Plum and Apricot Tartlets

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Place the flour, butter, oil, 1/2 teaspoon sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor, and process for about 10 seconds. Feel the dough; if it is soft enough to gather together into a ball, remove it from the bowl, and form a ball. If it is still dry to the touch, add the ice water, and process for another 5 to 6 seconds before removing the dough from the bowl and forming a ball. Refrigerate the dough or roll it out immediately.

Lightly flour a flat work surface, and roll the ball of dough into a very thin layer (no more than 1/8 inch thick). Using a round cutter with a 5-inch diameter, cut four disks, gathering up and rerolling the trimmings as required. Carefully transfer the disks to a large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan, leaving a few inches of space between them.

Cut the apricots and plums into thin wedges, and arrange them alternating in a wedge spiral on top of each dough disk. Sprinkle the fruit with the 2 tablespoons of sugar, and bake the tarts at 400 degrees for 30 to 35 minutes, until the fruit is soft and the dough cooked through and nicely browned. Some of the juice from the fruit will have leaked out onto the cookie sheet. Before it hardens and makes the disks stick to the sheet, lift the tarts with a broad spatula and transfer them to a cooling rack or platter.

At serving time, place a tart on each of four dessert plates, and serve lukewarm or at room temperature.