Cashew butter tarts…

There is just something special about a tiny little pie that you get to eat all by yourself.

I’m not sure exactly when my love of the tiny pie began, probably back during childhood, when it was so very important to have MY OWN things, so having my own little tart seemed so much more special than just a regular slice of pie. It had the entire sum of its boarders, unbreached. I was free to slice it into tiny little slices if I cared to, and eat each Lilliputan slice with as much vim and vigor as I would a regular sized slice, which, to be honest, probably had more volume than the entire tart. It was about the principle, however, and the kind of kid I was would definately have chosen to have my own tart rather than share, no matter the size difference.

I’ve always kind of liked miniatureneverbashfulwithbutter.comhttp://www.neverbashfulwithbutter.com things anyways. Tiny teapots are so much cuter than their full sized compatriots. Between the ages of 6 and 10, I refused to use full sized utensils, choosing to use the miniature toddler sized version of silverware that my parents had kept since I was a baby, even though they were much less efficient in getting the food from the plate to my mouth. I had doll houses and made little sailing ships out of walnut shells. Even now, I love making tiny foods and serving them to full sized people. Its just more fun.

There was this one time, when my mom took us to the opening of a brand new wonderbread factory store, and they were giving out these tiny little loaves of sliced bread. They were only about 6 inches long, and completely to scale in every way. They even had tiny little wonderbread bags that looked just like the larger sized ones.

I didn’t want to eat it. I wanted to keep it forever, and I probably would have- if my old sister hadn’t chased me around the entire yard trying to steal mine from me.

I ended up tripping on a plant in the side yard and landing on top of the loaf of bread, squishing it beyond even wonderbread’s ability to spring back into shape. This would mark the first time I would cry over sliced bread. (though future incidents involve the breadslicer, and not the bread that was sliced itself.)

My mom tried to make it better, and she made me an entire miniature meal that night for dinner. Sure, they were just tiny hamburgers and itty bitty french fries.. with a cute little miniature apple pie for dessert. It probably took less than half of the apple to fill the pie, but I loved it. She even sliced it into tiny slices for me, though I got to eat the entire thing.

So today I made these Cashew butter tarts. They’re almost like candy, they’re so tasty. Barely a handful, but with enough flavour to satisfy your craving for an entire pie.

…Its a good thing these travel well, ’cause if I don’t get them out of my house, I’m going to eat them all. *smile*

Sort of a mish mosh of recipes, this little tart tastes just like candy, but with a perfect balance of sweet and salty, crunchy and smooth, flaky and dense.

I used my Blue Ribbon Crust recipe for the tart shells, only I cut out smaller rounds and used a regular sized muffin tin to bake them in. This recipe will make about 24 tarts.

For the filling, I whisked together-

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup organic corn syrup
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
a dash of salt
3 eggs
1 cup salted cashew halves and pieces

No need to temper the eggs, just whisk the mixture together and fill each tart shell about halfway full.

Bake at 350 for 10 minutes and for another 10 minutes at 300 degrees.

Allow the tarts to cool slightly before removing them from the tin, otherwise you’ll burn your tongue when you try and shove them down your throat. The smell of them baking is enough to drive you crazy. So buttery and beautiful, the whole experience is perfect.

See why I like pies? they’re super easy, and way tasty.

-A. 

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 1st, 2008 at 2:09 am and is filed under June 2007. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.