Lemon and lavender-honey butter tarts
Makes 24 mini tarts, shown above
Cream cheese pastry
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 oz cream cheese, softened
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 cups all-purpose flour
Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment beat the butter, cream cheese and lemon zest until fluffy.
Add the flour and mix slowly until the dough comes together. Form the dough into a round disc and cover with plastic wrap. Chill for 1 hour. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough until it is 1/8" thick. Cut out 24 rounds using a 3-inch pastry cutter. Press pastry circles into cups of a mini muffin tin, creating a fluted edge that's slightly higher than the muffin tin. Chill in freezer for 1/2 hour.
Lemon filling
2 eggs
1⁄2 cup granulated sugar
1⁄2 cup lavender honey
3 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1⁄4 tsp kosher salt
1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1⁄4 cup pine nuts, toasted
Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the first seven ingredients. Transfer to a measuring cup for easier pouring. Place a few toasted pine nuts into each prepared mini pastry shell. Pour the filling over pine nuts and fill to just below the top edge. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, until tops are golden brown and bubbling. Remove from oven and cool completely before removing the tarts from the muffin tins.
Cranberry orange butter tarts
Makes 12 medium tarts
Ingredients
1 cup demerara sugar
1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1⁄2 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tbsp lemon juice
1⁄2 tsp finely grated orange zest
3⁄4 cup dried cranberries
1 recipe Five Star Pastry (see page 1), pressed into muffin tin
Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, beat together the demerara sugar, melted butter, maple syrup, eggs, lemon juice and orange zest. Divide the cranberries evenly among the prepared pastry tart shells. Fill almost to the top with syrup mixture. Bake for 22 to 25 minutes, or until tart shells are golden. Allow to cool before removing from muffin pan.
Read more in Recipes and From Scratch
2 Comments
Butter tarts, YUM! I tweeted this article because the world should know ;)
The cranberry and orange tarts are phenomenal - I made them this weekend, exactly like the recipe, only I used dough I had previously made and frozen (time crunch). Am looking forward to trying the cream cheese pastry. The maple syrup is a really nice addition here - they're not too sweet.