Brunch Tarts: Hashbrowns, Bacon, Eggs

Today we are going to see a treasured 92 year old friend who is in Hospice care.  She has no appetite.  Her caregivers do.  We wanted to take something to share, but the grocery stock is not as plentiful as I would like.

What DO we have on hand?  Baked potatoes (several), one onion, 3 eggs and some dairy items such as sour cream and whipping cream.  And later in the project, I found some precooked bacon too.  And in the garden, the cilantro is ready.

Years ago I sold French bake ware called Demarle.  Since then it has changed names to Boncook.  A favorite treat for our family is to make individual tarts or pies.  And this thought came to me today.  How fun it would be to deliver savory tarts.  And even more fun if I could use what I have on hand without a trip to the store.


I started with chopping and frying the onion in lots of butter.  When those were golden brown, I added 4 grated baked potatoes left over from last night's supper.  Those too were sauteed until golden brown.

Meanwhile, I started the pie crust from scratch.

7 ounces unsalted butter, cut in chunks.  Very cold!
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 /2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar (Bragg's)
1/2 cup ice water

The butter and dry ingredients were cut together with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembled small pea size particles.  Then added the wet ingredients.  Mixing it just until it hung together.

Rolled out and cut with the cutter that matches the Silform tray with 12 individual pie shapes.  I think it's called the large Silform tray.  Mine is years old and it is not currently available on the website.

Here is an equivalent product which I would love to own as well:

https://cindy4bonbite.boncook.com/products/5529-silform-fluted-square-tray-12.aspx

Continuing on with the savory tart filling while the potatoes and onions are frying...

I started placing ingredients in a mixing bowl which included:

3 strips of bacon, precooked and chopped
2 cups grated cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
3 eggs, 1/4 cup whipping cream
1/4 teaspoon salt
grated pepper

And sent a child to the garden to pick a cereal bowl full of cilantro.

When the potatoes and onions were finished, I stirred those into the mixing bowl too.

Then I filled the 12 individual pie crusts with this filling and topped with cilantro and left over grated cheese.

Oven was set to 375 degrees and were finished baking at 18 minutes.

 Photo below from old cell phone camera
 

Photo below from good camera with good lens.