Here are a few that we like. You can make any favourite tart recipe into mini tarts. Ann Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table =================================== Source: Appeal Magazine Shortbread crust 1 cup butter softened 1/2 cup icing sugar 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch Filling 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice 1 Tablespoon grated lemon zest 1 cup granulated sugar 3 eggs well beaten 1/2 cups butter at room temperature . Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine shortbread ingredients in the bowl of an electric mixer. Mix to form dough. Divide dough into 24 pieces. Pat each portion of dough into a 1 1/2" (4 cm) tart tin, using your fingers to shape it into a shell. Prick the bottom of each tart with a fork. Bake 10 minutes and then prick bottoms again as the shells puff up. Bake an additional 10 minutes. Remove from oven and allow tarts to cool on a wire rack before filling. To prepare lemon filling, combine juice and zest in a double boiler. Whisk in sugar, eggs and butter, blending well. Place over gently boiling water and whisk constantly until mixture thickens. Cool before using to fill tart shells. Lemon filling can be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator. (Note: I did not cook using a double boiler. I added the juice, zest, sugar and butter to the pot and brought to a boil. Then I beat the eggs and added some of the hot mixture to the eggs to temper before adding this egg mixture to the pan. I continued to stir over low heat until the mixture thickened.) Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Peanut butter and chocolate cookie Tarts ======================================== Dough 3/4 cup butter 3/4 cup peanut butter smooth 3/4 cup brown sugar 3/4 cup white sugar 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 tsp vanilla 2 1/4 cups flour 3/4 teaspoon baking soda Chocolate filling 4 oz semisweet chocolate 2 Tablespoons cocoa 1/3 cup butter 2 cups sifted Icing Sugar . Cream butter with peanut butter until very smooth. Beat in sugars. Beat in egg and yolk. Add vanilla. Sift flour with baking soda and mix well. Stir into butter mixture. Press balls of dough into well buttered mini muffin tins. Each ball of dough should be about 3/4's the size of the muffin tin - when you intent the centre it should form the shape of a pudgy little tart shell. Bake in preheated 350°F oven for 15 minutes or until ouside is baked but inside is still chewy. Do not over bake. Cool five minutes on rack and then remove from tins. Cool completely. Filling Combine chocolate, cocoa, milk and butter in small saucepan. Melt over low heat. Mix until smooth. Cool. Beat in icing sugar to give consistencey of icing. Pipe about 1 tablespoon of filling into each tart. Note: YOu can spoon the filling in to the centre, but it looks nicer when piped. Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table ============ 1/4 cup butter at room temperature 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice 1 cup maple syrup 1 cup walnut halves Optional - 1/2 cup currants or raisins water . Blend together the butter and brown sugar. Beat the eggs lightly and stir into the butter and brown sugar and add the corn syrup. (You can substitute Corn syrup for all or part of the Maple syrup.), add vanilla and raisins if using. Fill tart shells about two thirds full. Bake at 375°F for 15 to 20 minutes or until pastry is golden. The filling in these tarts is runny. Do not over bake or the filling will firm up. Let tarts set in the tins for about 3 minutes. Remove carefully and cool on racks. Makes about twenty 3 inch tarts. Home Cookin 4.9 Chapter: Recipes From Thibeault's Table Butter-Lard Pastry ================== 2 cups all purpose flour 3/4 teaspoon salt 1/3 cup butter 1/3 cup lard (or shortening) 5 to 6 tablespoons of ice water (note: if using for a sweet pie, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar.) . Mix flour with salt, and cut in butter and lard. (Note: I use the cuisinart to cut in my fat and then move the mixture to a bowl to add the water by hand). I like to have to do this by feel which I find I can't do by machine) Put flour mixture in bowl and add water mixing with a fork until pastry comes together. Form in to a ball and cut in two pieces. Form each into a round flat disc and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Janet, what a story and what a test of tact that must have been. Ann, I love shortbread. If anyone wants to start a fan club, I'm there. I didn't have time earlier to post it, but has anyone tried Regan Daley's Butter-Toffee Crunch Shortbread from "In the Sweet Kitchen"? It is the most incredibly rich brown sugar shortbread variation. I don't make it often; I have to be sure I have lots of recipients lined up first so I don't keep too much in the house. It's deadly to diets. BUTTER-TOFFEE CRUNCH SHORTBREAD Makes 50 3-inch fingers "Awfully impressive, and dead easy, this is just a good basic brown sugar Scottish shortbread recipe, enhanced with butterscotch and toffee bits. As with any shortbread, the quality and freshness of the butter and flour make all the difference in the flavour and texture. Use the best, and make sure they're fresh. This makes a large batch, perfect for giving, and the shortbread keeps very well in airtight tins. If desired, the recipe can be reduced by half." 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour 2/3 cup rice flour, or substitute cornstarch if rice flour is unavailable 1/2 teaspoon salt 1-1/2 cups (3/4 pound) fresh unsalted butter, at room temperature 6 tablespoons fruit sugar or superfine sugar 6 tablespoons tightly packed light brown sugar 3/4 cup miniature butterscotch chips 2/3 cups English toffee pieces for baking such as Skor Bits (available in the baking sections of most supermarkets) Additional unsalted butter for greasing pan Preheat the oven to 325° F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 x 13-inch metal baking pan. Line the bottom and up the two long sides with a piece of parchment paper. Leave about a 1-inch overhang over the sides to make removing the cooled shortbread easier. Sift the all-purpose and rice flour together with the salt and set aside. In the bowl of an electric or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl with a wooden spoon, beat the butter until very smooth. Gradually add the sugars and cream the mixture until it is very light and fluffy. If using a mixer, transfer the creamed butter-sugar mixture to a large mixing bowl. Add the flour mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, fully incorporating each addition before adding the next. Use your fingers to knead the final portion of dry ingredients into the dough, keeping your palms off the dough as much as possible, so the warmth doesn't turn the butter oily. When the last of the flour is fully blended, add the butterscotch and toffee bits and knead them into the dough until they are evenly distributed. I should warn you at this point, that this dough now smells better than any cookie dough you have ever experienced. Restrain yourself; you will do yourself no favors devouring the entire mess at this point, and the baking doesn't take that long. Press the dough firmly into the prepared pan and use the back of a metal spoon to smooth the surface. Prick the dough all over with a fork and set the pan in the center of the oven. Bake the shortbread for about 45 minutes, then prick the dough again to release any trapped air. Return the pan to the oven for another 15 to 30 minutes, or until the edges are light golden brown, and the center feels just firm to the touch. The shortbread will set to a very firm biscuit as it cooks, so it must be cut while it is still warm. Cool the pan on a wire rack for 7 to 8 minutes, then run a sharp paring knife around the outside of the dough to loosen the edges. Make two long cuts in the shortbread, dividing it evenly into three rectangles, each cut beginning and ending at a short side of the pan. Cutting from long side to long side, cut the rectangles into about ¾-inch wide fingers, wiping the knife on a clean towel between each cut, as it gets sticky and can pull and tear the cooling shortbread. Leave the fingers to cool completely in the pan, then re-cut and transfer them to airtight tins. This shortbread can be frozen before or after it is baked. Freeze the dough pressed into the prepared pan, well wrapped with plastic and aluminum foil. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, without disturbing the wrapping, and bake directly from the refrigerator. The baking time may have to be increased by a few minutes to compensate for the chilled dough. Freeze the cooled fingers in airtight bags or containers, layering between sheets of waxed or parchment paper and wrapping the whole tin or container with aluminum foil. Thaw the entire package, without removing the wrapping, at room temperature for 6 to 8 hours. I haven't previously frozen the dough, but I do intend to do that this year. Very handy for the holidays. Carol

I have had both good and bad pumpkin cheesecake. It is BF's favorite, so he makes it every year. I have made it too. I use the Cooking Light recipe. But anyhoo, the best pumpkin cheesecake I ever had was at a friends house who is something of a gourmet. She got the recipe from Cooks Illustrated. The secret was draining/drying the canned pumpkin, which I have done. I did mine with paper towels. It somehow makes the pumpkin less bitter. Here's a copy of Chris Kimball's directions: Spiced Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake �" 'The Squeeze Job' Many people have turned to making pumpkin cheesecake instead of pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. And while Kimball recommends using pumpkin from a can instead of roasting your own, he also warns against a common, and serious, flaw in the store-bought variety. "The problem is, it has a lot of moisture in it, and you don't want that extra moisture in your cheesecake," Kimball says, "because it ruins your cheesecake. So, what do you do?" "The secret," Kimball says, "is the way we wick away the moisture." His technique calls for putting a triple layer of paper towels onto a baking sheet �" one that has sides, to catch the eventual runoff. The pumpkin goes from the can right onto the towels, where it's smeared around. "This is a great thing for kids," Kimball says. "They can make a big mess." Then Kimball puts more towels on top, and folds the whole thing in half, then folds again. As he does, he's patting the bundle, squeezing water and moisture out. Then he flips it over, and carefully peels back the top layer of paper. "This looks like one of those fruit rollups, doesn't it?" Kimball says. Repeatedly flipping the bundle and peeling back the top layer of paper, Kimball eventually uncovers the pumpkin mash �" now much denser and ready to be combined with the cream cheese, which he recommends taking out of the refrigerator at least one to two hours ahead of time. In another tip, Kimball says to use spices like cinnamon and allspice sparingly. But his recipe also uses plenty of white sugar and heavy cream. "There's no stinting," Kimball says. "Stinting is not a verb that's used at Thanksgiving. Absolutely not." When all is ready, he reveals the next trick to the cheesecake: baking it in a springform pan that sits in a water bath, so the entire cheesecake cooks evenly.

I looked at getting Honey Maid graham crackers from Amazon Fresh. They have them, but according to the comments they're not the real deal. Reduced size and people don't like them. The reviews for Annie's are worse. They don't have any alternatives that look better. The reviews for Nabisco Classic and Amazon's Happy Belly are mixed. TJ's discontinued the good ones, and what they have now look like they're from the big makers and have just awful reviews--worse than the rest. I'm not making my own just to make crust. The new graham crackers don't even look good in pictures. They're the wrong color and look dry. Ugh! I'm sorry, Olychick, but I'm not doing it.