Comments on: Salted Butter Tart

By: Jennifer McLagan

Jennifer McLagan — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:43:29 +0000

Hello Barbara, Like you I only buy unsalted butter, except when making this tart or my Salted Caramel Sauce. In France you can buy demi-sel, which is only lightly salted and perfect for this recipe. I suggest you buy some good quality salted butter to make this tart rather than add salt. As David says you can make another tart, the sauce, or add it to vegetables or mashed potatoes where you would be adding salt anyway. You should also try it on toast with jam, the salt enhances the flavours of the jam, especial apricot.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:24:59 +0000

Hi, Barbara. The salt content of salted butter varies significantly from manufacturer to manufacturer. My official answer is buy some salted butter. This recipe requires one stick, and if you get a half-pound box, you have an extra stick to make another tart! I hesitate to give you an exact amount, as It could over salt the butter. But if you don’t want to buy more, mix the butter with with 1/2 teaspoon of salt to start. Take a taste. You don’t want it to taste salty-salty, but rather just salty enough for the flavors to pop. Add more if you need it.

By: Barbara

Barbara — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:00:20 +0000

I buy ONLY unsalted butter for the many known reasons…not only can I control the salt level, it seems to me to have a fresher taste. That said, how much salt do I need to ADD to the concoction to get to the level of ‘salted butter’?

By: Allison Parker, LC Managing Editor

Allison Parker, LC Managing Editor — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 02:17:23 +0000

Well, I didn’t officially test this tart, but I have made it twice and so thought I’d add my two cents (besides just agreeing that it’s a caramel addict’s dream). One thing you can do with this recipe with great success is make individual, bite-sized tarts using mini muffin pans (about 18 to 24 from the quantity of caramel in the recipe); add toasted pignoli pine nuts for added visual interest and some crunch; freeze for later; impress everyone who tastes it, and I mean everyone.

By: Testers' Choice

Testers' Choice — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:55:06 +0000

[Annie Barron] This is a simple recipe that works quite well as is or as a starting point for any number of variations. It makes caramel approachable by omitting the use of a thermometer, and you can make your own superfine sugar by pulsing regular sugar in a food processor. Plus, it can be made ahead and/or in brief installments of time for those with, say, infants. The pastry dough came together easily without any water (or humidity in the air) and baked into a flaky, golden-brown tart shell. It was neither too sandy, as are some pie crusts with minimal water, nor too tough, as some tart doughs can be. The salted caramel also worked as written, with the caramel passing through the various stages the author describes. I cooked my caramel for 15 minutes and wound up with the color pictured here and a flavor that was just short of bitter (much like the taste of a Cadbury's Crunchie bar). One caution: the cream not only bubbles and spits when added to the caramel, but it also gives off a lot of steam. My only complaint is that the saltiness was not strongly perceptible, so I might add a bit of salt next time. After filling my 9-inch tart shell to the brim, I had about 1/3 cup of caramel left over. The tart was excellent in very small slices paired just with whipped cream, but I can imagine it with a drizzle or a layer of dark chocolate ganache, or spiked with liqueur.

By: Testers' Choice

Testers' Choice — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:55:30 +0000

[Wheatridge] The recipe was right on with clear and concise instructions—even including a note that the caramel sauce might not look right in its initial stages of preparation, and to relax, that it “would come together.” It certainly did, although I couldn’t get the dark-chocolate brown color in the recipe’s accompanying picture. However, the flavor of Jennifer’s caramel was exquisite. It was proclaimed by my wife as the very best caramel she had ever tasted. We’ll use it for sundaes and tarts. The crust portion was easy to prepare and tasted better than any crust that I’ve made over the years. It’ll be my basic tart crust recipe. I wouldn’t change a thing in the recipe. There was one deviation I made out of necessity, however: I used frozen butter to cut into the tart pastry. It worked well, leaving visible pieces of butter in the rolled-out dough.

By: Testers' Choice

Testers' Choice — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 01:51:18 +0000

[Beth Price] This is a simple caramel tart and a good starting recipe for those cooks who fear making pastry dough and caramelizing sugar. The dough came together beautifully with the addition of several tablespoons of ice water. One helpful hint that I learned from Nathalie Dupree is to set aside the smaller portions of dough as they begin to come together. Then, combine all the parts together and knead. This prevents the dough from becoming overworked. Having caramelized several of my pans (not a fun job to clean up), I was fearful of yet another adventure into burned sugar. This was such an easy and foolproof method that yielded a beautiful thick caramel. The end result was luscious.

By: Rose Levy Beranbaum

Rose Levy Beranbaum — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:54:23 +0000

we aren’t related by blood but by choice! AND lisa’s grandmother was lillian levy and that was my mother’s name!

By: Robyn Rice-Foster

Robyn Rice-Foster — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:37:25 +0000

Hi Julie,

If you live near a Sur La Table, they have a fantastic candy thermometer which indicates soft, hard and firm ball for carmelization which coincides with Cindi’s previous comments about the temperatures and the color of the carmel. The therrmometer is not expensive and I use it alot when making my carmels.

Robyn

By: Cindi Kruth, LC Recipe Tester

Cindi Kruth, LC Recipe Tester — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:08:11 +0000

Sugar (sucrose) begins to caramelize and color around 340°F. At 355°F to 358°F it becomes amber or pale golden, by 365°F to 368°F it’s a rich golden brown, turning to chestnut. At around 370°F it begins to get quite dark, approaching the “burnt sugar” stage. Above 375°F or so, it begins to taste bitter. Incidentally, sugar becomes less sweet (due to the breakdown of various compounds) as it cooks.

Here, from the description “rich, dark caramel color” I’d say you want about 365°F.

Cindi