Tantalizing Raspberry Tarts

Submitted by Halcyon Eve

"Another recipe from "The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook": "The little girls of Avonlea school always pooled their lunches, and to eat three raspberry tarts all alone or even to share them only with one's best chum would have forever and ever branded as "awful mean" the girl who did it. And yet, when the tarts were divided among ten girls you just got enough to tantalize you. " (from "Anne of Green Gables" by L.M. Montgomery). Times are estimated and do not include cooling time beyond the initial 15 minutes (included in cooking time). The original recipe did not specify the size of package of frozen berries, so I guessed a 10 oz package based on the fresh raspberry substitution."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Yields: 8 tarts
• Serves: 8-10

ingredients

• 236.59 ml all-purpose flour
• 14.79 ml sugar
• 1.23 ml salt
• 88.74 ml unsalted butter, chilled
• 1 egg yolk
• 14.79 ml water
• 14.79 ml lemon juice
• 283.49 g package frozen unsweetened raspberries, thawed or 236.59 ml fresh raspberry
• 44.37 ml cornstarch
• 59.14 ml cold water
• 177.44 ml sugar

directions

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a large mixing bowl. Cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles tiny peas.
3. Combine egg yolk, water, and lemon juice with a fork.
4. Sprinkle egg yolk mixture over flour mixture and stir together with a fork until it forms a ball.
5. Pull small pieces of pastry from the ball and press into bottom and sides of the tart pans to about 1/8 inch thickness. Refrigerate until ready to use.
6. Combine cornstarch and cold water in a small saucepan until smooth. Stir in sugar and raspberries. Cook and stir over medium-low heat until thickened, about 10-15 minutes. Allow mixture to cool.
7. Spoon filling evenly into tart shells, filling each no more than 2/3 full.
8. Bake at 425° F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350° F and bake for an additional 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown.
9. Remove from oven and cool, in pans, for 15 minutes. Remove from pans to cooling racks and cool completely.

Reviews

[sibel.arca]

I hope someone will reply... I bought the recipe book on amazon and today tried this recipe... And even though it tasted quite well, something went wrong. Firstly, the filling was way too much for the pie crust. I ate half of the filling with a spoon not to waste it. Secondly, my pie crusts were so thin. Like half of the ones in the photo here (or the photo in the book). Thirdly, the pie crusts were soft even after cooked till get golden color. I mean, it was not raw but soft as they were kinda easily broken apart. But still all 12 tarts were eaten by my family because they did not taste bad... Why it happened so? I followed all rules written in the book.

 

[Maren C.]

I actually tried this recipe as a full-on raspberry pie. It worked pretty well, but I think the buttery crust part is better suited to a tart crust than a pie crust. Still giving this five stars though.

 

[MummaKat]

Reading the reviews caused me to adjust the corn starch to half. I used fresh raspberries, and needed the full 10 minutes for them to thicken to the right consistency. Like Debbb I used this recipe to enter the local fall fair this weekend, and woot, I took first place with it!

 

[sk8er mom]

This is great! My great-aunt used to make tarts like these when she lived on the farm. I cut back the sugar to 1/2 cup and they were still sweeter than we like but good none-the-less. The extra filling was spread on toast and was great as jam.

 

[kathyw1]

I have read all of the books in the Anne series and was happy to find this cookbook. However, today I tried to make these tarts, wasting a perfectly good container of expensive organic raspberries. Even cooking the filling for less than the time indicated, what I ended up with after they cooled was a very sticky ball of rubber. Warning: If you make these tarts, only cook the filling about 3-5 minutes, not the 10-15 they specify. And for heaven's sake, there is no need to "pull small pieces of the ball and press them evenly against the bottom and sides of each tart (muffin) tin." Next time I would just roll out the dough and use a cookie cutter and make small rounds. Also, the amount of flour in the pastry dough is way off--I needed much more to make it stick together in a ball that you pinch in the aforesaid fashion. (And what the heck is the part where you run a cup of water, remove 6 T., put your butter in it and then drain the water???) (This step appears to have been omitted; I have the actual cookbook). I hope that the next recipe I try not only comes out better, but doesn't have the strange directions.