And then there were two!

Hello lovelies,

I have some good new!!! Yesterday I asked one of my best friends, Maggie, if she would like to be the co-author of my blog. She said YES! So in a little while, Maggie will be writing posts too. I truly believe Maggie will make the blog even better because she is my cooking mentor. Plus she is in with all the cooking trends and likes to treat herself with cooking supplies. But don't worry I won't let her vegan obsession overtake Breakfast at Midnight. We have been cooking together for ages and the times we spend together in the kitchen are spent laughing, dancing, singing, bickering, and sometimes we even get a little cooking done ;) So here is a little collection of photos to introduce you to the my partner in crime. She can do wonders with egg whites and she adds coconut oil to everything:

So folks, let's welcome Magsters to the blog with a classic Patenaude family recipe... Sandy's Butter Tarts.

Sandy's Butter Tarts

I happened to have a 4" cutter but you can use a glass/mug/small bowl too. 

It's okay if you're filling is chunky. 

WARNING: These butter tarts are runny. So if you're looking for firm jelly tarts, bake longer or find another recipe.

Ingredients:

Shells

- 2 cups flour

- ¾ tsp salt

- 1 cup Crisco shortening

- 6 tbsp water

Filling

- 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar

- 1 cup corn syrup

- ½ cup Golden Flavour Crisco

- 2 egg

- 2 tsp vanilla 

- ½ tsp salt

- ¾ cup raisins (optional)

Directions:

Shells

✿ Use two knives or a pastry cutter to combine the flour, salt, and Crisco. 

✿ Drizzle the ice water into the mixture and mix with a fork. Don't get too fierce with your mixing because we don't want to abuse the pastry. Less mixing means more flaky.

✿ Once combined, sprinkle some flour onto the counter and roll it out thinly. Cut rounds with 4'' (10 cm) cutter. 

✿ Grease the muffin cups with the paper lining from the Crisco box. Fit shells into muffin tin.

✿ The nice thing about this recipe, is that it doesn't need to be perfect. It's a real homestyle recipe and I like how they look like something your grandma would give you at a backyard barbecue.

Filling

✿ Combine all filling ingredients except raisins; mix well. As mentioned above, it's alright to have a chunky filling. It all smoothes out while baking.

✿ Put raisins (if you like them) into pastry shells, dividing evenly.

✿ Fill shells almost to the top with the the syrup mixture. NOTE: The filling recipe always makes more than necessary so don't let that trick you into putting too much into the shells.

✿ Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes or until the pastry is golden and flaky, and the filling has set on the top. Cooking them longer will make them firmer, but don't burn them!

✿ Cool on wire rack, then use a knife to outline the rim of the muffin tin to get the butter tarts out.

These are sticky but oh so delicious, so don't forget the napkins!

Enjoy :)

xox

Gaby