These butter tarts are the best I've ever tasted. I am the worst baker in existence but every year around this time I get the baking urge, put on my apron and give baking another try, usually with disastrous results. I made them with Ruth's Grandma's Pie Crust (recipe on this site which is also a phenomenal recipe); together they turned out the best butter tarts I could ever imagine. We ate them hot from the oven; I don't know if we can wait till the rest cool. I can't believe I actually made them, they were so good! The substitutions I made were using a no sugar pancake syrup with Splenda instead of corn syrup because we're diabetic and the brown sugar was enough sugar for us thank you very much. LOL I also substituted butter for the shortening and used the two eggs so they wouldn't be runny. I whipped the entire mixture till it was frothy, used raisins and pecans, baking them at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. I really liked this recipe because they were not overly sweet; though I'm not sure if that was because I substituted a no sugar syrup. At any rate, this recipe is a keeper and one I will pass along to my girls (and my son). Thank you ever so much 2doulas for sharing your amazing recipe with us. I know I'll have to make an extra batch tomorrow to freeze.

Reviewed On: Sep. 23, 2009

OMG! This pastry is to die for. It is so tasty and flaky that my husband was swooning. I used this recipe to make English Butter Tarts (another recipe from this site). I followed the recipe to a T with the exception of substituting Splenda for the sugar. I used butter flavoured Crisco and I put the water in the freezer to ensure it was "ice cold". I made half the recipe and got enough dough for 12 butter tarts. I put it in the fridge to keep cool whilst I made the butter tart filling. Thanks so much to Barbara Castodio for sharing this phenomenal recipe with us. My pastry making is a family joke because I murder pastry; it usually ends up to be one big grey ball of stuff that is either tougher than nails or is like a jig saw puzzle trying to put pieces together to make one usable piece. But now I can make pastry .... who'd a thunk it? LOL This recipe is a keeper and is one I will pass along to my daughters & my son.

Reviewed On: Sep. 23, 2009

I gave this a 4 star rating because (a) I've never used a marinade before and have no idea if it is the best marinade in existence and (b) I did tweak it a little bit: I made it according to the recipe but reduced it for 2 people. I always read the reviews before trying a recipe and so with this recipe I took some reviewers' advice and added some Dijon mustard (Hellmann's squeeze) and about 1 tbsp. of brown sugar. It was really good, thank you for sharing your recipe. My husband really liked it and so did I ... and we're extremely fussy. LOL I let it sit in a Ziploc bag for over 30 hours (because we couldn't cook it and it had to wait until the next night but it was great for having to sit that long in the marinade). I tossed it on my barbecue. I also tenderized it prior to putting it in the marinade in the bag by hitting it with a jar of pickles (LOL ... don't have a meat tenderizer hammer thingy). Then when it was in the bag along with the marinade I pounded it again. It really was tender (it was a very large sirloin tip steak that was on sale) and I didn't need any A-1 Steak Sauce like I normally do. I served it with baked potatoes and garlic sauteed Swiss chard in EVOO (extra virgin olive oil). I'll make this again and I've printed it out and it's going in my Tried & True Recipe Book.

Reviewed On: Jul. 6, 2009