Maple Butter Tarts

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. Place tart shells on a baking sheet; sprinkle raisins evenly into the bottom of tart shells.

3. Beat brown sugar and butter together in a bowl until smooth; whisk in eggs, maple syrup, flour, vanilla extract, and salt. Fill each tart shell 3/4 full with maple syrup mixture.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until filling is set and shells are golden, about 16 minutes. Turn the baking sheet halfway through the baking time for even baking.

Cook's Notes:

For the pastry, I use the recipe on the Tenderflake(R) shortening package, and freeze any leftover dough. You can also purchase ready-to-bake tart shells in the freezer section of the grocery store.

If you like, soak the raisins in your favorite rum before adding them to the tart shells.

If you prefer a tart which oozes its filling, omit the 1 tablespoon flour from the filling.

Editor's Note:

If using homemade pastry, roll dough out to 1/8-inch thickness; cut circles large enough to fit into the bottom and partway up sides of the wells of a muffin tin, using a round biscuit cutter. Press circles lightly into the wells of muffin tin to form tart shells.