Showing posts with label pies and tarts. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pies and tarts. Show all posts
If there is one thing my family loves more than almost anything on earth, except for Fish & Chips it is jam. We ADORE jam! We love it on our toast, over ice cream, in cakes, tarts, etc.
I would say it was our Scottish heritage, but my father is the real jam nut and he is French Canadian. Having said that, however, the Scots have always had a close tie to France. Mary, Queen of Scots, was brought up in France.
So jam is probably popular on both sides of the English Channel!
The Scottish do love their jam though and they love their coconut. These are some of the most popular tarts in Scotland. You will see them on offer in all of the bake shops.
They are just called Coconut Tarts there, but I like to call them Coconut & Jam Tarts. Whatever you call them, they are delicious!
One of my early ancestors, Boyd McNayr was born near Glasgow in the 1700's. He came to Canada as a young boy. His father was a soldier in the King's service named James.
He left Boyd in Halifax with friends at the tender age of 8 and left to do some soldiering duties. Not he, nor his ship, was ever seen or heard from again. Tragic really.
Boyd and his wife Rachel Beals started a settlement out in Springfield, Nova Scotia. They were built of strong stuff. All those early pioneers were. You can still go there and see their headstones. I am really proud of my pioneer heritage.
One of the favorite things I was able to do when I was in the UK was to travel to Scotland and Glasgow, as well as to the Highlands. It is a stunning, stunning country. If you ever get a chance to go, take it, don't pass it by!
Back to the tarts. These are quite simply fabulous. Crisp buttery pastry, with a raspberry jam filling and sweet coconut macaroon topping. They are incredibly moreish.
Especially enjoyed with a nice hot cuppa. Today I opened day four from my Tea Advent calendar and enjoyed it in my new Susan Branch Winter Mug. I have wanted one of those mugs for years so when I saw that they were back in stock, I snapped one up.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE SCOTTISH COCONUT & JAM TARTS
Simple store cupboard ingredients for the most part. Nothing more, nothing less. If you keep frozen tart shells in the freezer, you will never be very far away from making these.
- 12 unbaked tart shells (you can make your own from scratch if you like, I used the Tenderflake frozen ones.)
- raspberry jam (I used seedless today)
- shredded unsweetened coconut
- butter (I used salted. Most of the time that is all I have in my fridge)
- 1 large egg (I only use free range)
- sugar (I used granulated white sugar)
- vanilla extract (I only use pure vanilla extract)
I never saw flaked coconut the whole time I lived over there. It just wasn't available. I sometimes would bring some back from Canada when I visited home, and could often get it at an American supply warehouse, when it was in stock.
It often was sold out.
The tart shells I used are by Tenderflake, and come frozen in sets of 12. They are about 3 inches in diameter and work perfectly for this recipe.
I only ever use large eggs, unless otherwise specified and always free range. I will not support an inhumane industry if I can help it and avoid eggs from caged hens at all costs! I do not mind paying a bit more for my eggs.
HOW TO MAKE SCOTTISH COCONUT & JAM TARTS
Its very simple really. I would call this a doddle actually. You begin by preheating the oven. Once it has reached your temperature I like to prebake the tart shells for about 5 minutes.
This simple thing helps to prevent soggy bottoms, and the timing is just long enough to whisk together the filling ingredients. Nobody likes a soggy bottom.
Just whisk the sugar, egg, vanilla, melted butter and coconut together in a small bowl. It is almost like a loose macaroon mixture.
Take your partially baked shells out of the oven. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of your jam into the bottom of each shell.
I used seedless raspberry jam because that is the only raspberry jam I had in the house. I normally buy seedless as I have diverticulitis and the seeds play havoc with my system.
If all you have is seeded, then by all means use that!
The coconut filling gets spooned into the tart shell, over top of the jam and then you bake the tarts for 20 to 15 minutes.
They are done when the tops are golden brown and set, and the pastry is crisp and golden brown as well. I dusted them with some icing sugar to pretty them up a bit.
The Scots really enjoy their sweets. Another popular bake up there are Scottish Snowballs Cakes. These are two puffy cookies, sandwiched together with jam and rolled in a glace icing and coconut. You can find my recipe for those here.
They are incredibly yummy!
Only a few mind you. I don't want her to feel beholding, and you know how older people can be sometimes. She might think she has to give me something back and I don't want anything.
I basically just want to thank her for being a good neighbor, and I think these cake/tarts are an excellent way to do just that!
Scottish Coconut & Jam Tarts
Yield: Makes 12 tarts
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 25 MinTotal time: 35 Min
This is a classic Scottish treat. Incredibly delicious and very easy to make using frozen tart shells.
Ingredients
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 TBS butter, melted
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 1/2 cup (115g) shredded coconut, unsweetened
- raspberry jam
- 12 unbaked tart shells
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/ gas mark 4. Place your tart shells on a baking sheet. Pre-bake for five minutes.
- Whisk the egg, sugar, butter, vanilla and coconut together in a bowl.
- Place 1/2 tsp of jam in the bottom of each tart shell. Top with 1/12th of the coconut mixture. (fill about 3/4 full)
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown.
- Leave to cool then remove from the tart tins. Serve at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
I had a frozen pie crust that I wanted to use up so I thought I would bake another pie this weekend. I don't normally bake pies, two weeks in a row, but what the hey! You only live once.
When I checked my recipes I was really surprised that I had not already shared this delicious old fashioned butterscotch pie recipe with you!!
Prepare yourself for a lifelong love affair because I have been baking and loving this pie for about 45 years now! Its the best from scratch butterscotch pie you could ever want to treat yourself to! No fooling around.
The first year I was married to my second husband (the father of my children) my mother in law gifted me with a real treasure. A small handwritten notebook of my husband and his family's favorite recipes.
My ex-MIL was an excellent cook. She was an army wife, having lived all across Canada and in Europe. My FIL was a retired army cook, so you just know good cooking ran in the family.
This little notebook was filled with her tried and trues and it has been and is a real treasure to me. The pages are well splattered and tattered with use over the years, some of the writing is even fading.
I really need to copy everything in it out into another notebook so that I can have it saved for my children as it is a part of their heritage as well. These are the recipes they grew up enjoying as well.
My MIL is still going strong at 93. She still drives and everything. I really love (d) Elizabeth. I know people like to talk nasty about MIL's, but I had the best MIL ever. She was a real dear, very kind and long-suffering.
Back to the pie. This old fashioned butterscotch pie was my ex husband's favorite pie and dessert. In fact, every year he would request me to make one for his birthday rather than a cake.
I was quite happy to do so because . . . truth be told, it is a favorite of mine also.
There is nothing artificial here. Just good old fashioned simple ingredients put together in a simple way.
Seriously, you do not need to be a chef to make or bake this easy recipe. In fact if you use a frozen pie ready made pie shell (like I did today) it gets even easier!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH PIE FROM SCRATCH
There is nothing out of the ordinary here.
- 1 (9-inch) baked pie crust
- Light brown sugar
- Butter
- cake flour (or a mixture of all purpose flour and cornstarch)
- 2 large free range eggs
- Full fat milk
- Pinch of salt
- Vanilla extract
You can of course make your own pie crust from scratch. I normally make my Butter & Lard Pastry. Its the best, flakiest pastry. You can get to the recipe by clicking on the name.
It makes two single crusts or enough pastry for one two crust pie. It is sincerely one of the greatest pastry recipes ever.
The filling itself is a real doddle to make. You do need to use a double boiler for this, or at least a facsimile of one.
If you have a heat proof bowl, you can easily replicate a double boiler by setting the bowl on the rim of a saucepan over simmering water. Just make sure that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl.
HOW TO MAKE BUTTERSCOTCH PIE
You begin by mixing together all of the filling ingredients in the top of a double boiler. I do this by whisking together the brown sugar and flour/cornstarch mixture until they are well amalgamated, and then I whisk in the milk, salt and add the butter.
By the time you have done this any lumps in the brown sugar will be no more. This then needs to be cooked over simmering water, whisking constantly, until the mixture bubbles and thickens.
This is probably the most labor intensive part of the recipe. Standing there whisking. Don't stop whisking or you risk lumps in your filling.
Once it has bubbled and thickened you need to walk away for 20 minutes, returning periodically to give the filling another whisk. This is so that all of the flour flavor cooks out of the filling.
There is nothing nastier than a pie that tastes like flour. Blech.
Next you need to whisk in the egg yolks, but not before tempering them first. All tempering means is whisking some of the hot mixture into the beaten egg yolk to heat them up a bit.
If you add cold eggs to a hot filling you end up with omelette. You don't want omelette. You want a smooth glossy filling.
So temper your egg yolks first. Just whisk the hot filling into them, a bit at a time. I would add at least 4 TBS of the hot mixture, one at a time, whisking constantly as you add each TBS.
Once you've done that you can whisk all of the egg mixture back into the hot filling and then it needs to cook for about 5 minutes longer so that the eggs are all cooked in the filling. You don't want to be feeding raw eggs to people, even if it is only the yolks.
Easy peasy. Your filling is pretty much done. Just remove it from the heat and let it cool to lukewarm, whereupon you can whisk in the vanilla extract. I always use pure vanilla extract.
You can now spread your filling into your baked crust and get on with making the meringue. Meringue is really easy to make as well.
You will use the whites from your eggs to make your meringue. You want to start with a clean, grease free glass bowl and, using an electric hand whisk, start whisking your whites on high
Once they are foamy, you can continue to whisk them, adding the sugar a bit at a time until you have a really thick, satiny mixture, that is somewhat glossy.
It should stand up in peaks when you lift the beaters out of it. Spread this over your pie. I tend to place more in the center of the pie than I do on the edges, although you do want all of the filling covered.
I just dollop it all over the pie and spread it out with the back of a metal spoon, making peaks here and there like little snowy mountain tops. Make sure it touches the crust of the pie all the way around That way you know your filling is absolutely covered.
Then you just pop the whole thing into a moderate oven (350*F/180*C) and brown the meringue. It doesn't take long, about 10 minutes and it will be perfect.
Seriously the most difficult part of making this pie is waiting for everything to cool down enough that you can cut into it. As you can see I have a problem with that. I can never wait quite long enough to dig in.
Ideally you should leave it for several hours. But that is in a perfect world full of people who are not gluttons and who have plenty of patience.
That is not me! Anyways, I really hope that you will be inspired to want to make this delicious pie and that if you do, you will agree with me in thinking that it is just the best Butterscotch Pie ever!
Butterscotch Pie
Yield: 8
Prep time: 5 MinCook time: 40 MinTotal time: 45 Min
This is probably the best from-scratch butterscotch pie you will ever make. I stake my reputation on it. You will need a double boiler, or a bowl set in a saucepan over simmering water to make the filling.
Ingredients
For the Pie and filling:
- 1 (9-inch) baked pie shell
- 1 cup (200g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 5 TBS flour
- 1 TBS cornstarch (cornflour)
- 2 TBS butter
- 1 cup (240ml) full fat milk
- 2 large free range egg yolks
- pinch salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
For the meringue:
- 2 large free range egg whites
- 2 TBS fine granulated sugar
Instructions
- Place the flour, brown sugar, cornstarch and salt in the top part of a double boiler. Mix all together well. Stir in the milk and add the butter. (Alternately you can do this in a heat proof bowl which you can set in a saucepan over simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water.)
- Place over simmering water and cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture starts to thicken. Continue to cook for 20 minutes, stirring often.
- Beat your egg yolks. Temper them with a bit of the hot pie mixture, by adding some to the yolks a bit at a time, whisking it in. Whisk the tempered mixture back into the hot mixture, combining well. Cook for a further 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
- Whisk in the vanilla, and then spoon the mixture into your baked crust. It will be thick, smooth and delicious.
- Beat the egg whites until they start to get really frothy. Beat on high adding the sugar in a slow stream. Continue to beat until the mixture doubles in volume and is thick and glossy and stands up in peaks.
- Spoon and spread this over the cooled pie covering the filling completely. It should read the crust edge all around. Make some decorative swirls on top.
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/ 180*C/ gas mark 4. Place the pie on a baking sheet and slid it into the oven. Bake until the meringue is golden brown, about 10 to 15 minutes.
- Allow the pie to cool completely before serving. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.
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This has to be my favorite apple pie of all time, I kid you not! It is the best apple pie recipe and I think you best prepare yourself now to fall in love because I am pretty certain you will do just that!
The original recipe comes from an old recipe book of mine entitled Food that Really Schmecks, Mennonite Cooking by Edna Staebler, published in 1968.
I remember taking a copy of the book out of the library when I was a very young mother and living in London, Ontario. I painstakingly copied some of the recipes out into my Big Blue Binder. This would have been back in the early 1980's.
I eventually purchased a copy for myself many years later. It is a wonderful example of Canadian Mennonite Cooking, written by Edna Staebler who grew up in Waterloo county in Ontario, Canada, at the very heart of Canadian Mennonite Country.
I have been to the area many, many times myself. The farm market in Kitchener is fabulous and filled with an abundance of Mennonite cooking and quilts, meats, etc.
I also have been to Saint Jacobs many times, which is a very Mennonite town. We used to love to eat at a Mennonite Restaurant called Anna Mae's in Millbank which is in the same area.
I have eaten there many times and in my opinion it was the best home cooking you could get in a restaurant outside of a home! Everything was delicious. They have a different special every night of the week, along with their special Broasted Chicken, and of course the pies are to die for.
If you ever happen to have a chance to visit it and eat there, I highly recommend. Be sure to bring along a hearty appetite because they will be rolling you out of there!
Mennonites are known for being excellent cooks. I am not surprised. They are very similar to the Amish in origin and life style. We lived not too far from Mennonite country and often saw them in their horse and buggies.
Anyways, this pie is one of the best apple pies you could ever want to bake and to eat, and its very simple as well.
Schnitz usually refers to dried apples, but in this case it refers simply to sliced apples. I don't want to start any arguments here. I know people can be very pedantic about terminology, etc.
I am only giving you the name by which it is listed in the book. A rose by any other name and all that.
This is a single crust pie, composed of a delicious streusel crumb that is used in three separate ways. First as a base in the bottom of the crust beneath the apples.
Second mixed into sour cream or cream as a creamy custard that gets poured over the apples, and finally, third as a cinnamon streusel topping that gets sprinkled over top of the pie before baking.
There is nothing extraordinary called for her, unless you consider cream or sour cream to be extraordinary.
For me they are just staples and something which I always have in my kitchen. It is the same with buttermilk and plain yogurt. Trust me when I tell you that they always, always get used!
You will want to use a nice all rounder when it comes to apples. Today I used some Gravensteins that are now coming into crop.
The Gravenstein apple is one of the earliest croppers when it comes to apples in Nova Scotia. They are great all rounders making for both great eating and great cooking. Firm, crisp and juicy.
As you can tell they hold their shape well in cooking. They are also generally quite large. I used one and a half for this pie.
The other half I ate out of hand and it was delicious! Best apple I have eaten in a while. Not long since being picked I am sure. I bought them at Goucher's farm market on Friday.
I had forgotten just how delicious fresh picked apples are. My first husband's family were farmers. They had orchards as well as chickens, eggs, lamb, beef cattle, and farmed vegetables as well for the local processing plant.
My late Mother In Law knew what to do with all of these things and she did it really well. Nothing was wasted. I learned a lot from her. Lois was a real treasure. She passed away a few years ago at the age of 100.
Normally I would make my own pastry for this but had a really busy day today so used a frozen pie crust. A Tenderflake crust. They are the best when it comes to ready crusts here in Canada.
Normally I would make my Butter & Lard Pastry. It is the best, flakiest pastry you could ever want in a pie, single or double, sweet or savory. Trust me on this.
*Butter-Lard Pastry*
Makes 2 nine - inch crusts
Makes 2 nine - inch crusts
Printable Recipe
This is a beautiful pastry. Flaky just right. You can add a touch of sugar to it if you are making a fruit pie.
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
(note: if using for a sweet pie, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar.)
Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc. Warp in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
This is a beautiful pastry. Flaky just right. You can add a touch of sugar to it if you are making a fruit pie.
2 cups all purpose flour (280g)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter (76g)
1/3 cup lard (or white vegetable shortening) (74g)
5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water
(note: if using for a sweet pie, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar.)
Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard, until you have pieces of fat in the flour about the size of peas. Add ice water, one TBS at a time, tossing it in with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc. Warp in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
When the children were growing up, I always, ALWAYS had to make one of these for Thanksgiving along with the traditional Pumpkin Pie. The family loved it.
I also loved it. I would cut you a piece to show you inside the pie, but it really needs to stand overnight before I do that, and I am thinking I will bring it to my sister's tomorrow if I get invited for supper.
Do believe me however when I tell you that this is a DELICIOUS pie! (Sorry for shouting but I can't help myself when it comes to this pie.)
Crisp buttery crust, sweet, rich apple filling with a creamy sweet brown sugar custard and cinnamon brown sugar streusel on top. Now if that doesn't get your taste buds to tingling, I don't know what will.
I am only sorry it took me so long to share this with you! Now get off here and go and bake one for your family. This pie is guaranteed to make you one of their most favorite people ever!
Cream & Crumb Schnitz Pie
Yield: Makes one 9-inch pie
Prep time: 15 MinCook time: 50 MinTotal time: 1 H & 4 M
This is quite simply my favorite apple pie. I have been baking and eating it for many years. The original recipe comes from a book entitles Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler, published in 1968.
Ingredients
- Pastry for one 9-inch single crust pie
- enough apples to fill the pie shell (I used 1 1/2 large gravenstein apples)
- 1 cup (200g) soft light brown sugar, packed
- 3 TBS cold butter
- 1/3 cup (47g) all purpose plain flour
- 2/3 cup (160ml) cream (sweet, sour or turning)
- 3/4 tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425*F/220*C/ gas mark 7. Have your unbaked pie crust ready.
- Measure the flour, sugar and butter into a bowl and rub into crumbs. Sprinkle half of them into the bottom of the pie crust.
- Peel, core and slice your apple into slices (schnitz). Place them in the pie crust on top of the crumbs.
- Divide the remaining crumbs in two. Mix the cream into one portion and mix the cinnamon into the other portion.
- Spoon the cream portion over top of the apples to cover them completely. Sprinkle the cinnamon crumbs over top of all evenly.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350*F/180*C/gas mark 4. Bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes. The crust will be golden brown, the apples tender and the cream set and golden brown as well.
- Let cool to at least lukewarm before cutting into wedges to serve.
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