Dessert - How To: Make Butter Tarts recipes
Author: Alice Messier
This Christmas treat, when served in its native England, features a buttery crust filled with a sweet mixture of brandied minced fruit — apples, raisins, and candied peel — plus in its most traditional form, chopped beef. This time-saving variation uses prepared pie crust and prepared mincemeat to create dainty tarts.
Easiest-ever star mincemeat pie
A squeeze of fresh lemon juice perks up the rich flavours of bottled mincemeat in this great-looking pie that takes only 10 minutes of prep.
Provided by: Chatelaine
Total time: 10 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Yields: 8 servings
Number of ingredients: 7
Provided by: Chatelaine
Total time: 10 minutes
Prep time: 10 minutes
Yields: 8 servings
Number of ingredients: 7
Ingredients:
- 2 9-in. frozen pie shells , 270-g pouch pastry mix or homemade double-crust pastry
- 2 cups mincemeat , with or without suet
- 1/2 cup sultana raisins
- 1/2 cup glacé cherries
- 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 2 to 4 tbsp brandy , rum or orange juice
- sprinkling of milk and granulated sugar
Nutrition:
- Calories: 593,
- Protein: 4.6 g,
- Carbohydrate: 87.7 g,
- Fat: 26.9 g,
- If using frozen pastry shells, place 1 on a baking sheet in its foil pan. If using a pastry mix, prepare according to package directions. Then, line a flan pan or a 9-inch (23-cm) pie plate with pastry and flute edges. With second pie shell or remaining pastry, cut out 6 or 7 (3-inch/7.5-cm) stars. This is most easily done with a cookie cutter, but can be done freehand with a sharp knife.
- Preheat oven to 425F (220C). In a large bowl, stir mincemeat with raisins, cherries and lemon juice. Taste. If brandy is not already in mincemeat, stir in 2 to 4 tablespoons as necessary. Turn into pie shell and smooth top. Lay stars on top, overlapping points, if you like. Brush stars with milk and sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake on bottom rack of preheated 425F (220C) oven for 10 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, reduce heat to 350F (180F) and continue baking until mincemeat is heated through and pastry cutouts are browned, from 20 to 25 more minutes. Serve warm. Good with vanilla ice cream or softly whipped cream.
How To: Make Butter Tarts
How to make tasty and simple butter tarts. A Canadian classic!
Provided by: Karlynn Johnston
Total time: 19 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Prep time: 4 minutes
Yields: 16 servings
Cuisine: Canadian
Number of ingredients: 7
Provided by: Karlynn Johnston
Total time: 19 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Prep time: 4 minutes
Yields: 16 servings
Cuisine: Canadian
Number of ingredients: 7
Ingredients:
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/3 cup margarine or butter melted
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons cream
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 15-18 unsweetened and unbaked tart shells
Nutrition:
- Calories: 173 kcal
- Carbohydrate: 22 g
- Protein: 1 g
- Fat: 8 g
- Saturated Fat: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 15 mg
- Sodium: 91 mg
- Sugar: 14 g
- Serving Size: 1 serving
- Kick the tires and light the fires to 375 degrees.
- Melt your margarine, then add in the vanilla, egg, cream and brown sugar. The lovely part about these is they are SO easy and fast to make. Throw it all in, mix the ever-livin' devil out of it, and you are good.
- Now add in your raisins, and half a cup is the bare minimum I use. I find that sometimes there is too much liquid and not enough raisins by the time I reach the end; be brave and just add in what you need at that point.
- Put your tart shells, still frozen, on the tray and fill a good 3/4 of the way. I say still frozen because I have found when they are defrosted the filling leaks through the pastry, not ruining them, but making them softer. A good frozen tart shell will hold the contents in, and cook at the same time.
- Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, until the rims of the tarts are beautifully browned.
Mincemeat tarts
In many British families, mince pies are a staple at holiday gatherings. Using this Mincmeat Tart recipe, you can get a taste of England without spending hours in the kitchen. This time-saving variation uses prepared pie crust and prepared mincemeat to create dainty tarts. Everyone will fancy a taste.
Provided by: By Cindy Moody
Yields: 0 servings
Number of ingredients: 3
Provided by: By Cindy Moody
Yields: 0 servings
Number of ingredients: 3
Ingredients:
- 1 pkg. store-bought piecrust
- 1 jar ready-made mincemeat
- 1 tsp. grated lemon peel
How to cook:
- Directions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Combine mincemeat and lemon peel, and mix well.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out piecrust to ⅛-inch thickness. Cut into 4-inch rounds. Set aside scraps.
- Press rounds into the bottom and up sides of muffin cups to make the tart shells.
- Fill ⅔ of each muffin cup with mincemeat.
- Roll out piecrust scraps and cut into star shapes or strips. Place atop tarts in a pretty design.
- Bake 20 to 25 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool, and then remove from pan.
Christmas Brandied Mince Tarts
This Christmas treat, when served in its native England, features a buttery crust filled with a sweet mixture of brandied minced fruit — apples, raisins, and candied peel — plus in its most traditional form, chopped beef. We eschew the beef in our Americanized version, and substitute a sugar-topped pastry star for the more classic meringue.
Provided by: King Arthur Baking
Total time: 85 minutes
Cook time: 28 minutes
Prep time: 35 minutes
Yields: 12 servings
Number of ingredients: 18
Provided by: King Arthur Baking
Total time: 85 minutes
Cook time: 28 minutes
Prep time: 35 minutes
Yields: 12 servings
Number of ingredients: 18
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (142g) raisins
- 1 1/2 cup (213g) golden raisins divided*
- 1 1/3 cup (190g) Zante currants divided*
- 2 medium Granny Smith apples peeled cored and coarsely chopped
- 1/4 cup (35g) candied mixed peel*
- zest (grated rind) of 1 orange
- zest (grated rind) of 1 lemon
- 3/4 cup (159g) dark brown sugar packed
- 2 teaspoons King Arthur Yuletide Cheer Spice or a combination of 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon each nutmeg and allspice
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup (71g) almonds slivered
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (35g) butter melted
- 1/4 cup (57g) brandy French brandy preferred
- 2 cups (240g) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour or 2 cups (226g) King Arthur Pastry Flour Blend
- heaping 1/2 teaspoon salt*
- 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter room temperature
- 2 to 3 tablespoons (28g to 43g) ice water enough to make a cohesive dough
- King Arthur Baker's Special Sugar optional for topping*
How to cook:
- To make the mince filling: In a small bowl, set aside 1/2 cup (67g) of the golden raisins and 1/3 cup (43g) of the currants. (These will be mixed into the filling later.)
- Place the remaining raisins (golden and regular), currants, chopped apple, mixed candied peel, zest, sugar, spice, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor. Process until finely minced, but not puréed.
- Add the almonds and process briefly, just to break up the almonds.
- Transfer the mixture to a bowl. Stir in the golden raisins and currants that were set aside, then add the melted butter.
- Mix in brandy to taste.
- Cover tightly and store the mince filling in the refrigerator for up to a month, until ready to use.
- To make the crust by hand: Combine the flour and salt in a bowl. Add the butter, mixing it in thoroughly until it looks like breadcrumbs. Drizzle in the water, tossing as you go, until you've added enough water so that you can squeeze the dough together and it's cohesive.
- To make the crust using a food processor: Mix the flour, salt, and butter, pulsing till the mixture resembles fine crumbs. With the motor going, drizzle in the ice water, stopping when the dough comes together. It should hold together nicely; if it doesn't, add a bit more water.
- Divide the dough in half, and shape each piece into a disc. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight.
- When you're ready to prepare the tarts, remove the dough from the refrigerator. If it's been chilling for longer than 30 minutes, let it warm for 15 minutes or so, until it's rollable. Preheat your oven to 400°F.
- Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll it into a 10" circle, about 1/8" thick.
- Cut rounds of dough to fit your pan of choice. For a standard muffin pan, cut a dozen 3 1/2" circles (English muffin rings work well here). For a mini muffin pan, cut two dozen 2 1/2" circles (a small-sized biscuit cutter works well here).
- Nestle the dough circles gently into the muffin cups without stretching them. Where the dough folds, use scissors to cut the length of the fold, and lay one side over the other, pressing to seal. Cut stars from the dough scraps: 1 1/4" stars for tarts made in a mini muffin pan, 2" stars for the tarts made in a standard muffin pan.
- Spoon about 2 teaspoons fruit mince atop each of the mini tart crusts; a level teaspoon cookie scoop works well. Spoon about 4 generous teaspoons filling into the larger tarts; a slightly heaped tablespoon cookie scoop works well.
- Prick the bottom of each several times with a fork, to prevent them puffing as they bake.
- Spritz the stars with water, and center one star atop each tart. Sprinkle with Baker's Special Sugar or castor (superfine) sugar.
- Bake the mini tarts for about 20 to 22 minutes, until they're golden brown. The larger tarts should bake for about 28 to 30 minutes, again until they're golden brown. Remove from the oven, and serve warm, with brandy butter or heavy cream; or at room temperature.
