Comfort Corner 3

These recipes for Mushrooms and Neenish Tarts are another example of an old classic kept from a magazine cutting (1967) that is worth sharing and preserving. I make these when I want to add something special to a celebration, and they keep well in the freezer. The pastry is a favourite of mine as it tastes great, but is also easy to roll and work with.

The other thing that I am reminded of is the sense of satisfaction that I have when I see the finished product and know that it is all my own work. So too, clients can have a similar feeling if we guide them in doing things for themselves, rather than taking over and doing things for them – we may be denying them the experience of  a sense of achievement if we don’t allow them this opportunity.

Pastry

150 g butter or substitute

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups plain flour

½ cup corn flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

Cream butter and sugar until white and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Fold in sifted dry ingredients. Chill a few hours, wrapped in plastic wrap. Knead a little before using, roll out thinly on a floured board and cut into fluted rounds with a floured cutter (it helps to sprinkle flour on the rolling pin too). Fill into tartlet tins and prick with a fork. Bake in a moderately hot oven 10 to 15 minutes.

This recipe will make at least 36 pastry shells, and the pastry left over from cutting a batch of rounds can be re-rolled and cut to make more.

Mushrooms

Cut out stems from left over pastry and bake these with the cases (I sit them on the flat spaces between the indentations on the tray).

When cold, place a small spoonful of jam in each cooked tart shell.  Cream 2 tablespoons of butter until soft, gradually adding 2 cups of icing sugar and 2 tablespoons milk. Beat until smooth. Add dash of vanilla. Fill into pastry cases (on top of jam). Place a small stem in the centre of each tart. Sprinkle with cinnamon

Neenish tarts

Mix 1 cup coconut, 4 tablespoons icing sugar, 1 egg yolk, 1 tablespoon condensed milk and 2 drops almond essence together to a smooth and soft consistency. Fill into cold baked pastry shells. Ice half of each top with white icing and the other half with chocolate (or carob) icing.

Bask in a glow of satisfaction and achievement as you enjoy these little treats.