B.D.B. (Bad Day Buttertarts)

Buttertarts

After writing about our cupcakes; Ms. Butters and Mr. Crumbs decided that we definitely needed to schedule a day right away versus waiting around for one of us to pick the phone and schedule the date. Today was decided previously with high hopes of a great cooking day.

Well... that hope fell flat; for one of us at least!

Feeling overtired, dealing with frustrating clients, and a rainy day didn't help Mr. Crumbs' mood get any better. Grocery shopping still to do, tidying the house, and making dinner - Ms. Butter's was on her way with three hours to spare. What a day!!

Running into the store with three bags balancing on one arm, Mr. Crumb's phone started to ring - "Hey, are you ready for tonight? I'm thinking buttertarts!" That's the best thing Mr. Crumbs heard all day!

A little bit overly full

The recipe, well that's Ms. Butter's family secret and Mr. Crumbs had to wait over four years just to be able to be in the same room with the recipe while it sat on the counter. One thing Ms. Butter's is willing to share about the filling is that it has butter in it. That's it. You'll just have to wait four more years for that one!

One thing that we HIGHLY recommend is to not over fill your buttertarts - when baking, they seem to bubble up and spill over the edges of the pastry. They also candy when cool, which makes it hard to remove from the muffin pan.

Mr. Crumbs was very apprehensive about making crust from scratch - "what's wrong with the frozen-store bought shells?" Ms. Butter's scoffed at that one. "it's easy, trust me!" After this day, Mr. Crumbs was not eager. But we can tell you one thing - Mr. Crumbs is converted - it was SO easy!

Pastry warning: you will get covered in flour

Ms. Butter's is willing to share the pastry recipe and here it is:

4 cups white flour

1 pkg tenderflake (that's been refrigerated)

1 egg (separated: white and yolk in two bowls)

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp white vinegar

1/2 cup ice cold water

Sift the flour into a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment. Cube the tenderflake and add it to the bowl and mix on medium; until the mix looks like peas. Add the vinegar, and egg yolk into the water and pour into the mixer. Mix and once combined, whisk the egg white and add. Mix until well blended.  Take dough out of bowl and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour.

This recipe will make 5-6 pies - or 5 dozen tartlets.

Bad Day Buttertarts were a success - both Ms. Butters and Mr. Crumbs really enjoyed them: flaky, gooey, and sweet. Both of us would definitely make these again. 

Maple + Blueberries = ...meh

Walking around the house one day, the phone began to ring. Answering the phone, Mr. Crumbs assumed the voice that he'd hear on the other end would be that of a telemarketer selling him insurance; but it was Ms. Butters excitedly telling Mr. Crumbs to check out the bon appetit website as something had caught her eye: Blueberry Hill Cupcakes.

Blueberry Hill Cupcakes

When asked why; Ms. Butters gasped into the phone receiver, "we can use maple syrup with this recipe!" (kind of). Considering our previous success with maple syrup, and the vast quantity of maple syrup that was supplied by Ms. Butter's husband - we decided that this would be the best choice.

After rushing over to Ms. Butters house; we set out to make cupcakes. Pulling out all of the ingredients - we placed them all around the counter. A friend of ours encouraged us to have all the ingredients easily accessible so we wouldn't have to keep searching for ingredients as we mixed. This proved to be really helpful, as by the time we put in the cupcake tins; all of the items we used were cleaned, dried, and put away. Mr. Crumbs was very happy about this - as he tends to have a little OCD tendencies within the kitchen.



Hot out of the oven!

 We did modify the recipe somewhat: we used frozen blueberries just like the recipe told us not to, but were trying to use ingredients that we had within the cupboards and fridge. The recipe did call for maple sugar, which is something that most people don't have in their cupboards. Ms. Butters asked Mr. Crumbs what exactly maple sugar is and so out came the lap top and we googled maple sugar - what exactly is it?

According to google; maple sugar is maple syrup that has been concentrated to a solid form and then grated. The instructions can be found here. Regardless, we decided that maple syrup was just as good and substituted it instead: we're rebels like that!

The end results were mixed. Mr. Crumbs thought this recipe was a dud; he thought the cupcake itself was too dry and bland while the icing was sickly sweet (so maybe using maple syrup instead of maple sugar wasn't the best idea). While Ms Butters enjoyed it (because cake is cake) and enjoyed the differences in tastes of the actual cake and icing. The cake was a bit too dense and the frozen blueberries were good if the cupcakes were eaten right away - if they're being eaten about 2-3 hours after assembling, the berries seemed to thaw and become too liquidy and melted the icing.


Action Shot!

 We were able to use Ms. Butter's most prized possession: her cake decorating set. Piping was a lot easier than either of us thought - but if you're not in possession of a piping bag, a plastic baggie with the corner tip cut works just as good.
Also, we're recommending that these cupcakes should be refrigerated if not being eaten, as the blueberries went a bit rancid - but we think that may be from the blueberries being frozen.

Would we make these again... probably not.

Recommended drink pairing: a good stiff drink!