Tarts

This is a picture of my grandparents and all ten children. My mom is the hot little blond in the front! From Left to right back row: Pa, Uncle Pazu, Uncle Twee,Aunt Rose, Aunt Jack,Uncle Russel,Aunt Marlene From left to right front row Gram, Aunt Prissy, Mom (Paula) Uncle Mark, Aunt Janie
The amazing story here is that the 6 in the back row were not "technically" my Gram's. My Grandfather was married and his first wife passed away. When he met my Gram he had 6 kids! And she married him anyway. It makes me smile though because my Grandfather was an amazing man. He was so kind, and gentle, and he was funny. He was handsome, hardworking, and compassionate. My Gram must have fell head over heels for him. And knowing my Gram and her huge heart, he must have been smitten with her. I know she loved those kids as her own. I know this because I didn't know until I was an adult that they were not. My Grammie then had 4 of her own children. My mom being one of them.

So this recipe I remember from Thanksgiving dinners at my Aunt Prissy's. She owned her own "beauty shop" off of her house. We transformed it for thanksgiving and that's where we ate our feast, right there in the shop. I loved it! One of the things I remember are these tarts. I don't remember the apple ones like my mom does I remember the chocolate cream filled ones (hmmmm I wonder why) My sister Mary also reminded me of Gram's little jello cups. They are just that,jello with whipped cream but for a kid and individual jello cup is like a crisp $100 bill. So I added a few to go with the tarts. =)

From my Mom "One of my faves! We had at Christmas & Thanksgiving."

Tarts

Ingredients

Crust (Gram made her own from scratch) but pie crust in a box is good. Do not use the ready made pie crust.

Crust Recipe:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 cup chilled shortening ( Gram used lard back in the day)

3 TBS ice water

Mix into ball, handle as little as possible, roll out on floured surface

Apple Jelly

Whipped topping

Maraschino cherries

Directions (as told by my Mom)

Roll out pie crust very thin. The secret to a flaky crust is too use ice water, I put ice and the water. Put pie crust mix in a bowl and very sparingly add the ice water and mix with a fork. You want the dough moist enough to roll out on a floured counter. Cut out circles with the top of a large glass. Press each piece into an un greased cupcake tin pulling the dough up the sides.. It is ok if the do not all look the same that is part of the charm. Bake until golden brown and cool completely. Add a good rounded teaspoon of apple jelly to the bottom of each tart, top with whipped topping and chill right before serving top with half a maraschino cherry. These are so simple and very delicious. At Christmas we would also use the green cherries and put the tarts on a fancy serving tray very festive. As I child I loved these more than all the holiday pies.

Here are the crust inside the muffin pan. I was unsure how they would bake, if they would be like I remembered.

Modern baking tools....ha this glass worked perfect.

Exactly how I remembered them...golden and flakey. The crust recipe is simple but perfect.

These are the tarts filled with the apple jelly. About a teapoon for each tart. I also did chocolate just using a basic pudding filling.

We all ate one and said "YUM" They brought me back in time.

I am really enjoying gathering these recipes and making them. I thought it might be therapeutic for me to remember Gram this way. But can I be totally honest. It makes me miss her so much more. And my whole family for that matter. I am remembering all the fun times we have had over the years, celebrating holidays, birthdays, graduations, babies...it's hard being so far. I miss them so much.

Gram's Celebration Cake

My two 'baby sisters'(left to right) Mary-Elizabeth and Christine

This recipe is so simple, yet so wonderful. I personally looked forward to seeing this treat on the table at family gatherings. Gram's cake was her own little creation. I don't know why she decided to put jelly in the middle or cool whip on the top, but it all works. My sister Christine has made this cake and although we all call it "Gram's cake" when I made this cake I not only thought of my Gram but also my sister Christine. When I put the cake in the fridge I let out a big sigh. I miss Gram. I miss my family. I wish they were all coming over tomorrow for some cake and coffee.

As told to me by my sister Christine:

We can't forget Gram's cake.. I made this for everyone to enjoy when they traveled for the wake and funeral. I used to help Gram make this for Pa's thing every year.(Pa's thing is very special to our family. Every year since the passing of my grandfather, the family gathers to remember him and to be with each other. It's in September and it's always a fun time. Every year those who can make it come and those who can't wish they could. We meet at my mom's house or in years past at Aunt Prissy's house. We bring lots and lots of food and just eat and tell stories. It seriously is a fun time. Family was so important to my grandparents. They really held us all together, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, cousins, second cousins, third cousins, even people who technically weren't family. Pa was worth remembering after he passed and so now as we have lost Gram this year she is every bit worth remembering. I hope that my generation that knew her well will continue with Pa day. It's such a part of who we are. So this cake was a yearly attendee of Pa day)

You'll need:

2 boxes of yellow boxed cake mix
A jar of Jam (Or in Gram's case.. whatever kind of Jam you have in the fridge.. she would usually do half of it seedless strawberry for uncle Joe and the other half regular strawberry)
wax paper
Cool Whip
Rainbow Jimmies
2 cookies sheets that are the same size
Prepare the cake batter as directed. Lay a sheet of wax paper on each cookie sheet. Pour the cake batter into each cookie sheet evenly Bake until they are golden brown on top let the cakes cool completely. Now this is the tricky part. I don't know how she did it without breaking the cakes!Flip one cake out of the cookie sheet on top of an upside down cookie sheet lined with tin foil. Spread the jam so that it even coats the cake. Flip the other cake out of the cookie sheet on top of the other layer so that the dark side is on the inside. Spread the whipped cream on top of the cake and sprinkle.

Two identical cakes

Ok so when Gram made it she sometimes did half seedless jam and half regular because she knew Uncle Joe didn't like seeds in his jam. That was typical Gram style, she made it special and if she knew you liked or disliked something she made it special. So my Isaiah doesn't like jelly, he never has. So the top part of my jelly side has no jelly so he can enjoy this cake too.

SO here's the cake...for the life of me I could lot figure out how to make the diamond shaped pieces...CHRISTINE??? Gram always cut them into diamond pieces, long ones, not fat ones like I did. But the cake tastes just like hers diamond shaped or not. And not to toot my own horn but mine did not crack. I waited until the cakes were completely cooled. Then I lined the cakes right up next to each other and with a quick motion flip it. I did have to scoot the cake a little to line it up but it didn't disrupt the cakes at all.