I had to start my baking early this year as we are seeing folks starting this weekend. I went a bit old school and nostalgic and made some butter pecan tarts. I tried to dig up my mother-in-law’s recipe, but couldn’t find it. But one of my sisters came to the rescue and gave me her filling recipe! All that was left to do was find a good pastry recipe. I found that on Little Sweet Baker’s page. The bonus of my sister’s recipe is that it contains no corn syrup.
The recipe made 24 tarts with only about a tablespoon of extra dough that wasn’t used. The pasty portion was flakey and crispy and the filling had that classic butter pecan tart taste. I used pecans as both the Hubby and I loathe raisins, but feel free to use raisins, chocolate chips, or walnuts!
Ingredients
The Pastry
- 3 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspon salt
- 1/2 cup lard
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 1 cup cold water
The Filling
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter
- 4 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
The Pastry
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Cut in the lard and butter using a pastry blender (or two knives) until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal.
- In a measuring cup, combine the egg and vinegar. Add enough cold water to make one cup.
- Gradually stir in the liquid, adding just enough to make the dough cling together.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gather into a ball and divide into two equal portions.
- Tightly saran wrap both portions. Place in the fridge to chill for one hour.
- Roll the dough on a floured surface to about 1/8″ thick. Cut as many 4″ circles as you can. Re-roll the scraps and cut out more circles.
- Fit the pastry circles into a muffin pan and place back in the fridge until ready to fill.
- Preheat oven to 375F and position a rack in lower third of oven.
The Filling
- In a saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cream and vanilla.
- Let cool to touch (about 5 minutes) before whisking in the eggs.
- Divide the pecans among the pastry shells and pour in the filling until full.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until crust is lightly golden around the edges and filling is bubbling.
- Let cool completely in the pan.
