I recently assisted in judging the Butter Tart Contest at St. Paul’s Church in Caledonia. I was a judge in the Wild Style section and there were some very interesting entries. The winners in both categories were: Traditional – 1st Sharon Slack, pecan butter tart; 2nd Amanda Fournier, plain butter tart; 3rd Amanda Fournier, nut butter tart; Wild Style – 1st Catherine Curtis, Nanaimo butter tart; 2nd Francois Doyle, double chocolate cranberry butter tart; 3rd Nancy Winegard, maple butter tart. I was lucky to get the recipes from some of the entrants and am sharing some of them here. I will share two more next week.
Nancy Winegard made maple currant tarts and I thought they were delicious (bottom tart in top right photo). She got her recipe from Canadian Living. The pastry may be made ahead of time and stored in a single layer in an airtight container. It may be refrigerated for up to three days or stored at room temperature for 24 hours. Nancy found the pastry to be very rich and rather difficult to remove from the pan.
Sharon shared with me that she used her mom’s winning recipe from the baking section at Caledonia Fair (bottom tart in bottom right photo). She prefers to use corn syrup as she finds that substituting maple syrup changes the consistency and flavour.
Nancy’s Maple Currant Butter Tarts
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1/3 cup melted butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
- ½ tsp. salt
- ½ cup chopped walnut halves
- ¼ cup dried currants
- ¼ cup golden raisins
Pastry –
- 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ¼ cup cold butter, cubed
- ¼ cup cold lard, cubed
- 2 Tbsp. ice water
- 4 tsp. sour cream
In a bowl, whisk flour with salt. Using pastry blender, cut in butter and lard until it is in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. Whisk water with sour cream; drizzle over flour mixture, tossing briskly with fork and adding more water if necessary to form ragged dough. Press into disc; wrap and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
On lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to generous 1/8-inch thickness. Using 4-inch round cutter, cut out 12 circles, rerolling and cutting scraps. Fit into 12 muffin cups; refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Meanwhile, whisk together brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, eggs, vinegar, and salt. Divide walnuts, currants, and raisins among pastry shells. Spoon scant 1/4 cup filling into each shell.
Bake in 350 oven until filling is set and pastry is golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Run thin knife around edges to release tarts. Let cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Transfer to rack; let cool completely.
Sharon’s Tart Crust
Mix 2 cups all purpose flour and 1 teaspoon salt. Chop in 3/4 of a cup Crisco shortening with two knives until about size of peas.
Add in 6 Tablespoons ice cold water (less handling is better). Roll out onto a lightly floured surface and cut circles the size needed to fit the tart tins.
Sharon’s Pecan Tart Filling
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 ½ cups corn syrup
- 4 eggs
- ¼ cup butter
- 1 ½ tsp. vanilla
- 1 ½ cups pecans
Boil the corn syrup and sugar together in a medium sized saucepan placed inside a second larger saucepan with boiling water for three minutes, stirring continuously. Cool slightly.
In a large bowl beat the eggs slowly by hand. Gradually pour the syrup mixture over the eggs, as slow as possible to prevent the eggs from cooking before the ingredients are mixed together, and make sure the mixture is lump free and smooth. Stir in the butter, vanilla, and pecans.
Pour the filling two thirds full into uncooked pastry shells. Bake at 350 for 45 to 55 minutes. Cool slightly and remove from tins.
HINT: Lay any leftover biscuits on top of your pot of chili in the last 10 minutes of cooking.
FOOD FOR THOUGHT: You will never get indigestion from swallowing your pride.
