Low Sugar Mini Cherry Tarts - Great for kids or grown ups

I'm showing my age now, the urge to type "damn fine cherry pies" was very strong.

As I said in my last post, I promised to write up a recipe for the pastry leftovers.  Because I don't know how much pastry you might have, the quantities are per tart.  Please adjust for the number you have!

This isn't sugar free.  Jam is laden with sugar but there is around 1-1.5 tsp jam per tart and only half of that is sugar, not massive amounts of sugar at all, much less than a commercial tart.

Mini Cherry Pies

Ingredients

Leftover pastry (see the chicken and mushroom pie recipe if you would like the pastry recipe from scratch)
1/2 tsp jam per case (see instructions for more info)
5-6 Frozen, defrosted pitted cherries per tart
1 tbsp jam additional or more if you have several tarts

Method

Preheat the oven to 200oC / 400F / Gas Mark 6.

For this, I would use a 'red' jam, ideally cherry but strawberry or raspberry is fine as long as it's not too seedy.

Roll out the pastry and cut circles big enough for a fairy cake tin, gently push them in.

Put approx half a teaspoon of jam in each pastry hollow.  Bake for approx 10 minutes or until the pastry is crisp.  Allow to cool for a couple of minutes.

Heat the additional jam in a microwave with a tsp boiling water until boiling (for approx 1 minute).  In the meantime, top the tarts with the defrosted cherries.  Once the jam is molten, pour over an additional half tsp over the top to glaze.

Allow to cool for a couple of minutes then serve slightly warm with a sprinkle of icing (confectioners) sugar if liked or cream.

Ok, not the healthiest recipe in the world but not awful either.  A dainty little fruity treat.  I'd rather give one of these to my son any day than a chocolate biscuit!  This is my ethos on life; I am happy giving my son treat foods but I try and put fruit and vegetables into every bit of food I can and I always try and use natural 'real' foods.  The fights I've had with our nursery who think sugar free instant whip is a great pudding for toddlers...

Make it Thrifty:

Oven cooking uses a lot of energy so ideally cook these when something else is already in the oven.  Why not make the chicken and mushroom pie at the same time as making these for pudding?