I am the first to admit that I am not an early riser. If left to my own devices, I naturally awaken between 7:15 - 8:00 a.m. If Papa's alarm goes off at 7:00 a.m. or often before, the defiant part of me will just lie there until considerably later. This morning's feet hitting the floor time was 8:30. Not the most efficient time to arise when one has a lot of work to do! It takes me a bit to get going, but I am a force to be reckoned with once fully alert. And, I can go long past Papa, into the evening, when he has long given up on the day.
My day typically begins with greeting my faithful companion, Wilbur, our 2 year old Bernese/Pyrenees cross pup. He brings untold joy to our quiet household. It is wonderful to have someone who is happy to see you, regardless the weather and who just wants to be in your company! We begin by opening the chicken coop, checking their water, throwing them some grain and collecting the eggs. We have 13 hens and one gentleman rooster that we lock away at dusk, to keep them all safe from predators. In return, they net us 8-12 beautiful chicken butt nuggets every day.
Today I need to make tarts to take to our kids' place, for Christmas dinner dessert tomorrow. I will share my process and recipes with you. I have been making my own fillings for years, once I figured out how easy and inexpensive they are to make. Today's offering is Cherry, Saskatoon (both from our orchard on our property) and Butter Tarts. I have never figured out why they call them Butter Tarts when the main ingredients are raisins and brown sugar! But who am I to question tradition?
Let's begin with the dough: I start with 1/2 pound of pure lard (sometimes it is my own rendering from the beef we harvest every fall) and 1/2 pound of salted butter. Both of these are cold, from the fridge (Approximately 1 cup of each). To this, I cut in 5 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour, with 1 tsp of salt added. I use a pastry blender, but you can use 2 knives, if you don't have a pastry blender. Once this mixture is crumbly and combined, I will mix together, in a 1 cup glass measuring cup the following ingredients: 1/8th cup (eyeball to 1/2 of the 1/4 cup mark) of white vinegar, one beaten egg, then fill the rest of the cup, to the one cup mark, with cold water. Add this to the flour mixture and combine. You will have to knead it to get all the flour worked in, but the dough will be soft. I divide this into 5 similar sized portions. Flour your surface and flatten one of the balls of dough. This should roll out to about 12" diameter circle. Roll gently - don't put your weight into it or you will stretch the dough and it will shrink when baked! Add sprinkles of flour to keep the dough from sticking to your rolling pin or the surface. I will get 5 dozen tarts from this amount of dough, made in standard sized muffin cups. Grease your cups for easy removal. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. Tarts take about 22 minutes to bake in my gas range, but you can adjust to suit yourself. Mine are a golden brown and the filling is puffed up when done.
To make the Blueberry or Saskatoon pie filling I started with about 1.5 cups of frozen Saskatoon berries that I rinsed off before adding to a medium saucepan. To this I added 1/3 cup of white sugar and a good squirt of commercially prepared lemon juice (you could add fresh lemon if you like, about 2-3 tsp). Bring to a boil over medium heat and squash berries with a wooden spoon against the side of the pan. Boil about 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 tbsp of corn starch and 1 tbsp of cold water. Add this to the boiling mixture and stir, returning to a boil again. Boil and stir for 1-3 minutes, until thickened and glossy. Remove from heat and let cool before adding to your prepared, raw tart shells. Bake as above. Makes 12 standard muffin tin sized tarts. You can also refrigerate this and use it as ice cream topping or cheesecake topping. It is delicious!
The cherry pie filling is made the same way as the Blueberry/Saskatoon filling, substituting pitted, frozen or fresh cherries.
Butter Tarts: Soak 1 cup of washed raisins in 1/2 cup of heated apple juice for about 1/2 an hour until the raisins begin to plump. To this add: 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp of corn syrup, 1 beaten egg, 1 tablespoon each of milk and softened butter and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix together and spoon 1 tablespoon into each raw tart shell in a standard sized greased muffin cup. Bake as above.
My baking adventure is over, kitchen cleaned up and a cup of tea made to enjoy while I type this. This evening we are invited to Papa's co-workers house for lasagne and a visit.
Wishing you all the Very Merriest of Christmases.
Warmest Regards,
Gremlynn
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| Adding the vinegar/egg/cold water to the blended lard/butter/flour mixture. |
To make the Blueberry or Saskatoon pie filling I started with about 1.5 cups of frozen Saskatoon berries that I rinsed off before adding to a medium saucepan. To this I added 1/3 cup of white sugar and a good squirt of commercially prepared lemon juice (you could add fresh lemon if you like, about 2-3 tsp). Bring to a boil over medium heat and squash berries with a wooden spoon against the side of the pan. Boil about 3 minutes. In a separate bowl, mix together 1 tbsp of corn starch and 1 tbsp of cold water. Add this to the boiling mixture and stir, returning to a boil again. Boil and stir for 1-3 minutes, until thickened and glossy. Remove from heat and let cool before adding to your prepared, raw tart shells. Bake as above. Makes 12 standard muffin tin sized tarts. You can also refrigerate this and use it as ice cream topping or cheesecake topping. It is delicious!
The cherry pie filling is made the same way as the Blueberry/Saskatoon filling, substituting pitted, frozen or fresh cherries.
Butter Tarts: Soak 1 cup of washed raisins in 1/2 cup of heated apple juice for about 1/2 an hour until the raisins begin to plump. To this add: 3/4 cup of brown sugar, 1 1/2 tbsp of corn syrup, 1 beaten egg, 1 tablespoon each of milk and softened butter and 1 tsp of vanilla. Mix together and spoon 1 tablespoon into each raw tart shell in a standard sized greased muffin cup. Bake as above.
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| Tart baking complete! Cherry, Saskatoon and Butter Tart, ready to go. Now to keep them away from Papa! |
My baking adventure is over, kitchen cleaned up and a cup of tea made to enjoy while I type this. This evening we are invited to Papa's co-workers house for lasagne and a visit.
Wishing you all the Very Merriest of Christmases.
Warmest Regards,
Gremlynn
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