April 4, 2011

Colonial Raspberry Tart Recipe from 1774

I went to work one day and there were 17 piglets by 2 mothers and another soon-to-be mother. That's a lot of pigs!










We made this recipe from Hannah Glasse that was absolutely delicious, and I don't even like raspberries. At the time tarts were cooked in individual tins, which make for pretty, rippled tart shells. (Authentic, tin tart molds can be bought at Deborah's Pantry.) If you don't have tart molds, a cupcake pan will work, but the tart shells won't look as fancy. You can also make one large tart using a pie pan. 
 
Hannah Glasse, Raspberry Tart from 1774

Ingredients for the Crust:

-1/2 lb (2 sticks) Butter
- 3 Cups Flour
- 1 Cup Sugar 

Instructions for the Crust:

Cream the Butter with a wooden spoon until smooth, add the Flour and Sugar slowly until it forms a stiff dough. Lightly flour your surface and your rolling pin, roll out the dough to about 1/4 of an inch. Measure your pans and cut the dough in circles about 1/2 an inch bigger than the diameter of your molds, (a cup works great for this.) Butter your molds and press your cut dough into them forming small bowls. Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool.  

 Ingredients for the Raspberry Preserve Filling:

- 1 lb Raspberries 
- 2 Cups Sugar
-  1 cup Water

Instructions for the Raspberry Preserve Filling

***You can save time buy using store bought jam or preserves but if you want to make the real thing, you will end up with a very sweet, but delicious preserve.***

Rinse off the Raspberries. Add Raspberries to a medium sized sauce pan and stir in the Sugar and Water. Let the mixture boil, being careful not to squish any of the Raspberries. Once the sugar-water starts to thicken, remove the raspberries using a slotted spoon or sieve. Let the juice boil until it is about as thick as maple syrup. Add the Raspberries again, you may crush them up if you want a more jelly-like preserve or keep the raspberries whole. Be sure to stir the syrup constantly so that it does not burn.  

***Alternatively, apricot, cherry, plumb, apple or currant preserves could also be used for this recipe.***

Put a tablespoon of preserve into a cooked tart shell. You may eat them as is or bake for an additional 5 minutes. If you have extra crust dough, you can decorate the tops of the tarts and bake for 5 minutes. Use a sifter to sift sugar over the top and enjoy. 


The tarts were very good. We cheated and used store-bought jam but we have made this preserve recipe before and it was surprisingly good for such few ingredients. They disappeared before we could take a picture but next time we make them, I'll definitely put one on here.   

I've finally taken a photo, although it was taken about 4 days after I made them:



8 comments:

  1. When did you make these? I go back to work on Thursday.

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  2. They sound great. We have loads of cherries in the freezer. I think I know what to make with them now...

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  3. Jodi, we made them last weekend. I won't be "back" until school is out. :(

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  4. They were really good. We cooked some of them too long and they ended up tasting like raspberry flavored shortbread but they all disappeared quickly. I might make them at home to perfect the recipe.

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  5. The tarts sound wonderful! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

    Blessings,

    Kim

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  6. Stephanie,

    Just stopping by to tell you how much I enjoy your blog. I have nominated you for "The Lovely Blog Award". If you wish to pick up go to http://deb-adventuresingenealogy.blogspot.com/2011/04/thankful-thursday-one-lovely-blog-award.html

    Looking forward to learning every time I visit!

    Deb

    ReplyDelete

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