Easy Butter Tarts with Sophia

By: Miriam Borys

Yield: 21 small tarts 

Marie-Terese always has pastry in the freezer ready because when I come to visit I always leave an extra batch. This proves especially useful in case someone gets a craving for butter tarts. Our Daddy Ernie loved butter tarts and baking these delicious little tarts reminds us of him. I hope you enjoy these as much as we do.

Butter Tarts

Ingredients:

1 pastry recipe (please click on this link to go directly to this recipe or YouTube video) You will only need a portion of the pastry but pastry freezes well for another day.

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup butter - melted
1 tsp. vanilla
1/3 cup raisins or currants (do not add the raisins to the sugar mixture)

Melt butter first and add to a mixing bowl.  Whisk in egg, sugars, vanilla until well mixed.

Roll out pastry and cut out pastry rounds as seen n the video.

Press down slightly so that there is a definite bottom to the tart. 

Drop a few currants or raisins (5 - 7) into the bottom of each pastry tart.

Spoon in approximately 1 heaping tablespoon of the butter tart mixture into each pastry tart. Do not over fill the tarts or they will bubble over into your oven.

Preheat oven and then bake at 375° for 20 minutes.

Remove from pans immediately or the tarts will stick and you will not  be able to get them out.
Serve with a nice cup of tea.

Chef Miriam Little Borys, B.Ed., MA.
'Cooking Uncovered'
http://www.youtube.com/user/mlborys?feature=mhee
blog: www.cookinguncovered.blogspot.com
Website: www.miriamborys.com

Flapper Pie for Eileen's 89th

These pies are so delicious...but they have to be made a day ahead as the custard cream filling needs time to set. Recipe to follow.

Flapper Pie Ingredients

yield - 1 pie

1 graham wafer crust

3 cups   milk
4            eggs ( separate eggs and save both the yolks & egg whites)
1 tsp.     vanilla
1/4 cup  corn starch
1/2 cup  white sugar
dash of salt

egg whites
cream of tartar
1/4 cup sugar

Add all of the above into a heavy sauce pot. Whisk well and put on the stove to start heating. Turn heat to a medium high and continue to whisk while it heats up. It will take some time for the  flapper pie filling to thicken but be patient and the custard cream will thicken as it comes to the boil.  The custard cream will burn if it is left to thicken without stirring

Blueberry Lemon Pies (making easy pastry) with James

It's blueberry season and what a perfect way to stock up on desserts! James and Wendy bought the fresh blueberries from a local farmer and now James, Wendy and I are filling our pie shells with the blueberries and a simple sugar/flour mixture to help thicken the juices while baking.
For a recipe to the easiest pastry ever...just look below and carry on down the page to see how to make the easiest and tastiest Blueberry Pies ever.

Best pastry recipe in the world made all by hand...no machines needed. To view my original video on YouTube on how to make pastry please click here.

Ingredients :  full recipe  (can be cut in half if it is too much pastry at one time)

1 Lb. vegetable shortening - cold

5 Cups all- purpose Flour

1 Tsp. Baking powder

2 Tsp. Salt

1 Tbsp. Brown sugar

3 Tbsp. Vinegar  (white or malt or apple cider - whichever you have in the cupboard at the time will do)

1 Egg 

Cold water (approx. 1 cup)

You will need a total of 1 1/4 cups of fluid so here is how we make up the fluid. Add one egg to a 2 cup measure. Beat with a fork. Add vinegar and whisk again. Then add the ice cold water  and bring the combined fluid up to 1 1/4 cups.  You may not need all this liquid, but sometimes you do depending on the moisture content of the flour and shortening.

Prep: 

Mix together flour, baking powder, salt and brown sugar. Whisk together to remove the lumps.

Add shortening to the flour mixture and cut up shortening into the flour with a pastry cutter (see photo to the right).

Miriam's Time Saving Tip♥ I now realize after making pastry for so many years that the flakiness of your pastry is directly correlated with how well your shortening is cut into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter helps with this process. The shortening should disappear into small chunks while keeping the flour powdery.

Prepare liquid and add 90% of the liquid to the flour mixture. With your hands incorporate the liquid until it is incorporated and the pastry starts to come together into a ball. Do not over mix at this stage or your pastry will be tough. Continue to mix and if it is too dry add the rest of the liquid.

Roll dough up into a disc and wrap in parchment paper and then in a clean plastic bag and store in cooler until needed.

Miriam's Time Saving Tip♥ Making this pastry ahead is a great time saver. It keeps well for over a week in the fridge as long as it is wrapped well. After making pies. Freeze the remaining pastry for use later.


Blueberry Filling:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour, minit tapioca or Clear Jel (from bakery supply distributors)
1 tsp. lemon zest
Mix the sugar, flour & zest together in a bowl.

2 tbsp. lemon juice
5-6 cups frozen blueberries

Roll out the pastry as shown below and line one pie plate. Cut off the excess pastry off the edges to tidy up the pie.
Pour half the blueberries into the pie shell. Add sugar mixture, lemon juice and the remaining blueberries.
Top with a pastry lid. or with a lattice design.
Finger Flute the edge and Egg wash** the pastry. Top with a sprinkle of white sugar.
Bake for approx. 75 minutes at 350 degrees. Always preheat your oven before baking your pie.

**egg wash - 1 egg with a drop of milk...mix well with a fork first

Better Butter Spread'R for Corn On The Cob

It's summer here on the West Coast of Canada and corn-on-the-cob season is here. My family loves fresh corn but one of the most annoying things about eating corn is the mess the hot corn cob makes of your butter dish.
Have no fear because our solution is at hand!
Introducing the smartest gadget around, the 'Better Butter Spread'R' that slices the butter and holds it in place while you spread the butter over your fresh cob of corn.
Thanks to Lynn and Duncan for this great door prize from the 'Survivor Finale'.

Marinated Cuc/Tomato/Yellow Pepper Salad with Olive Bread

Recipe from: Carol Booth, Calgary Alberta

Presented By: Miriam Borys

Servings: 6

Ingredients:

6 mini cucumbers

1/2 bag mini tomatoes of your choice

1 large yellow pepper

1 cup of fresh basil 

Vinaigrette Salad Dressing

1/2 tsp. dijon mustard

4 tbsp. red wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar

1/2 cup olive oil or avocado oil

3/4 cup red onion (1/2 small onion) - diced brunoise  (fine dice (1/8th-inch or less)

dash of salt and pepper

1/2 load of day-old bread - cut into bite-sized cubes day old bread . (approximately 6 cups of bread cubes).

Carol has used a baguette for this recipe and it works really well. It just so happened that we had a half loaf of the Artisan Green Olive Terra Bread which was a bit dry for eating the next day but perfect for this salad.

A little hint before you start - add the cubed bread just before serving the salad or the bread could become too saturated with the vinaigrette dressing. 

Procedure:

Rinse all vegetables well before dicing.

Salad Dressing

Dice red onion into a tiny dice. Set aside for now. 

Add dijon and vinegar into a small mixing bowl. Whisk well until combined.

Drizzle in olive oil and continue to whisk until well emulsified.

Add diced onion, salt & pepper and mix well to allow the onions to marinate in the oil mixture.

At this point you could dice the basil (small diced) and add 1 tsp. to the dressing which would allow a more intense basil flavor throughout your salad.

Cut up the vegetables into desired chunks. Add vegetables a mixing bowl.

Pour half of the vinaigrette onto the vegetables and toss well to allow the vegetables to marinate. Just before service add remaining vinaigrette and bread cubes and toss again. Pour salad into a serving dish and serve with your favourite protein…perfect for a hot summers night.  

Leftovers keep well in the fridge and believe it or not the olive bread wasn't overly saturated.

Even though this salad has the three veggies in it you could easily add other hard vegetables like carrots, zucchini and other colored peppers if you wished.

Chef Miriam Borys, B.Ed., MA.

'Cooking Uncovered'
http://www.youtube.com/user/mlborys?feature=mhee
blog: www.cookinguncovered.blogspot.com
Website: www.miriamborys.com

Vinaigrette 

slightly toast the bread cubes

add red onions to marinate until dressing is needed