Grandma's Tarts

My English grandma always had a large decorative tin of tarts ready for us when we came to visit. There were of maids of honor (so named by King Henry VIII for Anne Boleyn who was a lady in waiting to his first wife Katherine of Aragon), coconut tarts, and jam and lemon curd filled tarts, with each layer separated in the tin by wax paper. It was such a treat to sit at my grandparents dining room table with cups of tea and the delicious tarts. My mother also made tarts, but with her busy schedule it was usually at Christmas or at times when she baked a pie she would make jam tarts with the leftover pie dough.

I am very pleased that I was able to get my grandma's recipes for her various tarts and I try to make them at least once a year. When finished, I too always put them in my favorite tin which is decorated with tart pictures and the poem about the Queen of Hearts and her tarts. I hope my nieces will learn how to make them as it would be a shame for those traditional recipes to be lost.

Since I made my gloriously successful berry pie, I decided to throw together a few jam tarts with my leftover pie dough. I was able to do so primarily because The Husband was at work and not stealing and eating the raw dough before I can get to the rest of my baking.

Above: Tarts ready for baking.

For these tarts there is no recipe other than taking leftover dough, rolling it out and cutting into circles to fit the muffin tin, filling each tart with approximately 1 teaspoon of a jam, jelly, or lemon curd and baking at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes until crusts are light brown. Let tarts cool in tin for 10 minutes or so, until jam sets then remove and cool them on a rack.

Above: Tarts baked and ready for their special tin.