| Remember last week, when I got my kitchen back and went a little nuts over it – making a Gluten Free Tourtiere, amoung other things? Well, the time has come to blog another of those “other things”.
One of the things I’d been looking forward to making was a theoretical gluten free butter tart. In fact, I facebooked a plea to ” the god/godess in charge of kitchen renovations” that I would make a tasty gluten free butter tart HAPPEN, if the remaining kitchen repairs-to-useable went quickly and easily. I keep my promises The crust on these is not bad at all for being gluten free… and – given how snobby I am about gluten free stuff – that’s actually high praise! |
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As is, this recipe is quick and easy to make. Of course, Murphy’s Law kicked in while I was getting prepared, and things got a little … depraved. See the very end of this blog post for details!
Gluten Free Buttertarts Recipe
(Makes about 18-20 regular, or 10-12 giant butter tarts)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 (8oz) brick cream cheese, softened
2 Tbsp sugar
2 3/4 cups all purpose Gluten Free flour
1/4 cup corn starch
1/2 – 1 cup raisins
1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs, whisked*
Beat butter, cream cheese, and sugar until well mixed and soft. Slowly add flour and corn starch. Once all flour is added, turn out and knead until well incorporated and smooth. Form a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for about 30 mins.
Lightly flour your work surface, roll chilled dough out pretty thin – 1/8″ to 1/4″, depending on your tastes – some prefer a thinner shell, some thicker. Cut 4″ rounds from the pastry – you’re aiming for 12.
Carefully transfer the pastry rounds to a muffin pan. I like to flatten the bottom against the tin, and work out from there, flattening the whole round to be flush with the muffin pan cavity – it holds the most filling! Feel free to get decorative about it – flattening the bottom of the dough against the muffin pan, gently ruffling the edges… it’s up to you! Chill the pan of prepared tart shells until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C)
Divide raisins among tart shells – I personally like to have a fair amount of raisins in my buttertarts, so I use 1-2 cups. (1/2 cup is probably closer to average!). Set aside.
Combine butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup in a medium saucepan. Beat until smooth. Add in eggs, beat once more until well combined. Heat mixture on medium, stirring constantly. Bring mixture JUST to a boil, remove from heat. Carefully pour mixture into prepared tart shells.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until filling has set and the pastry is lightly browned. Remove from oven and allow to cool. These are usually served at room temperature, but some prefer them chilled!
* I like my butter tarts slightly runny. Add an extra egg for a firmer filling.
Now, what follows is an example of what happens when sheer desperation takes over. My sincerest apologies for the crappy cell phone photography. My husband/photographer was not home, and I was NOT about to wait!
After I made the dough and pulled out the ingredients for the filling, I realized that I had NO idea where all my muffin pans were. I couldn’t find them in our “temporary necessities” pile of kitchen stuff in the dining room, so they were likely packed away for longer term storage (Until the shelving is done). So.. I haven’t seen them since the May 22 tornado.
| As I already have way more muffin pans than anyone could ever use (short of owning a cake business!), there was no way I was going to buy any more. Our “long term storage” is in the roof crawl space right under where the tree hit though. I’ve seen the gigantic bugs that came in from not having a roof for several weeks, so I wasn’t exactly thrilled at the idea of going in there. Ugh. *shiver*. No one should ever be able to mistake a bug for a MOUSE. |  |
So… I MacGuyvered a solution from tin foil, and it worked out VERY well! I love super deep butter tarts, so this was a bonus.
First, I pulled out a piece of tinfoil that was roughly square. I folded it in half one way, then in half again – making a smallish square. I molded it down over the bottom of a glass, rolling what would become the top edge of the tart cup a bit to give it some more stability.
I divided the dough into 12 equal pieces, flattened each pieces out in my hand, and carefully set it in the makeshift muffin cup. Then, working from the middle, I pressed the dough out, flat against the bottom, snug into the bottom edge, and evenly up the sides.
Each giant cup was able to take a pretty big handful of raisins – I went though almost a pound of them!
If you do it this way, increase your baking time by 5-10 minutes, checking often to prevent burning.
