8/4/13

jam filled mini butter tarts

In my other job, I am blessed to have such sweet clients, that not only tip me well, but also leave little food gifts.  It's nice to have foodies as clients.
I know that making jam and jellies is work, a food art I have yet to delve into.
With all the summer produce around making my own spicy bread & butter pickles is something
I would love to try my hand at.
Recently one of my clients gave me some homemade peach jam.
Is there anything better than fresh peach or apricot jam?  Sure, it's raspberry or blueberry.  Ha.
Wanting to use this peach jam on a fresh croissant or toasted english muffin, I opted for using it in cookie form.
A nice slightly salty buttery cookie base filled with a dollop of peach jam.
Mmm. Heavenly.
So this is a "take" on the butter tart on a tad more salty--the yearning for sweet & salty never goes far away from my creativity.
These are good, easy to make too since there is no rolling of the cookie dough, cutting out shapes, etc..
Be warned though, they are very addictive because they are so small and bite-size.
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I think homemade apricot jam would be so good in these!
Oh and maybe beach plum jelly?
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If the dough gets too soft after placing in tins, put it back in the fridge for a few minutes to firm up
before baking.
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jam filled mini butter tarts

2 cups all purpose flour
1 ts baking powder
½ TB sea salt
2/3 cup white sugar
16 TB butter, room temp
8 oz. cream cheese, room temp
1 and ¼ ts pure vanilla extract

fruit filling:
use jam of your choice (peach, raspberry, apricot, etc…)

Cook Notes:  I used mini muffin tins and got about 42-48 cookies.  If you don’t want to do muffin tins then you could do them as flat cookies making sure to make indentations in the middle of the raw cookie to place the jam.
Keep in mind you want to keep the dough fairly cold. So if after placing dough into tins, you might want to pop it back in the fridge to firm up again; We want these to bake up fairly crisp around the edges.
In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. 
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar, and vanilla together until well mixed. Add in half the dry mixture to the wet and mix, then add in the other half and mix again until all combined.  Put dough in plastic wrap, cover up well and let sit in fridge at least 6 hours or overnight.  I kept mine in for 3 days and it was fine.

Using a mini muffin tin, spray with non-stick cooking spray.  Then scoop out a dough ball about 2 inches thick/round, press into muffin tin, making sure to get the edges good.  Then using your thumb, gently make a well in the middle to place a dollup of jam.  Make sure you don’t leave any open spaces at the bottom or jam will leak out.
Using a small spoon, fill the centers with about a teaspoon or of jam.
Try not to overfill with jam.
If y our kitchen runs hot or it’s the middle of summer, pop these back in the fridge for a few minutes to chill up.  We want these to bake up fairly crisp around the edges.
Bake 18-23 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.
I let these cool (about 2 hours) in the muffin tins until they set up enough to be removed.
They will be very soft when they come out of the oven, so don’t try and remove them.

Using the mini muffin tins I got about 42-48 tarts.

16 comments:

  1. Making the dough you made for these is harder than canning jam! Seriously. Fruit, sugar, boil it for an hour at a simmer, give or take. Add pectin if you want.

    Pour it in glass jars, boil those for 8 to 10 mins, give or take. You've canned. Seriously I thought it was so hard til I tried about 2 yrs ago, hearing all these horror stories and reading things that just over-complicate the act of boiling fruit + sugar. You totally should can anything you want! And if you're going to eat it within 3-6 mos or so, just put it in freezer safe containers and you don't even have to 'can' it in boiling water/jars!

    With all you make and bake, this will be such a simple thing for you!

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  2. I'd eat the entire batch - salty sweet things make me happy!
    Also, what Averie just said. : )

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  3. I bet these just MELT in your mouth. Mmmmmm. Sugar and butter...what could be better?

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  4. Ohhh soooo simple and sooo delicious..Love these..I wish someone would give me a yummy treat :(

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  5. You really need to try to make the bread and butter pickles. I just did 12 jars of gorgeous pickles with cucmber and onions together. These pickles are easy and delicious and no fancy equipment is needed! You will be so happy you made them. Pickling is addictive!

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  6. Homemade jam is a treat for sure. Great that you baked something so cute and delectable with ut!

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  7. The only thing that could make shortbread better is a dollop of jam! These look lovely!

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  8. OMG these look so good! My li'l one would probably eat the whole lot!

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  9. I would eat so many of these. Seriously.

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  10. butter tarts? really? has there been a more appetizing name for anything ever? these look amazing, dawn!

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  11. yum. what a delicious vehicle for peach jam!

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  12. What perfect little tarts! They look pretty and delicious.

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  13. So simple and so gooood!

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  14. Food gifts keep on giving. Of course tips aren't bad either! GREG

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  15. I realize this is a very old post but thought I'd ask anyway. What is the oven temp. setting to bake at?

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