Got Maple?

Delicious Butter Tarts - (recipe adapted from) Pies and Pastries, Pg. 205 - Mona Rhodenizer (Mrs. H. A.)

What better way to celebrate Canada then with one of Canada's quintessential desserts - The Buttah Tart!  Ooey gooey buttery goodness bundled into a tiny adorable extremely polite Canadian pie.  You can eat at least three in one sitting without feeling the slightest bit of greed or gluttony.  Nausea on the other hand?...binge at your own risk.

Similar in consistency to a pecan pie, the butter tart tends to be bit runnier in consistency due to the absence of corn starch.  While Mona's recipe is indeed "delicious" as the recipe claims in it's title - we decided to kick up the Canadiana factor a bit by swapping the corn syrup for Nova Scotia maple syrup.  We've said if before and we'll say it again - Maple Syrup - you can put that shiz on anything!...and we strongly support making it it's own food group...right along with candy, candy canes and candy corn (thanks Buddy!).

Happy Canada Day to all of you amahzing and freakishly polite Canadians!!  To the rest of you from around the globe - enjoy yourselves a true slice of Canadiana (in this case a tart...)...and THANK YOU for reading our little blog...just let us know if we can do anything else for you...have a great afternoon...and evening...did we say thank you?!

Pie Dough (adapted from Anna Olson)

2 1/4 cup cake and pastry flour
2 Tbsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unslated butter (cold cut into pieces)
6 Tbsp cold water
1 Tbsp lemon juice

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl. Cut in the butter by hand with a pastry cutter until it has a crumbly and even texture.

 

Stir the water and lemon juice together and add this to the dough all at once, mixing until the dough comes together. Shape the dough into 2 logs, wrap and chill for at least 2 hours before rolling.

Filling:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup maple syrup or corn syrup

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp lemon juice

Toasted Pecans

Preheat the oven to 400 F and lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

Cut each of the logs of chilled pie dough into 6 pieces. Roll each piece out on a lightly floured work surface to just under a ¼-inch thick and use a 4 ½ inch round cookie cutter to cut each into a circle. Line each muffin cup with the pastry so that it comes about ½-inch higher than the muffin tin, and chill the lined tin while preparing the filling. 

Melt the butter and brown sugar in a pot over medium heat, stirring until the mixture is bubbling. Remove the pot from the heat. 

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the maple syrup, lemon juice, vanilla and salt and slowly pour in the hot sugar mixture while whisking constantly until incorporated. Sprinkle a few pecan pieces into the bottom of each tart shells and pour the mixture into each shell (leaving about a quarter inch between the mixture and the top of the crust.

Bake the tarts for 10 minutes at 375 F for 20-25 minutes, until the filling is bubbling and the crust edges have browned. Cool the tarts in the tin and after about 5 minutes, carefully twist them around in the pan to prevent sticking and keep them in the pan until completely cooled. 

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