John Kane wrote:
> On Jul 21, 6:33 pm, "Jean B." > wrote:
>> 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.
>
> Right. I rather prefer them with none of the above. The local
> bakery, Cards, that does the best butter tarts around here offers
> plain, raisin and walnut versions.

The best I have ever had are from Judy's Bakery in Port Colborne. They
also have great butter tarts at the Pie Pan in Virgil (Niagara on the Lake)
FWIW, dessert tonight was a fresh butter tart and it was excellent.
This recipe is much better than the one I used for the last two batches.
I have to stop making and eating these tarts.