider than the hole.
• Oven heat"Bake lightly" most likely means bake to a pale gold rather than a deep brown; the recipe gives no temperature. Puff paste in general wants a hot oven -- around 425F in modern terms -- and a quarter of an hour suits small tartlets at that heat, but the figure is a modern inference rather than anything the book states.
• Puff pasteAll-butter frozen puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator, is a fair substitute for the homemade paste intended. Roll to about 1/8 inch, cut, line the tins, and chill the lined tins for 20 minutes before filling so the butter is firm going into the oven.
• How much jamNo quantity is given because it depends on the tin. Use about two teaspoons per small tartlet, filling no more than two-thirds; jam expands and boils, and anything that runs over will weld the pastry to the tin.
• Choice of preserveThick, well-set jams behave best. Loose jellies and thin fruit butters liquefy at oven heat and soak the base before the pastry has set.
• Keeping the base flatThe recipe omits it, but prick the pastry base with a fork before filling, or the centre will dome and push the jam out.
• Yield and servingOne sheet of ready-rolled puff pastry lines somewhere in the region of eight to twelve small tins, depending on its size and yours. Cool in the tin for a few minutes before lifting out, since hot jam is scalding and the pastry is fragile until it firms.