Maple syrup bourbon tarts with meringue

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Happy Easter everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. 

April has arrived in a flurry of wind, snow, and some sunshine mixed in to tease us. It is April Fools day after all right? It's also my Papa's (Grandfathers) Birthday. He always celebrated it on the 2nd of April though, because he thought no one would take him seriously being born on April 1st. It's funny someone would even think about those things. But he did. 

Yesterday I spent a great deal of time cooking in between chores, we enjoyed a big feast of roasted Prime Rib, sweet potatoes with pickled apples, pickled beets, deviled eggs, freshly baked honey rolls, and roasted tomatoes stuffed with feta cheese. For dessert, I made my favorite pie, which is saying a lot because I love pretty much all pie... but lemon meringue has a very special place in my heart and... tummy. 

I had leftover pie dough so I decided I better use it up and that tarts would be a fun thing to make. And what do I have plenty of right now? Freshly made maple syrup.

You can leave out the bourbon if you'd like but it does add a lot of flavor - and there isn't much there. I wanted to do a take on old fashion butter-scotch pudding, which of course has scotch in it. So I've used bourbon with the maple syrup in these tarts.

Maple syrup bourbon tarts with meringue 

You need to either prepare some tart shells using your favorite pie crust recipe - or you can also use store bought tart shells if you'd like.

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For the pudding:

2 1/2 cups milk, divided
3 1/2 Tbsp cornstarch
2/3 cup maple syrup
3 egg yolks
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp bourbon 

In a big bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup of milk, the cornstarch, the maple syrup, egg yolks, and salt until combined. Set the egg whites aside. 

In a heavy saucepan, heat up the remaining milk until it's just about to boil (don't let it burn.) Slowly temper the egg/syrup mixture by adding a little hot milk into the bowl at a time, whisking vigorously all the time. If you do this slowly enough and while whisking enough - you'll never cook your eggs and get lumps. Once it's all combined, pour it all back into your saucepan and turn the temperature to medium. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, about 5-8 minutes. 

Remove from heat. Whisk in the vanilla and bourbon. 

for the meringue:

3 egg whites
3 Tbsp sugar

Beat until you've got stiff peaks! If you are really strong you can do this by hand. I have no idea how my mother did it. I just stand back watch my mixer working and repeat: I love my mixer. I love my mixer... 

To assemble:

Fill the tart shells up with your maple pudding, and top with the meringue. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes until the meringue is nicely browned and voila!

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Then you just... Eat em!

Comments

jaz@octoberfarm said…
oh man...i could go for one of these right now and i rarely eat dessert! these look soooo good!
Those look soooo delicious! I could really go for one (or two) right now :)
Lana said…
Yum, yum, YUM!! You have me drooling right now haha! Hope you all had a great Easter as well and thanks for the sweet birthday wish. :)
Leigh said…
Oh gosh, those look absolutely fantastic. You share some of the best recipes!
oh man! those look delicious!!
jody said…
YUM! the tarts look wonderful and your menue for the day sounds perfect! gosh reading thru your past few posts has wore me out! donna know wonder you find your self tired and not feeling well! you must be alot younger than me
(53) cuz i cant emagine! im glad the sunshine came out! we need sun and heat! it sounds like everyone is on the road to recovery and now that the syrup is done you should hopefully get some rest! it just never ends always something to do.
im bidding my time with my 16 yr sally girl and talked with the kids this past weekend regarding her declining health. like you said these animals and all bring lots of emotions.. i have found the gals we got our kittys from and sally girl and shared pictures and such which has been fun after so many years.. your fur babes all look good! the kids are absolutly beautiful as the new baby lamb! gosh glad you got there when you did to help with the birth. you are a wonderful mum to your all your babes! i can tell everyone is glad to see spring come! enjoy your evening Donna and take care! hope you are feeling better!
Primitive Stars said…
OMG!!!! My mouth is watering, wish I could reach in and grab one or two.....Happy April, Francine.
dq said…
on average how many hours a day do you cook?
Dewena said…
I have had a fine time catching up on your family tonight. I don't know how you manage to fix a feast like you did with all you have to do but it made me hungry just to read it. I would have had a hard time choosing between a slice of lemon meringue and those maple syrup tarts. What a lot of work for 4 gallons of maple syrup! No wonder the good stuff is expensive.

Every time I look at your beautiful animals (I hate even calling them animals as they're so special), I think of the painting of the Peaceable Kingdom. They look so happy and secure. The picture of Braveheart with his little Ruby, precious. And Buckwheat sleeping by Izzie, adorable. But reading about you delivering Lila's ewe lamb, and Max trying to help clean her up, was priceless.

A visit here is better than anything on t.v.
Dewena
The JR said…
Okay, as good as those look, I would have to make one big one cause I'd end up eating a lot of little ones.
Looks so yummy! Do you make everything from scratch? Do you reference a particular cook book for these recipes? Thanks!
Chai Chai said…
Those look great!
Suzan said…
Oh goodness - those look wonderful!! Yum yum!!

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