CLINGING DESPERATELY TO THE LAST REMNANTS OF SUMMER

Local Blueberry Tarts with Coconut-Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream

Local Blueberries fully ripe and ready for picking!

The buckets they provide hold about 5 lbs of berries.  They provide buckets for picking, but you should bring your own shallow containers for bringing the berries home.  Transfer the berries from their buckets after weighing and paying.  Minimum was 5 lbs per person (i.e one bucket per adult).  We picked 2 buckets and paid $1.75/lb.  It took us a leisurely 1 hour to pick two buckets full.  

U-Pick Blueberry Field @ GS Farms, Richmond.  Check out this link for other local UPick farms

Some of the bushes were so full of berries, they sagged from the weight of the berries

Coconut milk pastry cream...a good thing

For the Coconut Vanilla Bean Pastry Cream, I used my ol' trusty recipe from a previous post.   The toughest part...waiting for the pastry cream to cool before eating!  

No need to make tart pastry from scratch...though I know you can do it...the time is ripe to eat these blueberries now!  There's 10 lbs of these blueberries! Life's too short!  No time to lose!   Buy frozen tart shells from the grocery store and bake per instructions before filling with pastry cream and berries.

Press the cooked pastry cream through a sieve to ensure smoothness.

Refrigerate the pastry cream until cold.  To prevent a skin from forming, you should press plastic wrap on the surface.

FYI:  That's not dirt in my pastry cream.  Those are quality Tahitian Vanilla Bean seeds freshly scraped from the juicy pods.

Top the fresh berries on the pastry cream.  No need to glaze.  Savour the last remnants of summer.

Wishing all my readers a relaxing Labour Day weekend and a fantastic start to the new school year! 

;* cb 

More about → CLINGING DESPERATELY TO THE LAST REMNANTS OF SUMMER

PLJESKAVICA AND GIBANICA (CROATIAN MEAT PATTIES AND SAVOURY CHEESE STRUDEL)

Gibanica is sometimes called Burek (cheese pie).

Serve Gibanica (savoury cheese strudel) with roasted peppers, cucumber salad, tomatoes, raw onions if you like 'em and pljeskavica (grilled meat patties)

It was summer.  I was in university and my boyfriend had a Serbo-Croatian next-door neighbour (his dad was Croatian and his mom was Serbian) who was his best friend.  They used to hang out every day and would eat at each other's homes quite often.

Days were spent talking about cars and puttering around his garage as he fixed his old '64 Firebird.  The car was more Bondo than metal.  It was so cool though.  We drove down to Ambleside, cruised down Robson Street and walked along the Stanley Park Seawall during those warm summer nights.  

Layer phyllo sheets with cheese mixture.  Brush with oil or butter

Summers were full of barbecues and inevitably I would be invited to their big parties.  The house was full of people from all generations, chatting, playing pool and helping with making the food.  The tables were loaded with grilled chicken, grilled meat, a savour monkey bread, a cheese strudel, tomatoes, onions, cucumber salad and much more.   Everything was made from scratch.  His mom was the best cook ever.  

I should have used melted butter instead of olive oil.  I also did not butter each phyllo sheet before I layered on the cheese mixture...so it was drier and not as decadent.  It wasn't as rich tasting as I remembered from the past 

The iconic foods that were a mainstay at all the barbecues were the Savoury Cheese Pie (Gibanica [Gee-ban-itsa]) and the Grilled Meat patties (Pljeskavica [Plyess-ka-vee-tsah]).  My boyfriend had once asked his buddy for the recipe, but didn't get a response.  The recipes were well-guarded family secrets passed down through the generations.  I encountered a similar response from my Portuguese girlfriend's family when I inquired about a fried shrimp empanada-like appetizer.   I never bothered asking anyone for their amazing recipes again.  I knew they wouldn't divulge.  I just tucked those tastebud memories away with the faint hope that I might encounter an authentic recipe sometime in the future.

Bake until the bottom and top is golden brown.  

When I got married to my boyfriend, and his best friend became his Best Man, we moved out into our own townhouse and we no longer hung out at his parents' house and I no longer ate the Serbo-Croatian foods that so resonated with me the smells and feelings of summer.

Today, lately since Stomach bought a new barbecue, (Weber!) I have been having nostalgic yearnings for the meat patties and custardy savoury cheese pies of my youth. 

Serve slices of Gibanica with the Pljeskavica.  Leftovers can be refrigerated and you can eat it at room temp or even cold

Though Stomach would often watch his best friend help his mother with the layering of the phyllo for the cheese pie and we would sit at the kitchen table as he helped make the meat patties and then grill them on the bbq, the thought never crossed my mind that I should be taking mental notes.  My bad.

Use a pyrex baking dish to bake the Gibanica so you can check that it is golden brown on the bottom.

From Stomach's recollection, there were 7 different cheeses in that Gibanica (or Burek) dish.  Apparently, the layering of the Gibanica would take a long time and it was his friend's job to do it.   I personally recalled some sort of dehydrated vegetable concoction that was sprinkled into the raw meat patty mixture. 

Pljeskavica (Croatian Grilled Meat Patties)

There are no Croatian or Serbian restaurants around Vancouver that I know of (let me know if there are!) and I suspect this is because the moms know how to cook so well...so why bother?  Other than befriending way more Croatian and Serbian friends in the hopes of being invited to their awesome bbq parties, the only way I figured I'd get to eat these tasty dishes whenever I wanted was to get to work researching and testing recipes.  I realized that I'd have to get going on researching the recipes that I longed for...on the internet.

Ground beef and pork are combined with finely minced onion, garlic and sweet paprika 

Interestingly, none of the recipes I found were exactly as I remembered.  None of the Gibanica recipes called for 7 different cheeses.  The recipes I found had at most 3 different cheeses.  The Pljeskavica recipes were so simple and didn't call for any of those dehydrated veggies...that I wondered if they were truly authentic.  In the end, I found a product called "Vegeta" that was invented in Croatia.  Apparently, it is as ubiquitous as ketchup in North America.  So I suspect that Vegeta (which has an MSG and non-MSG version) is the product that my friend used in his meat patties mixture.  I also think the Vegeta he used had MSG in it because his Pljeskavica were soooo good!

Allow the ground meat mixture to sit covered in refrigerator so flavours will meld.  I did this overnight.

In the end, I cobbled together my own recipe from the myriad of recipes out there.  I used a technique from one recipe and some ingredients from a few other recipes and kind of guessed at the proportions.  


These two super tasty dishes are my faves for barbecues.  The sides will have to wait for another day's post as this one's getting pretty long on its own.


I will be tweaking the recipes this summer until they come out the way I remembered.  The Gibanica was a bit too dry for my liking.  This recipe was very good but not amazing!  I will be trying to make it more rich and custardy as I recalled it (and maybe add a few more cheeses? possibly 4 more? and use butter instead of olive oil).  I think the calorie counts will be going up for the cheese pie.  The meat patties are almost perfect.  I need that Vegeta seasoning mix.   Next time I have to form the patties differently...thinner and indented in the middle. Gotta look around for the Vegeta somewhere.  Doubt Safeway has it!

GIBANICA (BUREK, OR SAVOURY CHEESE STRUDEL)
1 package phyllo dough (defrosted in the refrigerator overnight)
2 eggs [next time I will use way more eggs...maybe 4 or 5 because I didn't think it was rich and custardy enough...also may add some milk]
2 cups feta cheese
1 cup sour cream
1 cup ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons club soda or mineral water
olive oil or melted butter for brushing

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a food processor, pulse the feta until crumbly.  Add the ricotta, sour cream and 2 eggs.   Continue to pulse until the mixture is thoroughly combined.
3. Add the club soda or mineral water.  Pulse again to combine.
4. Butter, oil or spray a large pyrex rectangular baking dish.
5. Save 4 sheets of phyllo; setting it aside for the "lid" of the strudel.  Cover with a towel so it doesn't dry out.
6. Take a sheet of phyllo and place into the baking dish.  Allow the phyllo to overhang the dish.  Brush oil or butter on the phyllo sheet.  
7. Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup,  measure out two scoops of the cheese mixture and spread evenly over the phyllo layer.
8. Repeat until you are finished with all the phyllo sheets.
9. Tuck into the dish any of the phyllo overhanging the dish.  Cut the reserved 4 sheets of phyllo to the size of the baking dish.  Layer sheets on top of the pie, brushing with oil or butter.  Finish with a brushing of butter or oil.
10. Have ready some tin foil in case your Gibanica browns too quickly.  Place the pie on middle rack and bake for 25 minutes.  Check to ensure it's not burning.  If it is browning too quickly, you can place the foil on top.    Continue baking for another 15-20 minutes, keeping an eye on the bottom and top.  Take it out of the oven when you see through the pyrex dish that the bottom is golden brown and the top is flaky and golden brown.
11. Cut the cheese pie into squares and serve.  Leftovers can be refrigerated.  Gibanica can be eaten at room temperature or cold and is a delicious accompaniment to grilled meats.

PLJESKAVICA (CROATIAN MEAT PATTIES)
1large onion, finely minced [I used the food processor]
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 pounds ground beef
1 1/2 pounds ground pork
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 1/2 tablespoon sweet or hot paprika
[next time I will try and find the seasoning mix,Vegeta to add to the mixture for a more authentic flavour]

1. In a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients and mix thoroughly.
2. Cover and refrigerate overnight to allow the flavours to combine.
3. Form the meat into thin patties.  You may want to indent the centres of the patties because they will puff up in the centre when cooked.  
4. Grill the meat patties on the barbecue until done.
5. Serve with Gibanica, roasted peppers, chopped raw red onions, tomato and a Yogurt Cucumber salad (post coming soon!)

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BONE-DRY CHICKEN PIES

Looks promising, eh? 

I have been seeking the perfect recipe for those HK chicken pies that we buy at the local Chinese bakery.  They are unlike western pies because they’re small (tart-sized), they are savoury but also a bit sweet due to the addition of a bit of confectioners’ sugar in the tart dough, and the filling is primarily of chicken (thigh) chunks and ham.  These pies I suspect are made with lard because they taste so good.  I cannot bring myself to use lard (but interestingly I have no problem using pure butter)!

The end-product I am hoping for doesn’t have the requisite white sauce that western pies have; nor is there an abundance of veggies.  I followed the recipe exactly and was very disappointed, though not that surprised, that it was very dry.  The pies I purchase from Anna’s, our favourite chicken pie source, are on the dry side, but they are savoury and the filling kind of sticks together from I am guessing, a sort of cornstarch-thickened sauce made from the filling juices and possibly chicken stock. 
This recipe shows promise.  I made one test pie first and almost gagged from the bone-dry product.  For the rest of the batch, I then doctored the filling with a cornstarch-slurry thickened sauce made with chicken broth and stirred that into the meat filling.  It still needs something…like maybe some sauteed onions and more mushrooms.  I am inclined to add a sauce of some sort because I actually like a really moist filling.  I just worry that it’ll leak out of the little tarts as the dough is more like a shortcrust. 

So now I have about a dozen of these little pies to eat and though they’re not that bad, you really need a cup of hot tea or a tall glass of milk with them.  After I’ve figured out how to improve the recipe, I’ll post it.  I’ll be trying it with mushrooms, sauteed onions and a little white sauce first.   Hope it’ll work out!  I’ll keep you posted on my testing.

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TINY LEMON MERINGUE TARTS

It’s tart season! 
When life gives me lemons...
or in my case, a bag of organic lemons,
I made itty bitty Tiny Lemon Meringue Tarts.

This is portion control.  Each tart is one mouthful…about the size of a truffle.

The microplane comes in handy for finely zesting the organic lemons.  Notice how tiny the organic lemons are? They’re about half the size of conventionally grown lemons…but they’re full of awesome puckery lemon flavour.

Here’s a better idea of how tiny the tarts and the organic lemons are:  that’s my Nikon lens cap next to the little critters. 


It was difficult to restrain myself from popping the whole tart in my mouth, but I wanted to give you an idea of what it looked like inside. 

The crust is from scratch:  pâte sucrée.  A whole batch makes about 60 extremely tiny tarts.  I used silicone mini muffin pans to form and bake the tarts.  The lemon curd is also a recipe that rocks.  A full lemon curd recipe will fill about 28 mini tarts.  You can double it easily.  The tarts are piped with an Italian Meringue. 

Yes, fiddly, but so cute and delicious! 

Organic Lemon Curd

• 4 grams organic lemon zest, finely grated on a microplane
• 4 large organic/free range egg yolks, at room temperature
• 128 grams organic evaporated cane sugar
• 100 grams freshly squeezed and strained organic lemon juice (about 3 small lemons)
• 60 grams unsalted butter, cut in pieces
• a pinch of sea salt

1. In a saucepan, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until combined
2. Add the lemon juice, salt and cut up butter pieces and heat over medium-low heat, stirring continuously with a heat-proof rubber spatula.
3. The lemon curd will eventually thicken, coating the back of the spatula.  Do not boil or it may curdle. 
4. Strain and discard residue.  Add zest and stir.  Allow to cool.

This recipe will make enough lemon curd to fill approximately 28 mini tarts.  You can double the recipe easily.

PÂTE SUCRÉE FOR TINY TARTS

• 2 sticks (1/2 lb) unsalted butter, cool but slightly softened
• 1/2 cup organic evaporated cane sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 large organic egg yolks, at room temperature
• 1 cup sifted cake flour
• 2 cups organic all purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Beat the butter in a standing mixer with the paddle attachment until softened and light, about 3 minutes.  Add the sugar and mix for about 20 seconds.
2. Mix in the egg yolks and salt, scraping the bowl down occasionally.
3. Add all the flours and mix only until the dough comes together.  Add the cream and continue mixing on low speed until the dough is smooth.
4. Remove dough and shape into a flat disk.  Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Place in refrigerator until cold, about 4-6 hours. 
5. Cut the disk into about 8 pieces and remove one piece at a time to work with while placing the remaining pieces back in the refrigerator.
6. Between two pieces of parchment or plastic wrap, soften the dough with a rolling pin.  I use my French-style rolling pin and beat the piece of dough into submission; then roll it flat between the plastic.  The dough is easier to manipulate into the silicone muffin molds when it’s softened. 
7. Using a dowel or in my case, the tip of my French rolling pin, which just so happens to be tapered at the ends to fit perfectly into the muffin molds—place about a tablespoon of dough into each mold.  Place a piece of plastic wrap over the muffin mold and insert dowel into the mold, squishing the tart dough to fit.   Using a sharp paring knife, cut off the excess dough from the tops of the molds and reuse the excess in future molds.  Ensure that there are no holes in the tarts.  Patch if necessary, and try to create evenly lined muffin molds.  Place silicone muffin pan on a sheet pan.
8. Bake the mini tarts at 350°F for about 5-7 minutes, at which time, the tart shells will have poofed up in the silicone muffin molds.  Remove the pan from the oven and using the dowel, again reinsert the dowel—this time very carefully so as not to rip the delicate tart shells—and tamp down the half-baked shells until they are reformed snugly into the molds.
9. Place the pan back and finish baking the tarts until they are golden brown, approximately 8-10 minutes.
10. Remove the pan and allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Carefully remove the mini tart shells from the silicone muffin pan by pressing gently on the bottoms.  Allow to cool on another sheet pan.  Continue baking the tarts in this manner until all the dough is baked off—or like me, freeze some of the remaining unbaked tart shells in the silicone pans for future use.   They are fabulous filled with ganache or pastry cream and berries…among many many other things!
11. Fill the cooled tart shells with lemon curd (see recipe above).  Pipe with Italian Meringue (see recipe below) and broil until golden brown.  Serve immediately.  The tarts should be refrigerated if there are any left (not!) and can keep for a day or two.
12. tart dough recipe makes enough for 60 tiny tarts

FINICKY YET FANCY ITALIAN MERINGUE

• 3 organic egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 75 grams organic evaporated cane sugar
• 23 grams water

1. In a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, whisk egg whites until foamy.  Add cream of tartar and continue whisking on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form.
2. In a heavy saucepan, heat sugar and water until dissolved.  Continue to cook the sugar until the soft ball stage.  Pour the cooked sugar into the stiffly beaten whites and beat until combined.

TINY LEMON MERINGUE TARTS ASSEMBLY:

1. Using a 1M tip and a pastry bag, pipe the Italian meringue onto the lemon curd-filled tiny tarts.  Start from the outside and spiral towards the centre.   
2. Place the tiny assembled tarts on a sheet pan.  Place under the broiler and watch like a hawk until the tops are golden brown.  Remove immediately from the oven and serve.   If you are inclined, you may use your brulée torch to brown the meringues because in my opinion, there are hardly enough occasions where you can legitimately bring it out anyway.

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BIRTHDAY BUTTER TARTS

my birthday cupcake: it's not edible, but isn't it cute?

a canadian treat: cranberry butter tarts

It's my birthday and I'll buy if I want to...buy if I want to...

After I turned thirty, I decided that every birthday I should buy myself a birthday gift. Who knows me better than myself? I'd never have to exchange or return it and for sure I'd never be disappointed. I would never forget to buy myself something and of course, I would always know what I truly desired.

First, I'll tell you what Stomach and the kids got for me...

Stomach, being a thrifty sort of person, combined a business trip to Alberta (where you don't have to pay provincial sales tax! whoopee!) with a shopping spree. Actually, he drove downtown with a colleague and told him to circle the block a couple times as he'd only be 15 minutes. He had a list and knew exactly what he was going to get. Is that considered a spree? Well, not in my shopping world it isn't. He then proceeds to impatiently tap his finger on the counter as the one and only saleslady is busy showing two other men stuff in the showcase. How rude I thought as he recounted the story to me.

But guys will be guys. A guy with a list running to the Tiffany counter while his colleague circles the block is on a mission. Shopping to me is relaxing and I don't really set a time limit unless I'm parked on the street with a metre ticking away.

When Stomach got home, Bebe exclaimed that she and Bib had a gift for me. I looked surprised of course, as she presented me with the pretty blue box with the white satin ribbon bow. (Love those colours!) I asked if she broke her bank to buy this for me. She looked at me kind of like she forgot something and ran upstairs for a while. I heard her rummaging through her room and then the pounding of her little feet as she flew downstairs. She whispered something to Stomach and put something in his hand.

It was a loonie, a quarter and a penny from her piggy bank!

Stomach of course had to keep it because otherwise it wasn't really from her.

Bebe & Bib's gift to me

Well, I'm still buying myself gifts every year and this year I didn't disappoint. I decided that my blogging would be made much easier if I purchased those Lowel Ego lights that other food bloggers have been raving about. Jaden, at Steamy Kitchen, first introduced me to these lights and I was hemming and hawwing about whether or not to get them for the longest time.

Then, on one fortuitous night, I stood there with chocolate cupcake crumbs and buttercream frosting on my fingers, adjusting my wobbly make-shift "studio" lights that Stomach jerry-rigged from a pair of old black Ikea lights with exposed (eeks, bad-for-your-health-if-not- filtered!) new-fangled spiral, green, energy-saving doohickey bulbs. The bulbs gave off a white light and they were kind of close to what I wanted. The trouble was, they were blinding my eyes everytime I looked up as of course, they were not filtered by a shade (which wouldn't fit their odd shape anyway).

Every time I tried to adjust the angle of the bulbs, I got zapped because Stomach thought it a good idea to pull the bulb and socket out of the lamp and precariously rest it on the neck of the lamp base. This way, he surmised, I could adjust the angle of the bulb. Doh! I know, I know.

So, after getting zapped a few too many times, I resolved I'd buy these

my food porn studio is in the basement so it's really dark. that's an old piece of ikea furniture that the lowel ego lights are on. the two lights came with a big sweep and coloured paper for backgrounds, but i haven't used those yet. and you can't see it, but my exercise bike, total gym and treadmill are in this dinky bedroom-sized room too!

So for my birthday, I got my lights...and my health, because now I know I won't get electrocuted.

I was born in Vancouver and from a very young age, I recall my mother coming home with packages of these butter tarts from the local Safeway. I didn't realize until recently that butter tarts are a totally Canadian sort of dessert; kind of like Nanaimo Bars.

Indeed, thumbing through my hundreds of cookbooks, you'd be hard-pressed to find a recipe for Butter Tarts. Funny, because you can find them everywhere. You can find them gussied up at higher-end pastry counters with rustic hand-formed tart shells or at the corner grocery store stacked in their half-dozen cardboard trays. I recently bought a few from Meinhardt's dessert counter and they were scrumptious.

Butter Tarts usually are made with pre-bought tart shells. It's all about the filling you see. They are dessert you can eat after school or bring to a staff social. They're cheap! They're sweet! They're easy to make!

Traditionally, Butter Tarts have raisins in them. Now, I must confess. I hate raisins. I hate raisins in bread and in carrot cake and in pretty much any dessert come to think of it. Don't get me wrong...I like to eat raisins by themselves. I just don't like raisins in things. It's a textural thing. I was probably, in my childhood traumatized by raisins, I'm sure. I know this has to be the case as I vividly remember being traumatized by peas. Yes, peas. Those evil little green spheres of ickiness.

I would come home for lunch in elementary school and there awaiting me would be a plate of fried rice that my mother made...with peas. I would eat the rice and other stuff but I'd leave the peas. One time, my mother got fed up with me and said that I couldn't leave the table until all the peas were finished.

Lucky for me we had a German Shepherd who didn't mind peas at all!

Today I have learned to love peas in fried rice. I'll even eat those frozen mixed veggies. The turning point for me came when I lived with my maternal grandmother during summer break one year and she made me an egg-drop soup with her freshly grown garden veggies. She incorporated some freshly shucked peas. It was heaven. I couldn't believe the sweet little explosions of flavour in my mouth were the same things that were invading my fried rice and macaroni and cheese. You heard it people! Mac and cheese with peas! Sacrilege! Hot dogs yes; ketchup, well--it's okay but I don't do it. But peas in Mac and Cheese? WTF?

So there, you can understand my reasons for not liking peas.

'Nuf said. Let's get to the Butter Tart recipe. Buy some frozen, unsweetened tart shells or make your own. All you need is about 15 minutes to make the filling and you pop them in the oven for another 15. You can throw in dried blueberries (which I did), craisins (which are my favourite), raisins (if you're traditional) or any other dried fruit. You can also leave the dried fruit out and put in toasted nuts (think pecans!) or even nothing at all! This is a forgiving recipe.

I found this published in The Vancouver Sun. They had this retro series where they published all the oldies.

THE BEST BUTTER TARTS (adapted from The Vancouver Sun)

• 24 unbaked tart shells [I used unsweetened]
• 1 cup raisins [I used craisins in some and dried blueberries in others]
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup corn syrup
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Divide raisins/craisins/whatever evenly among shells. In a bowl, lightly beat together eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt. Pour over raisins/craisins, filling shells about 3/4 full.
2. Bake in a preheated 425 F oven just until set, about 15 minutes. Cool on wire rack, then remove from the pan. Makes 24 tarts

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FUJI APPLE PIE

an unorthodox apple pie: precook the filling!

this crust was easy to work with, but I'm looking for something even better!

I love apple pie and I'm still searching for the best flaky, tender, flavourful crust. The most recent recipe I tried (Barefoot Contessa) incorporated butter and shortening but I wasn't that impressed by the flavour (not buttery enough!) and the flakiness was somewhat lacking. It was okay. Not bad but not worthy enough for me to post.

A technique I did fiddle with was precooking the apple pie filling. I hate it when the crust sets up high and the filling shrinks down low in some recipes. You're left with this huge void in between the top crust and the filling. From research, I have found that in some recipes that the filling can be cooked ahead of time and then popped into the unbaked pie crust to be baked again. This seemed intriguing.

My mother had purchased 4 lbs of local organic Fuji apples at the annual Apple Festival at UBC. Precooking the apples on the stovetop totally worked out for me and I was happy with the consistency of my apples. Whereas previously with some recipes, I'd have about 3 cups of apple juice pooling around the bottom of a soggy crust, now I had a nice dry crust and a filling that held up when sliced. It wasn't all cornstarchy either. I was worried that the filling would overcook, but it hadn't done that at all.

Now, I just have to fix the crust problem! I realize the shortening is there to help alleviate the sunken filling syndrome, and it also helps with tenderizing, but I could really tell the shortening was there. I wasn't so impressed with the flavour. I have yet to try ATK's vodka instead of water technique. Perhaps it'll be my next crust to make.

Anyone out there have the best darned pie crust recipe?

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EGG TARTS THE EASY WAY

5 eggs
4 oz evaporated milk
6 oz sugar
10 oz water
2 T custard powder
frozen tart shells

• Mix sugar and 8 oz water
• Use 2 oz or Hot water to dissolve custard powder
• Mix all ingredients well
• Pour into frozen tart shells
• Bake at 180C for 15 to 20 minutes

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ALMOND TARTS (PITHIVIERS TARTS)

This is cakebrain's rendition of Ikea's almond tarts. They go so well with tea. After tasting them I knew I could duplicate them at home. After experimenting, I found this one to taste most like the one from Ikea.

12 frozen tart shells
4 oz butter, unsalted
1/3 cup (2 1/2 oz) powdered sugar
1 egg
5 oz ground almonds
2 t all purpose flour
1 t vanilla
1 t almond extract

Icing Glaze
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar & a few teaspoons skim milk mixed to form a glaze to top the tarts

• Cream the sugar and the butter well.


• Mix in the egg; beat well.


• Add the rest of the ingredients to mix and spoon into tart shells


• Smooth filling


• Bake 325F for 15-20 minutes


• Glaze the cooled tarts with the icing.

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