I seem to have come into quite a bit of free time of late; you may have noticed my sporadic commenting and I do apologize but we’ve been spending a lot of time at the cottage (cabin/lake house). We renovated or more accurately, gave it a face lift and that makes me want to spend more time there. Freshly painted white walls instead of the dowdy wood panelling from the 1960’s, replaced the linoleum and industrial carpeting with lovely wood laminate flooring added some kitchen cabinets in my efforts to annoy the mice and even gave the furniture a face lift too with new slip covers — and purchased new artwork! You can see my excitement. So we’ve been making the most of it. Come September I hope to be back in the normal swing of things.
In the meantime I wanted to share a recipe for Butter Tartlets that I made for my birthday bash from my very ancient Five Roses Flour cookbook and I’ve been making these tartlets since I began to bake in my early teens — they have been a family favourite. This time I used a flower cookie cutter to give them a lovely scalloped edge and I baked them in mini muffin tins so they are quite small, one or two bites.
Prize Butter Tartlets
Original recipe from Five Roses Flour Cookbook (1983)
Makes about 18 mini two bite tartlets
Ingredients for the pastry:
- 1 1/2 cup of AP flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 5-6 tbsp ice cold water
Directions for the pastry:
We all have our favourite pastry recipes so if you prefer to use your own, by all means do so but I hope you make these tasty tarts!
- Mix flour and salt together and cut in the shortening with a pastry blender or fork until the mixture is crumbly (like oatmeal).
- Add water a little at a time until the mixture hold together, do not overwork.
- Roll out to about an 1/8th of an inch or 1 mm thick and cut with an appropriate cookie cutter (I used a lovely scalloped edge to make my tartlets).
- Press into a mini muffin tin and refrigerate until you have prepared the filling.
Ingredients for the filling:
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup or 36 small pieces of walnuts
- 1/4 cup melted butter (unsalted)
- 1 small egg, beaten
- 1 tbsp milk
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp dark rum (secret ingredient)
Directions for the filling:
- Melt brown sugar and butter together (I do this in a microwave, on low) allow to cool a bit.
- Add the beaten egg, milk and flavourings. Mix well.
- Spoon about 2 teaspoonful into each pastry tartlet and add 2 walnut pieces to each. Bake in a 375°F oven for about 15-20 minutes or until the pastry has browned a bit.
These two are before photos, dark and dowdy:
We changed the colour scheme to blues and whites to reflect the boathouse theme a bit more. The refrigerator was a later gift from my Mom’s husband so it’s a bit of an after thought, we’ll incorporate it into the kitchen when we get rid of the propane burners, which protrude out from the wall.
Sigh, back to reality!
Wow, you and JT have done a wonderful job with your cottage renovations! It looks so bright and beautiful!
I also love the butter tartlets. Just the right amount of a delicious sweet treat.
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Thank you so much Amber, they turned out very well — we have a new found excitement spending time at the cottage!
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Hi Eva,
This is my first visit to your blog.
Very interesting posts and great tips on healthy eating and weight management.
The Bircher Muesli looks gorgeous, will prepare it at one of the next weekend breakfasts.
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Thanks so much Daniela and welcome to my blog. I hope you enjoy the muesli, we do very much.
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Your walnut tartlets look insanely delicious, Eva! And I love the changes to your cabin…so light and bright. I can see why you love to spend time there…I would, too!
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Thanks so much Liz, the changes have renewed my enthusiasm for the cottage! It even seems cleaner and not nearly as hot!
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Eva, I love the changes you made to the cottage! It looks so fresh and lively. You must be loving your new surroundings… what a difference white can make. We did something similar at our cottage – we didn’t have boards but old and dark wood beans – they were all original but really needed a fresh, clean coat. It really woke things up.
Also enjoying the looks of your tartlets – the sizing is super too (and great shape). My husband adores butter tarts — these would make a great surprise; love the nuts too!
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Hi Kelly, I had wanted to paint the paneling for years but was concerned that we’d have to put on 100 coats since the paneling was like a sponge (when I painted the bathroom 20 years ago, it took 7 coats!) The technology for paint has come a long way and we were able to get it done in 2 coats of primer and one coat of paint!
I like little two bite treats because you needn’t commit to a large serving.
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I think I have that cookbook as well! I’ve had some great butter tarts in the past, but none have had rum.. I think this would be the perfect secret ingredient! I love the little flower shapes as well.. so pretty for a birthday nibble:D I LOVE your cottage makeover! My parent’s cottage has natural wood walls.. they love them but I’ve been thinking for years how it would be so bright and cheery if they painted them white.. and here you are having done just that. It makes all the difference, doesn’t it? I love your new slip-cover as well!! Maybe we should start a bloggers staying at the lake all year movement:D xx
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Hi Barbara, painting the walls white really lightened up the place, took it from drab to fab for sure, but I can certainly understand your parents hesitation. The futon slip cover was locally made in Toronto and for a reasonable price, I was very pleased to find them as most of the cover places I found were in the US and shipping was very expensive because of the weight.
Yes, let’s stay at the lake all summer long!
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That house did really need a makeover! I like the blue theme, will that translate through to the kitchen, too? 🙂
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Hi Fati, thank you and yes, the blue and white colour scheme will go into the kitchen; I’m still picking up some additional accessories.
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Hi Eva, these little tartlets remind me of little English mince pies, just without the fruit – I guess it’s the wonderfully rich colour of the filling and the pastry around the outside – very tasty!
Your cabin looks so nice now… isn’t it incredible what something as simple as painting something white can do? I bet it must be so relaxing up there – I can totally understand your desire to be there as much as possible before it gets too cold!
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Thank you kindly Charles. I think you would like it, the landscape very much resembles Sweden’s landscape. We’ve even carved out a little hiking trail to the top of JT’s and my property, it’s a beautiful vista overlooking acres and acres of uninhabited land. It’s very peaceful indeed.
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Eva, your tartlets look particularly cute and the flower shape makes them real beauties. I like the filling a lot. It reminds me of a walnut and cream (I mean liquid cream) and sugar tart I am crazy for (the only super sweet thing I love probably). I must remember to try your filling and to buy flower cutters.
Your summer cottage is such a wonderful place. No wonder you have been putting so much work into it!
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Thanks so much Sissi, the tartlets are a typical Canadian treat; the Québecquois make a version called Sugar Pie, and that’s what it is, sugar and sugar!
The cottage is quite lovely now that we’ve given it a make-over, I am again happy to head up there as often as possible.
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oh i am digging these tarlets and the filling especially. Your cabin looks amazing. What a wonderful way to relax and get away and eat tarlets like these! LOL!
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Thank you kindly Jessica, it’s really a lovely get away.
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Wonderful sounding tartlets and my kind of flavors…not to mention they are so pretty! And speaking of pretty, wow…you guys did a terrific job on your cabin. It really is like night and day, and I am so glad you can take time off to enjoy it. 🙂
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Thanks so much Betsy, it was a fun project, although I have to admit that some mornings I wondered just how much fun! The tartlets are a family favourite for sure.
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The beautiful renovations really are effective, such an eye for design 😀
And I love these tarts, all that buttery goodness! 🙂
Cheers
CCU
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The renovations look fantastic Eva-beautiful work! 😀 And I love Canadian butter tarts-they’re fabulously delicious and yours look really good! I made another Canadian treat recently 🙂
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You two have worked hard on that cottage and it shows. The white walls really have opened up the space and the wood flooring looks so much better.Why shouldn’t you spend more time up there, enjoying the fruits of your labours? Nestled in such beautiful country, I’d question your sanity if you didn’t!
These little tartlets sound so tasty, Eva. How creative of you to use a flower cookie cutter to make them! Little touches like this make your dishes special. 🙂
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You have been busy but how lovely to be spending so much time at your boathouse. I’m so glad you shared some images. I love the improvement of the colour scheme – the white makes it so clean and fresh and the rooms look bigger too. I have never heard of butter tarts and these seem wonderful and I’d like to try them xx
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Hi Charlie, I think butter tarts are a North American thing, I do hope you’ll try them, I think your family would enjoy them.
Yes indeed the colour scheme really brightens up the place, I’m mush happier going there these days.
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The dark walls etc did make the cottage look smaller and a bit uninviting compared to the new white and blue scheme.
I love butter tarts and the little ones you made are adorable but I like a higher filling to pastry ratio so I’d stick with the larger ones. 🙂 That way I can eat two instead of 6 at a sitting.
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Hi Maria, I know what you mean about the tarts not having enough filling, I was worried that they would over flow, and that they did. I prefer these as they have a little less pastry.
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I love the cottage upgrade – the changes make everything so light and friendly.
I’ve got to make these tartlets! They look terrific.
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Thank you kindly Maureen, it certainly has made it more inviting that’s for sure!
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Huge difference in the before and after photos. I would most likely want to spend the whole summer there. Is it buggy outdoors by the lake?
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I can attest to the loveliness of both the tarts and the cottage! Enjoy your well deserved time at the cottage Eva!
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A really lovely cottage, Eva.
Those tartlets look scrumptious buttery walnut filling!
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Thank you Angie, I love that it’s reasonably small so that I only have to spend about an hour to clean it from top to bottom.
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What a difference the white walls and slipcovers make! I don’t blame you for spending lots of time up there. Just gorgeous! And I adore your cookies! You know I love to make pie crust so these will be so much fun to make. I just need to find a flower cookie cutter now. Enjoy the cottage Eva!
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Thanks Kristy, it’s not very big, nor is it very fancy but what I do love about it is that it’s not very big nor very fancy. Literally takes me an hour to clean the place from top to bottom! A fast cleanup gets me to my cocktail that much sooner.
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I am sooo trying those tarts!
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Thanks ED&DIY you’ll love them for sure.
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How lovely… both the little tartlets and the cottage!
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Thanks so much Lizzy, that very kind of you to say.
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