I’m pretty lucky because my friends and I seem to be on different schedules for our breakdowns during the coronavirus. We check-in and listen to each other as we lament about difficult relationships that have gone downhill during the lockdown.
I’ve broken out a few meditation tapes that I hadn’t listened to for a while. They do seem to help. What hasn’t helped is reading how we can do better than ever before if we just have the right attitude. When people I know are looking at the breakdown of a relationship and the loss of income, having someone tell them to “turn their frown upside down” makes me want to punch them. Yeah, I have those dark moments.
Then a quiet voice of optimism tells me that it’s good we have this time to explore and exorcise the demons. Before they lurked in the background whispering their damage but we could push them back into the shadows. Now we have the time to fight and overcome them.
Today I needed a break and I asked myself, “What do I completely trust?” I had an answer that might surprise you. My butter tart recipe. I hope you’re chuckling but I want you to also know there is something you can trust, even if it’s a recipe, a person, a joke, or a thing. You’ve got the time. When you find one thing, you can trust others will show up.
So, here it is. Follow the directions and you’ll find something tasty that you can trust.
Grandma Birkett’s Butter Tarts
Pastry Ingredients:
- 1 cup ice-cold butter (I put it in the freezer)
- ½ cup white sugar
- 2 cups flour
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
Butter Tart Filling:
- 2 cups brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- ½ cup butter
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 2 cups currants (rinse currants with boiling water – drain well)
For pastry: Mix flour and sugar. Grate cold butter into flour/sugar mix. Use pastry blender or two knives to cut in butter. Mix egg and vanilla. Pour into flour/butter. Keep working the dough just until it comes together in a ball. Flatten a little. Wrap and refrigerate for up to an hour while you prepare the filling.
For filling: Beat together butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and mix well. Add chopped pecans, hot rinsed currants and 1 tsp vanilla.
Roll pastry between parchment paper. Use a biscuit cutter or large cup to cut out circles. Carefully fit them into muffin tins. Fill with butter tart filling.
Bake at 400° for 8 minutes. Reduce oven to 350° and bake for another 10 to 15 minutes until filling has puffed up and tarts are cooked.
We usually save butter tarts as a special treat at Christmas. I think right now we should make or bake whatever makes us feel good. I’d love to know what you can trust.