Butter Tart Pie

And so it begins!  This is the start of what will be a lot of Christmas baking.  I am notorious for starting my Christmas shenanigans on November 1st, and this year hasn't been the exception.

I am going to be doing a Christmas Series on my blog of each of my family members favourite holiday desserts.  This first one is in honour of my Dad and his love of butter tarts.  I decided to do them a little different this time and transform them into a pie!  We typically use the frozen tart shells for this as well, but I decided to go all out and make the pastry.

I am so excited for Christmas!  I bought a new tree (it's white!) and put it up, now all I have to do is dig out the box that has the lights in it!

I got the recipe for the pastry from a vlog by one of my favourite beauty gurus.  It is her mom's recipe and it has been in their family for many years.  It is really delicious, and easy.  It rolls out very nicely.  Here is a link to the video:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9tolGy2qzRE


Ingredients:

Pastry:

2 cups White Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Sugar
2/3 cups, plus 2 tablespoons of Crisco
1/4 cup of Cold Water

Butter Tart Filling:

1 1/2 Cups Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Raisins
3 Eggs
3 TB Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Vanilla

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a pie dish by greasing and flouring it.

2.   Combine flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.  Cut in the Crisco and use a pastry blender or a fork to incorporate it until the shortening is pea-sized.

3.  Add the cold water and mix with the fork, and your hands, until you can form a ball with the pastry.

4.  Roll the pastry out on a cutting board.  The best way to do this is to roll it between two pieces of saran wrap.  This will keep it from sticking to the board, and the rolling pin.  It also makes it easy to flip into a pie dish.  This recipe will make two crusts, so either two bottom crusts, or one pie that has a top and bottom crust.  I froze half of my pastry and used it later.

5.  Once your pastry crust is placed in the dish, sprinkle 1/2 cup of raisins in the bottom.

6.  In an electric mixer, add the brown sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder and vanilla for the filling.  Beat well, for a minimum of 2 minutes.

7.  Pour the filling over the raisins and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.  Your pie is finished cooking when it jiggles only slightly.  I know this is pretty technical, lol.  The filling will set a bit more once it is cool, but if you notice that your pie is jiggling quite a bit it likely needs to be cooked for longer.  If you notice the crust or the top of the pie getting too brown, place a piece of foil over top, folding the foil to create a tent.  Spray the foil so it does not stick to the top of the pie.

Tiny Star Pie did not survive long after baking, it was delicious!

8.  Make sure you are sitting down when you eat this, it really is that good.

I like the shattered effect you get on top when you cut it!

Balsamic Chicken

Balsamic Chicken

 

Ingredients:

1 Yellow Onion
1 Shallot
4 Cloves of Garlic
Chicken Thighs (anywhere from 10 to 15) or 4-6 Chicken Breasts
1 tsp Salt
Pepper (to taste)
1/2 TB Dried Oregano (optional)
1/2 TB Dried Basil (optional)
1 handful of Kale
1 handful of Spinach
1/3 cup of Butter (I used goat butter)
1/3 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Directions:

1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Put a large casserole dish on top of your stove and turn the burner to medium heat.  You will want to use one that has a lid for when it goes into the oven later.  Chop onion, shallot, and garlic in oil until the onion becomes slightly transparent.

3.  Place the chicken into the casserole to brown on each side.  I cut mine into bite-sized pieces as they were boneless thighs.  This recipe could be done with bone-in as well, or chicken breasts if you prefer.

4.  While the chicken is browning melt the butter in a small pot on medium heat.  Let the butter bubble and once it begins to turn a golden brown add the vinegar.  Whisk the vinegar and butter together.  Let the balsamic reduce (see picture below).  It will bubble quite a bit but that just means that it is thickening up.  Stir occasionally. 

5.   As you are waiting for the vinegar/butter mixture to reduce season your chicken with the salt and pepper.  We are trying to watch our salt intake in my house so I tend to go for less and let people add to taste afterward.  You may want to add more salt/pepper depending on your preferences.  At this point also add the dried herbs if you have them, this is completely optional, I mostly just like the way they look!

6.  As the chicken is cooking you will notice some liquid at the bottom of the pan as the juice from the chicken mixes with the oil you put in at the beginning.  At this point add the kale and spinach (this just happened to be what we had in our fridge, if you have just spinach, or just kale, that works too!).  It may look like too much at first but they will steam and practically disappear in with the chicken.

7.  Once your vinegar/butter mixture is complete pour it on top of your chicken and mix everything together in the casserole.  Place the lid on top and place it in the oven.  Cook for approximately 30 minutes.  The liquid will further reduce and the flavour will be absorbed into the chicken.  We garnished our's with some goat feta, kalamata olives and cilantro.  Yum!

This may seem like a lot of steps but once you get the hang of this reduction you may find it quite handy.  I've tried it on noodles, fish, chicken, etc. and it is always a big hit!  We had our Balsamic Chicken on quinoa because it really absorbed the reduction well.  I would also recommend rice or cous cous.