Butter Tarts and Mincemeat Tarts

At our house Christmas is synonymous with butter tarts and mincemeat tarts. It just wouldn't be Christmas without them.

The traditional Vanderwolf Christmas Treat List also includes: Butterhorns, Whipped Shortbread, and Chewy Gingersnaps.

I will do my best to post those recipes as well!

For now, I think you will agree, this Butter Tart recipe is super-de-duper, and the Mincemeat Tart recipe, while simple (okay, it's a jar of mincemeat from the store), is also delicious.

Butter Tarts

Ingredients

1/2 recipe Pie Crust 

Filling

1/3 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 Tbsp milk

1/2 cup currants (or raisins, in a pinch)

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 450.

Roll pie dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a glass, or cookie cutter, cut out pastry to fit into mini muffin tins. (Or feel free to make regular size)

Mix all filling ingredients together in a bowl. Spoon into un-cooked tart shells. (DO NOT fill them more than 1/2 full!! They bubble up A LOT)

Bake at 450 for 2 - 3 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake until pastry is lightly browned.

Remove from oven and let cool in tins for about 5 minutes. Gently loosen from tins and let finish cooling on wire racks.

And....now for the Mincemeat Tarts :)

Mincemeat Tarts

Ingredients



1/2 recipe Pie Crust

1 jar of Mincemeat

1/3 cup vanilla sugar (or regular white sugar)

Directions

Preheat oven to 450.

Roll pie dough out to about 1/4 inch thickness. Using a glass, or cookie cutter, cut out pastry to fit into mini muffin tins. (Or feel free to make regular size)

Spoon mincemeat into each tart shell. (This you can fill quite full as it does not bubble up at all)

Sprinkle a little of the sugar over the mincemeat.

Cut small shapes out of your leftover dough and place them in the middle of each tart. OR, cut little strips and form an X on each tart.

Sprinkle with more sugar.

Bake at 450 for 2 - 3 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake until pastry is lightly browned.

Remove from oven and let cool in tins for about 5 minutes. Gently loosen from tins and let finish cooling on wire racks.

If you make these together then it works out that 1 recipe for Pie Dough will make 2 dozen mini butter tarts and 2 dozen mini mincemeat tarts with maybe 6 - 7 extras. The Butter Tart filling recipe above makes just enough to fill the 2 dozen mini butter tart shells plus 3 extra. You will have leftover mincemeat - depending on what size of jar you bought.

Although we used store bought mincemeat, I like to think sprinkling it with the vanilla sugar and making cute shapes to put on top makes it a little more homemade. The pie crust definitely makes it homemade :)

I'm not going to lie...I don't like mincemeat....the thought of making homemade mincemeat makes me a little queazy. I do have to eat at least one tiny mincemeat tart at Christmas though...it's tradition.

What are some of your Christmas treat traditions??