Wonderful Walnut Tarts Food

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.

MAPLE WALNUT TARTS

Steps:

• To make pastry: in a medium bowl, combine flour,sugar,salt and baking powder.
• Cut in butter or margarine and shortening until mixture is crumbly.
• Add water, 2 tbsp at a time, mixing with a fork; add a little more or less than the 1/2 c water as needed.
• Press mixture into 2 flat disks, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• To make filling: beat together eggs, syrup, brown sugar, melted butter or margarine and vanilla until just blended.
• On a lightly floured board, roll pastry disks to 1/16" thick.
• Cut into 5 inch circles. Roll scraps of dough and cut again. Line 12-3 inch tart pans with pastry. Divide walnuts equally between tart shells. Pour maple syrup mixture over walnuts. Bake at 425°F for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry is golden and filling is soft set. Let stand 15 minutes befire removing from tart pans.

WALNUT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Tear off a piece of foil twice as large as crust. Fold it in half and smear it with butter; lay buttered side onto crust. Weight foil with a pile of dried beans or rice (these can be reused for this purpose), pie weights, or a tight-fitting ovenproof skillet or saucepan - anything that will sit flat on the surface. Bake 12 minutes, then remove foil and continue to bake at 350 degrees, until crust is a beautiful shade of brown, another few minutes. Remove and let cool on a rack while you prepare filling.
• Put sugar in a heavy 6- or 8-inch saucepan or deep skillet with a tablespoon of water and turn heat to medium. Cook, gently shaking pan occasionally, until sugar melts; then cook, stirring occasionally and scraping sides with a heat-proof flexible spatula, until mixture turns golden.
• Turn heat to low, then carefully add butter and cream. Cook, stirring constantly, until butter melts and mixture is uniform. Stir in walnuts and a large pinch of salt if you like, then spread on crust. Refrigerate for about an hour, then sprinkle with a little more salt and serve.

WONDERFUL WALNUT TARTS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 deg F./200 deg Celsius. Those with convection (fan-heated) ovens might want to use slightly lower heat).
• Roll out cold pastry and cut out circles to fit patty pan hollows. You should get about 12 - 14 circles. Fit these snugly into patty pan hollows and trim outer edges with your fingers until even. Keep cold in fridge.
• In a double boiler or thick-bottomed pot stir together the brown sugar and next 6 ingredients.
• Heat and bring just to an almost-simmer over hot (not boiling) water, stirring to dissolve sugar. If necessary, take off heat and continue stirring to dissolve sugar. You don't want cooked eggs.
• Add the walnuts and vanilla.
• Pour or ladle this mixture into the (cold) prepared lined patty hollows, filling each.
• 2/3rds full.
• Bake in preheated oven, turning heat down to 350 deg F/180 deg C after 10 minutes Bake another 15 - 20 mins., approximately.
• Take out, let cool down a little, then ease out with a heat-resistant spatula or a knife, and gently lift from pans. Cool on wire racks.
• Can be served with small bunches of grapes or tiny mint leaves.

WALNUT CARAMEL TART

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Put the flour in a food processor with the butter and sugar, and mix until it forms fine breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 1-2 tbsp cold water, and pulse to make a firm dough.
• Have ready a 24cm tart tin. Briefly knead the pastry on a lightly floured surface, then roll out to a round about 5cm larger than your tin. Lift onto the tin with the help of your rolling pin, then press into the corners using your finger. Do not trim the pastry. Fill the pastry case with a round of baking parchment and baking beans. Chill for 10 mins. Blindbake for 10 mins, remove the paper and beans, then bake for 5 mins more.
• To make the filling, put the sugar in a large pan with 3 tbsp cold water. Heat gently, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When the sugar is completely dissolved, increase heat and bubble until the syrup has turned a rich caramel colour. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter until it has dissolved, then stir in the cream. Return to the heat and boil hard, stirring until the sauce is thick enough to leave a gap on the base of the pan when you draw your spoon across it. Stir in the walnuts.
• Fill the pastry case with the nut mixture, levelling it with a fork. Return to the oven for 8-10 mins until the filling is bubbling. Cool for 10 mins before removing carefully from the tin. Serve warm or cold.

WALNUT TART

Steps:

• For pastry: Combine flour and sugar in large bowl; cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Blend in yolks and vanilla; gather dough into a ball.
• Turn out onto lightly-floured surface.
• Using heel of hand, smear dough a little at a time across surface to blend butter and flour thoroughly.
• Flatten into disk.
• Wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 390F.
• Roll dough out between sheets of wax paper to thickness of 1/8 inch.
• Fit into 11 inch tart pan and trim edges.
• Pierce shell all over with fork.
• Line with foil and fill with pie weights or dry beans.
• Bake until pastry is set, about 10 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 350F.
• Remove pie weights and foil.
• Bake until crust is golden-brown, about 10 minutes.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300F.
• Blend all filling ingredients.
• Pour into crust.
• Bake until filling is set and looks dry, about 35 minutes.
• Cool and decorate with walnut halves.
• This is sublime served warm with a scoop of walnut ice cream melting over top.

CHOCOLATE WALNUT TART

Steps:

• On a lightly floured surface, roll out pastry to fit an 11-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Transfer pastry to pan; trim edges. Sprinkle with chocolate chips and walnuts. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter and vanilla. Pour over chips and nuts., Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Serve with whipped cream if desired.

ROAST VEGETABLE TART WITH WALNUT CRUST

Steps:

• Slice the butter into a mixing bowl containing flour and salt.
• Rub the butter lightly into the flour with your fingertips, to obtain a buttery, breadcrumb-like consistency.
• Grind or crush the walnuts fairly finely, then stir these into the butter/flour mixture.
• Next add the tahini, egg and water and mix until everything binds together.
• Divide the dough into the number of tarts you are making.
• Roll each portion into a ball and pat down a little.
• Chill in the fridge for about half an hour while you get on with preparing the vegetables.
• Roll the pastry out on a floured surface until it is about 3/16" thick.
• Because it is so short (i. e. buttery), it may be difficult to line your lightly oiled flan tin with one piece, but you can push it into place with your fingers.
• Pre-bake for 15-20 minutes in a moderate to low oven, or until the pastry has become quite firm, but is not yet browning.
• Slice the eggplants into circles measuring about 3/8" thick.
• Quarter these.
• Toss salt over the eggplants and leave for half an hour to sweat.
• Afterwards rinse them and leave to drain in a colander, either pressing or patting out excess moisture.
• Spread out on a baking tray and massage generously with olive oil.
• Season with a little dried oregano or basil and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, stirring half way through.
• While the eggplants are roasting, you can begin preparing the bell peppers.
• Slice these into 3/8" wide strips the full length of each pepper.
• As with the eggplant, place on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil.
• Sprinkle with a little black pepper and oregano or basil.
• Cook for 30-40 minutes at 400F.
• Peel and finely slice about two-thirds of the garlic, and stir this into the cooking peppers when you give them a midway stir.
• When the roast vegetables are ready they can be combined, and the excess olive oil drained off and kept to add to the cream cheese later - or for making a vinaigrette.
• If you intend to assemble the tart later on, keep the roast vegetables in the fridge until you are ready to use them.
• Final preparation: Crush the rest of the garlic and mix this into the cream cheese along with half the chopped fresh basil, pesto, tomato puree, a teaspoonful of Dijon mustard and the reserved roasting oil.
• Season with a little salt and black pepper.
• Spread out this mixture evenly in the bottom of the walnut pastry cases.
• Mix the rest of the basil with the roast vegetables, and spread them over the cream cheese mixture.
• Slice the goat's cheese and/or soft mozzarella into generous rounds, perhaps averaging 3/16" thick.
• Place six to eight pieces of cheese decoratively on top of each tart.
• Place in a pre-heated moderate oven (350F) for 30-40 minutes - as long as it takes for the tart to warm up and the cheese to melt and brown a little.
• When the cheese is looking an inviting golden brown in patches and all is hot - even sizzling - remove from the oven.
• Slip off the edges of the flan tin (if detachable) before serving.
• Serve with a green salad, and perhaps new potatoes fresh with garden mint.