Mix the salt and flour together. Blend the shortening into the flour with a pastry blender, fork, or slightly with a food blender until crumbly. Steadily add water until the mixture becomes dough like.
Refrigerate for about 30 minutes, then roll out.
Using a cookie cutter, cut circles, then place into the holes to form the tartelettes. Set aside. If you're like me and only have two mini cupcake pans, then make only half the dough, and while the tartelettes are baking, make the next set.
Filling
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Thoroughly wash the apples, then chop them up into small pieces (like bite size pieces). Do not peel the otaheite apples!
Place apples into a pot and mix with 1 cup sugar and salt to taste. Pour in enough water until apples are covered (not immersed! So about 1 1/2 cup).
Set to boil, stirring once, until the red colour on the apples slightly fade, about 5 minutes of boiling. Remove from heat. Add in the next cup of sugar and mix. Let apples cool. Note: I added in an additional cup because I wanted the filling to be nice and sweet, not fresh. If you don't, feel free to skip this.
One by one, using a tablespoon, scoop apples with a little bit of sugar water mixture into each tartelette. The sugar water mixture bakes into a juicy filling so make sure each tartelette gets some. Fill all the way to the top.
Place into the oven and bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then reduce to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove, and let cool for about 10 to 15 minutes in pans. Then remove and place tartelettes on a wire rack to cool completely.