Dave Smith wrote:
> It's raining .... again. So much for weeding the gardens and mowing the
> lawn. So I stayed inside and played with food. First of all, I started
> marinating a pork tenderloin in olive oil,lemon juice and Dijon mustard
> with finely chopped garlic, fresh rosemary and thyme. It will have close
> to 6 hours of marinade time before I throw it on the grill.
>
> Then I started working on a batch of butter tarts. I found the recipe in
> Canadian Living a few years ago, lost it and then found it on line. They
> turned out beautifully. While they were baking I cooked up a batch of
> vanilla ice cream.
>
>
> BUTTER TARTS
> CRUST
> · 1 1/2 cups flour
> · 1/4 teaspoon salt
> · 1/4 cup cold butter, cubed
> · 1/4 cup shortening, cubed
> · 1 egg yolk
> · 1 teaspoon vinegar
> · ice water
> FILLING
> · 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
> · 1/2 cup corn syrup
> · 1 egg
> · 2 tablespoons butter, softened
> · 1 teaspoon vanilla
> · 1 teaspoon vinegar
> · 1 pinch salt
> · 1/4 cup currant, raisins, chopped pecans (I use half raisins and
> half chopped nuts, and I don't actually measure them, I just drop a bit
> of ea) or flaked coconut (I use half raisins and half chopped nuts, and
> I don't actually measure them, I just drop a bit of ea)
> Directions
> In a large bowl, stir flour with salt. With pastry blender or 2 knives,
> cut in butter and shortening until mixture rexembles coarse crumbs with
> a few larger pieces.
> In liquid measure, whisk egg yolk with vinegar; add enough ice water to
> make 1/3 cup. Gradually sprinkle over flour mixture, stirring briskly
> with fork until pastry hold together. press into disc; wrap in plastic
> wrap and chill for 1 hour.
>
> In bowl, vigorously whisk together brown sugar, corn syrup, egg, butter,
> vanilla, vinegar and salt; set aside.
>
> On lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to 1/8 inch thickness. Using
> a 4 inch round cookie cutter cut out 12 circles, rerolling scraps once
> if necessary. Fit into 2 3/4 inch by 1 1/4 inch muffin cups. Divide
> currants among cups. Spoon in filling until three quarters full.
> Bake in bottom third of 450*F oven for about 12 minutes or until filling
> is puffed and bubbly and pastry is golden. Let stand on rack for 1
> minute. Immediately run spatula around tarts to loosen; transfer to rack
> and let cool.

Raining here too. That's one reason I've been kind-of glued to
the keyboard.

I gather the nut-raisin etc. part is totally flexible. I also
assume that if one is so inclined, one could use cane syrup
instead of corn syrup? Too bad I don't think I can even get
4-inch circles out of my spelt dough crumbles.

--
Jean B.