Butter tarts

Oh how I miss butter tarts, apparently they don't make them south of the Mason-Dixon line. Here's a clip of Peter Gzowski (he left us too soon) and my beloved butter tarts..two things among the many I miss about home.

½ c. Raisins

Pour sufficient boiling water to cover over raisins. Let stand until plumped and then drain when ready to fill tart shells.

Preheat oven to 375oF.

Prepare sufficient pastry and roll out on floured surface. Cut with floured cookie cutter and line 12 medium sized muffin cups. Do not prick.

Put a few plumped raisins into bottom of each tart shell.

Mix together:

¼ c. Butter or Margarine
½ c. lightly packed Brown Sugar

Stir in:

1 c. Corn Syrup
2 Eggs, slightly beaten
¼ tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Vanilla

Combine just until blended. Spoon into unbaked tart shells, filling each about two-thirds full.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Do not allow filling to bubble over.

Make 12 tarts.

Chocolate Fudge (aka Christmas fudge)

These are crazy long instructions for something that is so easy to make...and well worth the read.

3 c chocolate chips
4 Tbs. butter
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Note that one pound of chocolate chips is the same as three cups of chocolate chips - not two.

Throw the butter and chocolate chips into a medium metal bowl or double boiler. Pour the sweetened condensed milk on top.

Fill a small pot with about an inch of water and bring it to a boil. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat so the water is barely simmering.

Place the metal bowl on top of the pot to make a bain-marie. (If you have a double boiler, by all means, use it instead.) Make sure the bottom of the bowl is suspended above the water level itself.

Line a pan with two sheets of wax paper, one going one way and one the other. One on top of the other, this way you can pull out the fudge when it's fully cooled. Add a little lick of butter to the bottom of the first sheet to keep it from shifting.

Let the fudge cool a little in the pan and then transfer to the freezer. Before you try to cut it, let it warm ever so slightly or you will have very chocolately hands...which is never a bad thing.

Gram's Christmas pudding and hard sauce

This pudding or at least the hard sauce was always my favourite part of Christmas dinner at Gram's.

Pudding

1 c sour milk
1/2 c molasses
1 c ground suet
2 eggs, beaten
1 c or more of raisins, dates, currants (mixed)
2 c flour
1 tsp soda

Mix well together, place in a greased pudding bowls, cover with waxed paper or foil and steam for 1 hour.

Serve hot with hard sauce.


Hard Sauce

1/3 c butter
1 2/3 c sifted icing sugar
2/3 tsp vanilla
1/2-1 tsp cream

Cream butter until smooth, add sifted sugar, blend well and add vanilla.
If softer sauce is desired, blend in cream.

Variations - For Christmas Pudding add 2 tsp of molasses, 1 tbsp of rum or brandy and 1/4 tsp or less of cinnamon. Add extra sugar to desired consistency of sauce.

Mrs. Hilliard's Lemon Pudding

Juice of 1 lemon
3/4 c sugar
1 c cold water

Mix lemonade and pour into greased baking dish.

Batter:

1 egg
3/4 c sugar
Butter dollop the size of an egg
4 tbsp milk
3/4 c flour
1 tsp baking powder

Mix well and drop into lemonade and bake in moderate over (@350F)

Pumpkin or Squash Pie

1 ¼ c pumpkin or squash, mashed and strained
½ c sugar
2 tbsp molasses
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp ginger
3 eggs
About ¼ c milk
Pinch of salt

Beat eggs slightly and add rest of ingredients, mixing well.
Pour into 10 inch unbaked pastry shell.
Bake at 425F – 15 min.
Reduce heat to 325F and bake until filling is set.

Rhubarb Pie

Line 9 inch pie plate with pastry.

Fill with rhurbarb cut in pieces.

Mix 1 cup white sugar with 2 tbsp of custard powder.

Sprinkle over rhubarb.

Cover with pastry.

Bake at about 15 minutes at 425F.

Reduce heat to 300F to 325F and bake until rhubarb is cooked.

Pecan Pie

Line 1-9inch pie plate with pastry

Filling:

1 c pecan halves
1/3 sugar
3 eggs
1 c dark corn syrup
1/8 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter

Line pie shell with pecans.
Beat eggs well.
Add corn syrup, sugar, salt and butter
Mix and pour slowly into pie shell.
Bake in moderately hot oven (375F) on lower shelf for 40 minutes.
Cool. Serve with whipping cream.