Award Winning Maple Nut Toffee Tart Food

AWARD-WINNING MAPLE-NUT-TOFFEE TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Combine egg yolks and milk in a small bowl; stir into flour mixture until dough is blended.
• Press dough, using lightly floured hands, into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the unpricked shell with a double thickness of aluminum foil. Place pan on a large baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine condensed milk, maple flavoring, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir pecans, walnuts, and almonds into the batter.
• Remove shell from the oven, leaving oven on, and fill with batter.
• Return tart to the oven and bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.
• Place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in a microwave oven until melted, 1 to 3 minutes. Drizzle tart with melted chocolate. Refrigerate until chocolate has hardened and filling is firm.

ENGLISH TOFFEE PECAN PIE

Steps:

• Make the crust: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in lard and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about the size of peas. Sprinkle with water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix lightly with a fork after each addition, until mixture is moistened. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface and shape into a flattened disk. Wrap in plastic; transfer to refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
• Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out dough on cloth, using a covered rolling pin, to a 12-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim to a 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold under and crimp edges.
• Make the filling: Preheat oven with a rack set in the lower third to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, almond extract, toffee bits, and chopped pecans.
• Pour filling into pie crust. Top with pecans by evenly spacing 14 of them around the outer edge of pie filling. Make a second row by evenly spacing seven pecans in a smaller circle in the center; place 1 pecan in center.
• Transfer pie to oven; bake for 20 minutes. Cover with parchment paper-lined aluminum foil and continue baking until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

MAPLE-NUT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured piece of waxed or parchment paper, roll dough into a 12-inch circle. Carefully fit into a 9-inch removable-bottom tart pan, gently lowering dough into bottom and sides of pan without stretching. Roll rolling pin over edge of tart pan to cut off excess dough (discard excess); set tart shell aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs, sugar, and salt; whisk in maple syrup. Add nuts, and mix filling to combine. Place tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet, and pour in filling. Bake tart until filling is set and crust is slightly golden, 55 to 60 minutes. Cool completely in pan. Remove tart from pan before serving.

MAPLE NUT TART WITH A CHOCOLATE WHISKEY MOUSSE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the tart shells with cooking spray and set aside.
• For the crust: Place the hazelnuts, granulated sugar and graham crackers in a food processor and pulse until it looks like cornmeal. Add the butter, a little at a time, pulsing until the mixture comes together. Divide among the tart shells and press up the sides, making sure the crust is tightly packed.
• For the filling: In a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, vanilla bean paste, salt and eggs. Add the bacon grease and maple syrup; mix to combine. Stir in the hazelnuts and pecans.
• Sprinkle the hazelnuts and pecans onto the bottoms of the crusts. Pour the syrup mixture over the nuts. Sprinkle the tops with bacon. Bake until set, about 25 minutes. Let cool.
• For the mousse: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whip attachment, whip the cream cheese for 30 seconds to aerate it. Add the cream, confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder, bourbon, vanilla bean paste and salt and whip until light and fluffy. Taste and add more cocoa powder if desired.
• Pop the cooled tarts out of the pan and place on individual plates. Spoon the mousse into small dishes, garnish with chocolate curls and mint leaves, and serve on the side.

CONTEST-WINNING HAZELNUT TOFFEE

Steps:

• Line a 13-in. x 9-in. pan with foil; coat the foil with cooking spray and set aside. Butter the sides of a large heavy saucepan with 2 teaspoons butter. Cube remaining butter; place in pan. Add the sugar, water and corn syrup. Cook and stir until mixture turns golden brown and a candy thermometer reads 300° (hard crack stage)., Remove from the heat; stir in hazelnuts. Pour into prepared pan without scraping; spread evenly. Let stand at room temperature until cool, about 1 hour., In a microwave, melt chocolate chips; stir until smooth. Spread evenly over toffee. Sprinkle with hazelnuts, pressing down gently. Let stand for 1 hour. , Break into bite-sized pieces. Store in the refrigerator.

WALNUT TOFFEE TART

Steps:

• In a bowl, combine flour and sugar. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Combine egg yolks and milk; stir into flour mixture until blended. With lightly floured hands, press dough onto the bottom and 1 in. up the sides of a 12-in. tart pan with removable bottom. Line unpricked crust with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Fill with pie weights. Place pan on a baking sheet. Bake at 375° until edges are lightly browned, 12-15 minutes., Meanwhile, in a saucepan, combine the sugar, cream, cinnamon and salt. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat; stir in walnuts. Remove foil from crust; pour filling into crust. Bake until golden brown, 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator.

AWARD-WINNING BUTTER TARTS

Steps:

• Prepare muffin pans by rolling out pie dough and cutting 4-inch (approx) circles; fit dough circles into muffin cups; set aside in fridge until ready to fill.
• In a small bowl, place raisins and cover with hot tap water; let stand on the counter for 30 minutes.
• In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the soft butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup; stir well until sugar is dissolved and butter is creamed.
• Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
• Drain raisins.
• Retrieve tart shells and divide raisins equally into all shells; then divide butter mixture into all tarts.
• Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes; filling will be lightly browned but still bubbling.
• Canadians fall into two camps about butter tarts and are quite loyal to their favourite type: runny or firm.
• I like runny-- the type that dribbles when you bite into one; if you like firm, bake them for the full 20 minutes, even adding another minute or two if you wish.
• Let cooked butter tarts cool in pans for 10 minutes after removing from oven; then remove and place on racks until completely cool.

PRIZE BUTTER TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Prepare pastry dough; cut in circles and line 3-inch tart pans with pastry circles.
• Combine balance of ingredients.
• Spoon mixture into unbaked pastry lined pans, filling each no more than 2/3 full (if the filling bubbles over it makes one heck of a mess!). Bake for 20 minutes or until filling has cooked and pastry is golden.
• Notes: This can be made without the raisins or nuts, but they are very plain.
• I generally make these with a combination of nuts and raisins.
• Craisins can be substituted for the raisins.
• For Jam Tarts: Line tart pan cups with pastry.
• Fill cups 1/2 full with your choice of jam.
• Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until pastry is golden.

WALNUT TART

Steps:

• In a small bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolk. Gradually add flour just until blended (mixture will be crumbly). , Press onto the bottom and up the sides of an ungreased 9-in. tart pan with removable bottom. Place pan on baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 12-14 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. , Sprinkle nuts over crust. In a small heavy saucepan, combine sugar, butter, corn syrup and 2 tablespoons of cream. Boil and stir over medium heat for 1 minute longer. Pour over walnuts. , Return pan to baking sheet. Bake at 375° for 10-12 minutes or until bubbly. Cool on a wire rack. , In a small bowl, beat remaining cream until stiff peaks form. Serve tart at room temperature with whipped cream.