Canadian Butter Tarts
Aug 25, 2024 01:55 AM
These famous Canadian butter tarts consist of a flaky pastry shell filled with a rich buttery caramel centre. They are a perfect sweet indulgence whether you’re Canadian or not.
A butter tart is a small pastry tart filled with a deliciously gooey semi-solid syrup made up of butter, sugar, and eggs. Often dried fruit or nuts are added to the filling. These sweet little gems are said to have originated in Quebec back in the 1600s. Though, the first printed recipe for butter tarts was published in The Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook in 1900, out of Barrie, Ontario.
The original version of Canadian butter tarts was made with maple sugar, freshly churned butter, and dried fruit such as raisins or currents. Butter tarts became all the rage in the 1920s and 1930s. It’s one of the few authentically Canadian recipes that exist on paper. Whether a true butter tart has a runny or firm filling, plain or with raisins, is a matter of passionate national debate. For me, it’s a matter of personal preference with no right or wrong.
Ingredients:
Pastry
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) baking powder
- 1/2 tsp (2.5ml) salt
- 1/2 cup (114g) lard
- 1/2 cup (114g) unsalted butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp (5ml) white vinegar
- about 1 cup (250ml) cold water
Filling
- 3/4 cup (165g) packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter
- 1 tbsp (15ml) table or whipping cream
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Optional
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, raisins or chocolate chips
Prep Time:
30 minutes
Cook Time:
15 minutes
Total Time:
45 minutes
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