Sunday, December 13, 2009

Recipe: Basic Butter Tarts

Due to the Halibloggers cookie exchange I haven’t done much of my own holiday baking this year.  At the last minute I realized that I had totally forgotten to make butter tarts for FH!  He’s pretty simple in his baking likes and dislikes, but butter tarts are definitely on his list of Christmas faves.

Thankfully I had remembered to pick up the frozen tart shells a couple of grocery trips ago and my recipe is super fast and easy to make.  (One day I shall tackle homemade pastry, but this was not the day!)

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Basic Butter Tarts

Ingredients:

  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1/3 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp milk (or milk substitute)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/2 cup raisins or currants
  • 1/4 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)
  • 1 dozen frozen pastry shells

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Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients.
  2. Fill tart shells 2/3 full.  (I use a muffin tin to hold the tart shells, but a baking sheet works fine too.)
  3. Bake at 450 degrees for 8 minutes, then reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake 12-15 minutes longer. 

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Easy peasy!

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FH doesn’t like raisins or nuts, so I made 3/4 batch just plain…and made 3 with raisins for me!

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(OK, mine might have cooked a teeeeny bit long…watch your pastry!)

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3 comments:

Vanessa said...

Homemade pastry is a real pain in the ass. I only make it when I'm baking for myself, because if I screw it up it doesn't matter. :P

Butter tarts are my favorite Christmas treat!

Anonymous said...

I had no idea those things are that easy! Hmmm, I have all of the ingredients except for the frozen tart shells.

I dunno if I trust myself too much these days, though...maybe I'll think about it closer to Christmas.

Unknown said...

Butter Tarts are one of my faves too. My Mum makes them every year, so I've never actually made them myself, but maybe I will this year. I'm in charge of the sweets for a party we're throwing next week.