In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and 1 T sugar. Add the butter and break it up with your fingers or a pastry blender, being sure to keep little pea-sized chunks of butter in the dough. Add 2 T of cold water and bring the dough together. In Colorado where it is so dry, I use more water so adjust accordingly. Cover the dough and refrigerate for 20 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured board, knead gently and form into a rectangle. Roll the dough away from you-not back and forth- forming a rectangle about 6 x 15 inches. Try to keep the edges even and don’t overwork the butter streaks or chunks. Those are good!

Fold the top half of the dough into the center. Then fold the bottom half of the dough up to the center. Give the dough a quarter turn and roll out again to 3x the length. Fold again as above-envelope style, wrap and chill for 30 minutes. This allows the dough to absorb the moisture.

While the dough is resting, make the filling.

Dissolve 1/2 c of sugar into the cup of hot water and then let cool to room temperature.

Whisk eggs and evaporated milk together and then whisk in the cooled sugar water and vanilla. Strain through a very fine mesh strainer, to get all the bubbles out and any floating pieces of egg yolk or white. Straining gives the tart a smooth and glassy look. You should have about 2 1/4 cups.

Preheat oven to 375 and position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Roll the dough thin and cut 4″ circles to fit your aluminum tart pans, or use a muffin pan, or these tart pans. Press the dough into the tins and crimp the edges. Use a ladle to fill each tart shell until the filling just reaches the edges of the outside crust. Once filled, place the tins on a baking sheet or if using a muffin pan, transfer the pan to the oven and immediately reduce the oven temperature to 350 and bake about 26 minutes or until filling is just set. (If a toothpick stands up in them, then they are done.)

Let the tarts cool for a few minutes before serving.