Butter Tarts

Follow the recipe for pastry from my Strawberry Tarts recipe

For the filling you’ll need:
½ cup of brown sugar (packed)
½ cup of corn syrup
1 egg
2 tsp butter
1 tsp each of vanilla and vinegar
Pinch of salt
Raisins (about 4 or 5 in each tart)


Whisk all ingredients together (except the raisins), but don’t whisk it too much. Little flecks of butter should still be visible.


So that it looks like this.


Throw a few raisins into every pastry tart. I threw in some coconut too…just because. You don’t have to.


This recipe yields exactly 12 tarts…no wasting, yeah!
Bake in the bottom third of the oven at 375F. (The recipe says 450F, but if you have a newer oven, it’ll burn them)

They’re easy and they’re yummy.

This recipe is directly from Canadian Living. The link can be found on my sidebar.

Lemon Meringue Pie

You'll need for the filling:
1 - 9 inch baked pie crust
1/3 cup cornstarch
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
grated peel of one lemon
1/2 cup lemon juice
4 eggs (separated)
1 tablespoon butter

For the Meringue:
4 egg whites
dash of salt
1/2 cup of sugar

For the pastry:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 cup butter
3 tablespoons of sugar
dash of salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg

Start with the pastry:


Mix the dry ingredients with a spoon, add the butter and cut with pastry cutter



Make a well in the dry ingredients and beat the egg and vanilla with a fork.
Pour into the well you've made and mix together until it holds together
as dough, add sprinkles of water if needed. Roll out half....freeze the other half,
or make another pie...the pastry recipe is for a pie with a top crust.
Carefully roll the dough onto your rolling pin...


Roll it over the pie plate, and cut off excess with a knife.
Spear the bottom with a fork so that it doesn't puff up while it's baking.
Bake at 350F in preheated oven until golden. Take out and cool.



While the crust is cooling, mix together on your stovetop for the filling:
1 cup of sugar, 1/3 cup of cornstarch, dash of salt, and turn heat to medium.
Stir in the water, lemon rind and lemon juice, and bring to a boil on medium heat
stirring constantly while it thickens.



When the filling gets thick, and comes to a boil, remove it from the heat,
beat 4 egg yolks with a whisk, add some of the hot liquid to the egg, stir together,
and then add it to the saucepan and return to the heat. Stir until mixture
thickens. Add 1 tbsp butter and continue stirring until butter is completely
melted. Remove from heat and set aside.
Beat the egg whites with salt until stiff peaks form.
Add the 1/2 cup of sugar a little at a time, beating after each adding.


Pour the filling into the crust, and then add the beaten egg whites,
covering the entire filling, making sure to touch the crust. Try to form
nice peaks. For even browning of the meringue, bake at 350F until
nice and golden. Let cool and store in fridge.
Yummy.

Cinnamon Pecan Raisin Loaf

This is a very nice sweet loaf.
It takes longer than I would like, and I notice that many people don't bother making their own dough anymore. You can buy frozen dough and just do the filling, but it wouldn't be the same.

You'll need:

Dough:
3/4 cup of milk
1/2 cup of butter
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1/4 warm water
2 packages of active dry yeast
2 eggs (beaten)
4 to 5 cups of flour

Filling:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
raisins & pecans
1/2 cup of melted butter


Scald the milk.
Pour over butter, sugar and salt in a large mixing bowl.
Let it cool to lukewarm.


Sprinkle yeast on 1/4 cup of warm water in another bowl.
Stir softened yeast into milk mixture.


Add the eggs. Stir in a little flour, beating until smooth.


Keep beating until smooth and elastic, adding only enough flour to keep dough from sticking.


Grease a mixing bowl. Put the dough in the bowl, turning once to grease the surface. Cover with a folded kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm, not hot place for about 50 minutes or until it almost doubles in size.


In the meantime, mix 1/2 cup of brown sugar with 1 tsp of cinnamon, put aside a bowl of pecans and raisins (your taste)


When the dough has risen, punch it down once.


Divide the dough up into 3 pieces and flour your surface. Roll it out as seen, brush with butter, spread some of the brown sugar mixture, raisins and pecans down the middle. Fold one side in and seal with the other side using sprinkles of water.


Transfer each piece carefully onto your greased pan.
When you've got all 3 pieces, start braiding your dough carefully.


Brush with butter.
Cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350F and bake for 30 to 40 minutes and looks nice and golden.

What to do with those tomatoes & herbs

This is the time of year when everything from the garden comes in en masse.
I make basic tomato sauce for later use.




Salt as you see fit, and freeze it for later.