Butter & Vanilla - a match made in heaven

mmmmmmm... nothing can beat the heavenly smell of butter and vanilla that was wafting from the oven and spreading in every nook and cranny of my tiny apartment while I was baking Butter Tarts for the pot-luck. I discovered the exciting world of these tarts when I first moved to Canada in '99. My passion for baking and cooking led me to a bakery and I tasted one of the most amazing baked goods - Butter Tarts. I became an instant fan, no second thoughts in that. One can find these small tastes-of-heaven everywhere - from all sized bakeries to convenience stores to any office parties and pot-lucks to BBQ get-togethers. And I can say with all conviction that good things do come in small packages...3 to 4 bites of small packages.

There are many, many Butter Tart aficionados out there. At least for sure in Canada, recently I discovered that these tiny pieces of mouth watering bundles are truly Canadian. According to the information - Butter Tarts were a staple of pioneer Canadian cooking. It is considered one of the few recipes of genuine Canadian origin. The earliest known recipe is from Northern Ontario and dates back to 1915.

My contact with these pastries went beyond the realm of mere purchase and consumption when I finally got a chance to actually get my hands dirty and make them. The opportunity presented in the form of an event rightly named "Ethnic Pot-Luck". My friend and I were raking our brains thinking what he can contribute to the pot-luck that could be truly Canadian. I made an offer and said I will make the Butter Tarts on his behalf. This way I get to try something I always wanted to make and then have the pleasure of sharing it with others and getting feedback too. On the other hand I can make a whole batch just for myself and eat them over a period of a couple of weeks but I spare my heart and my body all this torture that my tongue gets the pleasure from. I can make that sacrifice and resort to these indulgences once in a while.

So here I was, on Monday afternoon, making Butter Tarts. I didn't go to the effort of "making from scratch". I used frozen tart shells, after all the show-stealer is the filling. Filling consisted of Butter, but of'course, brown sugar, corn syrup, egg, salt and last but not least, Vanilla. After doing all the prep work and placing the entire tray of these pastries in the 400^o oven I was rewarded with the most amazing aroma dominated by butter and vanilla. I was transported instantly to food heaven.

Here are some visual treats for everybody:

So here is the baking tray with 12 glorious tarts all set to go into a 400^o F oven.

They were in the oven, happily cooking away for 20 to 25 min. Emanating such wonderful aroma, Butter and Vanilla dominating the scene.

And here they are, the lovely bundles of delight right out of the oven, the filling still bubbling. These were good tasting Butter Tarts which received really good feedback.

So much about Butter and Vanilla and Butter Tarts ~ Feels always so nice to bake. The whole process is like a stress relieving therapy. Try it, you will know what I mean!!!

Needless to say that of'course there was another dish to represent my heritage. The entry that I made was Tandoori Chicken which was accepted with much delight by several people. I made sure the heat didn't go too high in the spice scale. Here is a picture of the outcome:

The joy of baking and cooking!!!