Butter Tarts and Celebrations

In celebration of Canada's 150th Birthday Year,

I've been gathering up some of my "uniquely Canadian" recipes.

Butter Tarts are quintessentially Canadian - right? eh?

As much as they are also considered a Canadian Mennonite tradition.

This is my attempt at making some butter tarts.

I will also try to make my sister Evelyn's butter tart recipe next time,
which is quite different from this one.

One can never have too many butter tart recipes!

Aunt Sarah’s Butter Tarts

Aunt Sarah (Gerber) Leis – Dad’s youngest sister, who just passed away in June of 2016. These were my favourites and I remember having these at Aunt Sarah’s while hanging out there with my cousin Doreen. The pastry is unusual, rich and almost cookie like made with brown sugar. My Mom had this recipe written out on a scrap piece of paper as “Tarts from Sarah L”.

Cream together ¾ Cup Lard and ½ Cup Brown Sugar. 

Add 1 egg and ¼ Cup Sour Milk

Mix into 2 ½ Cups Flour, ½ tsp. baking soda, and ¼ tsp. salt

Roll out and line tart tins – approx. 2 doz.

Filling:

½ Cup melted butter

½ Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup corn syrup or maple syrup

2 eggs

Vanilla

Mix in order given. Fill tart shell and bake at 400F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350F for another 15-20 minutes.

“She puts some raisins and pecans in each shell and then fills with filling”

Hint: I rolled the dough (which is quite hard to handle) into two logs and then refrigerated them for a good 1/2 hour. I was then able to cut each log into 12 equal parts/disks for easier rolling and handling. The shells were cut with a glass bowl which is 4 1/2 inches in diameter and it worked out well with less handling and waste.

The filling only filled 20 of the 24 shells? I have an idea that Aunt Sarah's tart tins were not quite as deep as mine.

I made them plain - without any raisins or nuts.

Another very Canadian celebration happened a few weeks ago.

Our friend Ali became a Canadian citizen!!

We felt so privileged to take part in this special ceremony and  it

made us so thankful to be a citizen of this fine country.

Ali was thrilled and had worked so hard to achieve this special reward!

This past weekend

a fancy customer appreciation dinner for the farmer's 
branch office was held at the beautiful

Langdon Hall in Cambridge - what a treat!
Well done Oak Tree Financial ...

Our menu included amazing beef tenderloin, trout, flavourful squash soup and the most interesting chocolate mousse dessert!

The appetizers were so pretty - dips for beet chips and veggies

and a cheese tray with piles of raw nuts and dried fruit - so delicious.

Canadian Cuisine at it's best!

I think there will be many more Canadian celebrations to come

during this special year 2017.

Happy Birthday Canada!

Till next time ...... do you have a favourite butter tart recipe?