Butterscotch Tartletts

By Carla

Butterscotch. Mmmm. When is the last time you had delicious butterscotch. MAKE ME!

Shortbread recipe from Veronica's Test Kitchen and butterscotch filling adapted from James Beard’s American Cookery.

Ingredients

• CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD PASTRY:
• 1 cup (250g ) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup (50 g) ground hazelnuts
• 2 level teaspoons (5 g) ground cinnamon
• 2 eggs
• 4 1/2 cups (400 g) cake flour
• 2 1/2 teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
• 1 1/2 tablespoons (10 g) cocoa powder
• (This makes a large batch, can be wrapped and frozen for 3 months.)
• BUTTERSCOTCH FILLING:
• 3-4 T butter
• 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
• 3 cups whole milk, light cream, or half milk and half evaporated milk
• 2 eggs
• 7 T all-purpose flour
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 t vanilla extract
• splash of dark rum (optional–my modification)

Details

Servings 12
Adapted from awhiskandaspoon.wordpress.com

Preparation

Step 1

CHOCOLATE SHORTBREAD PASTRY:

A day ahead

In a mixing bowl of a food processor, cream the butter.

Add the confectioners’ sugar, the ground hazelnuts, and the cinnamon, and mix together

Add the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly

Sift in the flour, the baking powder, and the cocoa powder, and mix well.

Form a ball with the dough, cover in plastic wrap, and chill overnight.

The next day, blind bake the chilled dough in the tart or tartlette pans, docked and weighted, until fully cooked. Let the crust cool completely before filling.

Tip: If it will take you a couple of days to finish the tart/tartlettes, to keep your crust from getting soggy under the custard filling. You can lightly ”paint” the insides of a cooled chocolate crust with some melted chocolate and put it in the refrigerator for the chocolate to set. This acts as a barrier between the filling and crust.

BUTTERSCOTCH FILLING:
Melt the butter in a 2-quart saucepan. Add the brown sugar and stir until reaches 220°F (will bubble up and look slightly browner). Add 2 cups of the milk and whisk to combine.

In a bowl, whisk the eggs, flour and salt to combine. Then whisk in the remaining cup of milk.

When the sugar/milk mixture is hot but not boiling, slowly stir in the egg mixture (I tempered my eggs with some hot liquid first). Treat this like a pastry cream, whisking constantly over medium-low heat until it just bubbles. Turn down the heat (very low) and cook one or two minutes longer. Take off the heat and beat in vanilla and rum, if using.

Strain through a fine sieve into a clean bowl, press plastic wrap directly on surface and cool to room temperature.

Turn into baked, cooled crust. Smooth surface with on an offset. Press plastic wrap on surface and refrigerate until fully chilled, about three hours.

Top with lightly sweetened whipped cream (or rum whipped cream!).