COUSIN JOEY'S BUTTERSCOTCH TARTS

Cousin Joey Scott was Gramma Kath's first cousin. Her mother was a twin sister to the famous "Aunt Jemima" who kept up the family correspondence after Grandmother Gilchrist died. Aunt Jemima never married but earned her living by keeping a small general store. It was not a profitable business, because she gave away a great deal to families she knew were hard up. In particular, she was known for making gifts of soap to children she thought were not clean enough. At one point during World War II, there was an air raid and bombs fell near her shop. There was no time to get to a shelter, so she hid under her counter. She lived into her nineties. When Aunt Jemima died, Cousin Joey took over from her. She too never married but was a professional nanny, and her delicious baking was much appreciated by her family and the adults she had raised. Cousin Joey welcomed us to the "Broch" (Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire) in 1982 and 1988 and visited us in the U.S. in 1983.

The recipe for crust from the Butterscotch tarts is usable for any baked in the crust tart recipe and is particularly good for mini cheesecakes using Aunt Julia's Cheesecake as filling and for the "German bun" recipe which the American Gilchrists have used for years. Aunt Be used to make German buns a lot, and I think the recipe may have originally come from Great grandmother Jeanne Gilchrist.

350E 2 dozen when baked in muffin tins

Crust:

Sift: 8 ounces of flour

1 Tablespoon sugar

pinch of salt

Cut in: 5 ounces (10 Tablespoons) margarine

Beat: 1 egg yolk. Toss into the flour mixture with enough water to form a ball. Divide the dough into 24 even balls, about the size of a walnut, and pat each ball into the bottom and up the sides of a muffin tin cup in an even layer. Fill and bake.

Filling:

Mix well: 2 ounces (4 Tablespoons) soft butter,

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1 handful each of sultana raisins and walnuts.

Divide the filling evenly among 24 muffin cups, lined with the pastry given above and bake at 350E until brown and set.

GERMAN BUNS

Cream together: 1 cup sugar

butter the size of a walnut

2 tablespoons flour

2 or 3 eggs

1/4 cup milk

1 teaspoons vanilla

1 small package coconut