Maple Butter Tarts

Happy Boxing Day! We don’t celebrate Boxing Day here in the states but it’s a big holiday in England and in Canada (and other places I'm sure). I originally had planned to post these as part of the 12 Days of Cookies, but then I figured that they weren’t technically cookies; they were tarts. They certainly wouldn’t be out of place on a cookie tray during the holidays, but I wanted to present them for Boxing Day. These are very Canadian, and the recipe comes from a Canadian blog, so I thought they would be perfect.

I was in England for Boxing Day a number of years ago and we went to a fox hunt. I think it is really just ceremonial; no foxes were harmed on the occasion. You wait for the hunters to take off and there were some folk dances and it was pretty fun, but really cold outside! I think the whole point of the festivities was to go to the pub after the hunters left. That was fun too!

These are small pastry cups filled with a maple, nut and raisin mixture. You could make your own pastry or use store bought. I happened to have some store bought pastry on hand and it worked just fine. The recipe has you make these in standard-sized muffin cups, but I think you could cut the pastry rounds smaller and use a mini muffin cup. I love the maple in these! These are fairly quick to put together and look impressive when served. Enjoy and Happy Boxing Day.

Maple Butter Tarts

Pastry for a one crust pie
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup raisins

Roll the pastry out to 1/8” thickness and cut out twelve 4” circles. Press the circles of dough into standard-sized muffin cups. Chill the muffin pan for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the egg, brown sugar, maple syrup, butter, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Stir in the walnuts and raisins. Pour the mixture into the pastry-lined muffin cups.

Bake until set, about 15-25 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Closet Cooking