Wednesday, January 18, 2012

ON..TART..IO

A month ago I packed up my condo, car and cats and began  a 3500 km (2100 mile) journey from Pleasant Valley, New York back to Regina, Saskatchewan  Canada. It took five long days with pitstops in Toronto, Sault Ste. Marie, Thunder Bay, Winnipeg and finally Regina.  Here are some pictures of my trip through Ontario with a very yummy butter tart recipe to follow. Enjoy! :-)















Butter Tarts        Serves 12

Pastry

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/8- 1/4 cup ice water

In food processor place flour, sugar and salt and process to combine.  Add butter and process until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Pour 1/8 cup water in a slow steady stream until the dough just holds together when pinched, if necessary add more water.  
Turn dough onto the work surface and gather into a ball.  Flatten into a disk and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.  This will relax the gluten in the flour.
After the dough has chilled, place on a lightly floured surface.  Roll out the dough and cut 12- 4 inch rounds. Gently place the rounds into a 12 cup muffin tin.  Cover and place in a refrigerator for 30 minutes to  firm the dough.



Filling

1/4 cup raisins
boiling water
1/4 cup pecans, toasted
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup golden corn syrup
enough cream to bring the syrup to 1/2 cup ( I will measure next time)
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla
1 vanilla bean, scrapped

Plump raisins in boiling water 5-10 minutes. Cream together butter and brown sugar.
Add salt, syrup, cream, egg and vanilla. Stir well. Add the drained raisins and chopped nuts.
Fill tarts 3/4 full.
Bake tarts at 375 for 20-25 minutes until brown and bubbly.





No comments:

Post a Comment