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!

Spinach and Roasted Garlic Soup with Dumplings

Ingredients:

Soup:

1 Yellow Onion
6 TB Margarine
6 TB White Flour
5 cups Broth (Bonus recipe at the bottom for homemade veggie broth)
1 cup Mozzarella Cheese
2 Heads of Roasted Garlic
3 Handfuls of Spinach
Salt and Pepper

Dumplings:

2 cups Flour (I used half white and half whole wheat)
4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/3 cup Liquid


I know some of you are thinking, "Spinach soup, ew?!", but this is actually really delicious.  I've realized lately that you can put large amounts of spinach in things to get the health benefit, and not really have a strong veggie taste.  Spinach seems to be one of those things that will just blend in really well with the surrounding flavours.  I've been putting it in my smoothies lately too, and I can't taste it at all.  The spinach in this recipe takes on a lot of the yummy roasted garlic and cheese flavour and the dumplings are such an amazing comfort food for these cold days.  Give it a try!


Directions:

1. Before you start making the soup you are going to want to begin roasting the garlic.  Do this by cutting the top off of the head of garlic, place it on a tray, and sprinkle with oil.  Cook on 350 degrees for 40 minutes or until golden brown.

2.  Begin the soup by lightly caramelizing the onions.  Cook them on medium heat in some oil in what will eventually be the pot you cook the soup in.  Once that is done, move them to a bowl.

3.  Make a roux, you do this by mixing equal parts margarine (or butter), and flour.  It will have a paste-like consistency.  Add 3 cups of the broth (I used Vegetable) and stir until it begins to thicken.  If you were making a sauce you wouldn't add anymore liquid, but we want the soup base to be a bit thinner because the spinach, garlic and dumplings will thicken it up.  Add the remaining 2 cups of liquid.

4.  Add the cheese and stir until melted.  At this point you can add the garlic, previously caramelized onions, and spinach as well.  Blend until smooth using a blender or emulsifier.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

5.  Mix all of the ingredients for the dumplings and spoon into boiling soup.  It may seem like there isn't enough room for all of the dumplings but trust me, they will all fit.  Let the dumplings cook for 15 minutes, and then you are done!

To make your own vegetable broth you add two stalks of celery, two carrots, 5 cloves of garlic, one onion and some basil (optional) to 10 cups of boiling water.  Simmer on low for 90 minutes, the broth will reduce down to 8 cups and work really well for soups, sauces and gravy!