Maple Bourbon Bacon and Pecan Butter Tarts

Maple Bourbon Bacon and Pecan Butter Tarts

Bacon Canadian Dessert Food Maple Recipe Tart

Unknown 04:00 Add Comment

If you can put nuts, raisins and even chocolate in butter tarts then why not my absolute favourite food, bacon? It was that idle thought that led to these bacon and pecan butter tarts and I have to say that the sweet and salty combo is amazingly fantastic in them! In addition to the sweet and salty aspects the bacon adds a nice subtle hint of smokiness to the tarts which makes them that much better! If you are a fan of bacon and butter tarts or pecan pie then you just have to try these bacon and pecan butter tarts!

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Chocolate and Pecan Butter Tarts

Chocolate and Pecan Butter Tarts

Canadian Dessert Food Maple Recipe Tart Vegetarian

Unknown 03:00 Add Comment

Butter tarts are amazing plain or with raisins and nuts, like my grandmother used to make them, but it's sometimes fun to play around with different ingredients like chocolate! These chocolate and pecan butter tarts are a simple change from my regular butter tarts swapping in some chocolate and pecans for the raisins and walnuts and that small change is pretty amazing! The chocolate and pecan combo works so well in the flaky, melt in your mouth all butter pastry along with the maple custard! I fully expect these chocolate and pecan butter tarts to disappear quickly from my holiday cookie platter this year!

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Butter Tarts

Butter Tarts

Canadian Dessert Food Maple Recipe Tart Vegetarian

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When I think about holiday cookies the first thing that comes to mind is my grandmothers butter tarts and now they are the one thing that I always make for the holidays. Butter tarts are a Canadian pastry consisting of a custard made with butter, sugar and eggs in a pastry shell. I guess butter tarts are normally made plain like that but in my mind they just aren't butter tarts without adding walnuts and raisins, just like my grandmother used to make them! I do like to add my own touch to the recipe by replacing half of the sugar with maple syrup which adds a hint of something special to them. These maple butter tarts are simply amazing! The all butter pastry is nice and golden brown and light and flaky and melt in your mouth good! The maple custard sets nicely and it's perfectly sweet and gooey and oh so good! Butter tarts are another treat that freezes well so you can make them ahead of the holidays to lighten the load during that busy time. Frozen butter tarts also make a great gift; I know I always enjoyed receiving a large container of frozen butter tarts from my grandmother to take back with me after the holidays.

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Pumpkin Butter Tarts with Pepitas and Cranberries

Pumpkin Butter Tarts with Pepitas and Cranberries

Appetizer Canadian Dessert Food Maple Pumpkin Recipe Tart Vegetarian

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When it came time to plan my Thanksgiving dessert this year I knew exactly what I wanted, these pumpkin butter tarts! Butter tarts are a Canadian tart with a light and flaky pastry crust filled with a mixture of butter, sugar, and eggs that is baked until the filling is set and either semi solid or still a bit runny. Normally I make butter tarts for the Christmas holiday season but this year I thought that I would try making a fall seasonal variety and add pumpkin to the filling! Butter tarts can be made plain or you can add nuts like walnuts or pecans and/or raisins but for these pumpkin butter tarts I went with toasted pumpkin seeds, pepitas, and dried cranberries instead. These butter tarts start out with an all butter pie crust pastry and I went with a slightly different version of the filling substituting half of the brown sugar with maple syrup which is something that I like to do with my regular butter tarts, along with the addition of the pumpkin puree. These pumpkin butter tarts turned out even better than expected! They are quite simply divine! The pumpkin, pepita and cranberry flavours work so amazingly well with the butter tarts flavours and lets not forget those fantastically light and flaky pastry crusts!

The only problem is that I have already polished off two batches of them all by myself and I'm going to have to make a few more batches! No, wait, that's not a problem at all! :)

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Green Bean, Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Tart

Green Bean, Mushroom and Caramelized Onion Tart

Appetizer Food Main Course Mushroom Recipe Side Dish Tart

Unknown 14:31 Add Comment

Simple sauteed green beans, mushrooms and onions has to be one of my favourite side dishes but it is always nice to change things up and to use that fabulous combo in other dishes! I recently came across the idea of using the combo in a green bean and mushroom tart on A Spicy Persective and of course I just had to try it. I have been enjoying the ease and simplicity of puff pastry tarts for a while now and you really cannot get much easier that rolling out some puff pastry, topping it with your favourite toppings and baking it for a few minutes in the oven! For this particular tart we are topping it with blanched green beans and caramelized mushrooms and onions. Of course it is always nice to have something on your tart to hep the other ingredients stick to it as you eat and some blue cheese works wonderfully well with green beans and mushrooms on this tart!

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Tomato Tatin

Tomato Tatin

Food Main Course Recipe Tart Vegetarian

Unknown 10:18 Add Comment

One of my favourite things about summer is all of the fresh local produce at the farmers market, so I tend to head down every Saturday morning. The market starts out slowly in the spring, with asparagus and then strawberries. By July, things pick up, with a flurry of new things every week.

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