By Hannah Logan | April 9, 2020 | 2
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Amid the COVID-19 crisis, the world has been closed off to travel. For myself, an avid traveller and someone who works in travel, this is an incredibly difficult and stressful time. But, I know I’m not alone.
So, I’m starting this new mini-series here on Eat Sleep Breathe Travel under the theme ‘Travel From Home’. The plan is to share fun ideas along with recipes inspired by countries and locations that readers and followers can make from home while we are under quarantine, isolation, and lockdown. Cooking and baking are, for many of us, therapeutic activities and a fun distraction. Plus, who doesn’t love food?
To kick this off, I’m sharing a recipe for a classic Canadian dessert: The Butter Tart.
So, what the heck is a butter tart?
No, it’s not a tart filled with butter.
A butter tart is a tart with a gooey filling made with a mixture that includes butter, brown sugar, and egg. Almost like a pecan pie. You can also add different flavourings and bits to your filling, which I will discuss later.
There is a bit of debate around butter tarts. Some people want the centres to be gooey and runny. Other’ find that too messy and like it firmer. How firm the centre is will depend on how long you bake it for. Again, I’ll talk about that a bit more in the recipe section.
Here’s how to make Canadian Butter Tarts
Canadian Butter Tart Recipe
Ingredients
You Will Need
- Pie dough (you can make your own favourite recipe, or buy the premade raw pastry)
For the Filling (enough for 12 butter tarts)
- 3/4 cup of brown sugar
- 1/3 cup of butter
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon of whipping cream
- flavouring*
*Typically, you will use 1 tsp of vanilla extract. However, since this is a Canadian recipe and I am very Canadian, I like to use pure maple syrup instead. I use about 1 tablespoon of maple syrup because the flavour isn’t quite as strong as it is in an extract. You can also be a bit creative here and use flavoured (ie: Rum or bourbon) vanilla.
Method
- pre-heat your oven to 375F
- Roll out the pastry dough. Don’t roll it too thick though because the best part of the Canadian butter tart is the filling, not the crust.
- Cut out circles big enough to fit and fill into a muffin tray. If you have a circular cookie cutter, that will work. If not, you can use a glass or even a mug to get the circles (that’s what I do). If the circles aren’t quite big enough for your tray, roll them out a little more with your rolling pin until they are the right size. Remember, keep the dough thin!
- Fit the circles into the tin, you’ll want the dough to come up to the edge of the tins to hold the liquid filling mixture. Place in fridge until ready to fill. (I do use a non-stick cooking spray on my pans, but most pie doughs are buttery and don’t tend to stick so you don’t need to)
- Melt butter and brown sugar on low heat over the stove. Once combined, take off the heat and add the cream and flavouring. Wait until it cools to room temperature, then mix in the egg.
- Decide if you want to add anything to your butter tarts. You can leave them plain or you can add nuts (pecans are my favourite), chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, etc. Some people add raisins. Just don’t. It’s wrong. If you do decide you want to add something to your tarts, place them at the bottom of the dough cups before you pour the filling on top.
- Pour your filling into the dough cups. Fill them up- they will bubble a little but they won’t explode and overflow. This recipe makes enough filling to fill 12 normal size tarts.
- Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes. The tops should look a little crusted over (but still be wobbly when you touch the tray) and the crust should be golden brown. Now, if you like gooey butter tarts, you’ll want to reduce this cooking time. But, you still want to cook the crusts. So, before you add the filling, pop the crusts in the oven for about 5 minutes, then fill them up and put them in again right away for about 10 minutes. Then the crust is still baked but the centre (filling) isn’t as firm.
- Remove from tray, cool, and enjoy!
Butter tarts are very sweet, but if you like deserts they are delicious. Plus, they are really simple to make and don’t require many ingredients.
If you decide to make these, let me know what you think!
Happy baking!
FAQs
' Butter tarts were common in Canadian pioneer cooking. The earliest published recipe for a butter tart is from Barrie, Ontario dating back to 1900 in the Women's Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook. Another early published recipe was found in a 1915 pie cookbook.
Are there butter tarts in the USA? ›
Does America have butter tarts? Yes, any decent bakery will typically carry butter tarts, that quintessential Canadian pastry.
What is the difference between a sugar pie and a butter tart? ›
Traditionally, the English Canadian tart consists of butter, sugar, and eggs in a pastry shell, similar to the French-Canadian sugar pie, or the base of the U.S. pecan pie without the nut topping. The butter tart is different from the sugar pie given the lack of flour in the filling.
Did Canada invent butter tarts? ›
The Origin of the Butter Tart
The Collins English Dictionary describes it as one of the few pastries with a genuinely Canadian origin. A butter tart is a small pastry tart, which generally consists of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg, filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.
Why are my butter tarts soggy? ›
If your butter tarts turn out too soggy, it's likely your filling was too watered down or your pastry was rolled too thin. Next time, make sure your pastry is rolled out to a 1/4-inch thickness. It may take a couple tries to perfect your butter tart, but you can do it!
Why is Canadian butter so hard now? ›
Milk-fat production
Canadian recipe writer Julie Van Rosendaal subsequently suggested that dairy farmers may have increased their use of palm oil in dairy cattle's diet, increasing the hardness of the milk fat they produced.
What is the best tart in the world? ›
- Tart. Gypsy tart. KENT, England.
- Tart. Quetschentaart. LUXEMBOURG.
- Tart. Antillean prune tart (Tert di preimu) ARUBA.
- Tart. Torta colonne. APULIA, Italy.
- Tart. Crostata al torrone. SARNANO, Italy.
- Tart. Tarte à la bouillie. LOUISIANA, United States of America.
- Tart. Barchiglia. APULIA, Italy.
- Tart. Apple Frushie. SCOTLAND.
Butter tarts are indeed a popular Canadian pastery. The phrase butter tart, as used in the song, is also slang for a woman's parts.
What is a British tart? ›
In the 19th century, tart was British slang for "pretty woman." Some believe it is a shortening of "sweetheart." But by the end of that century, tart described a prostitute, something many language scholars trace back to the tart that you get at the bakery. Definitions of tart. adjective.
Is tart dough the same as pie dough? ›
While pies have a thin and smooth crust, tarts have a rather thick and crumbly crust which crumbles down when pieces are cut from the tart. Pies are served in the same dish they are made in, while tarts are often taken out and molded, if needed.
Butter Tarts should be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated, they will keep for up to five days in the fridge. If you keep them at room temperature remember they will only keep for about a day or 2 depending on how warm your home is. To freeze, place them in an airtight freezer container.
What does a butter tart taste like? ›
With a gooey, just-set filling made with butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and eggs, butter tarts are hard not to love. They have comforting notes of caramel and butterscotch and are perfect when you want something small and sweet.
Do the original butter tarts have raisins? ›
As you can see in Mrs. Malcolm MacLeod's recipe, she used “currants.” Today, however, there is an ongoing and heated debate about whether raisins belong in butter tarts. I stand by the original recipe and think butter tarts are delicious with raisins, especially California Raisins.
What butter is made in Canada? ›
Lactantia® Butter
Lactantia® is Canada's #1 Butter Brand. Rich, Creamy & Delicious. Trusted since 1947, Lactantia® Butter has earned the reputation for being the finest-quality butter with a smooth, rich and creamy taste. Lactantia® butter is made with 100% pure pasteurized cream.
Why does Canadian butter not melt? ›
For those who are unfamiliar with Canada's "buttergate" over the last few years, the tl;dr is dairy farmers are feeding their cows palm oil. Palm oil in the feed means more saturated fat in the butter. More saturated fat in the butter means stiffer butter at room temperature.
What has changed with Canadian butter? ›
Since the summer, hundreds of farmers around the country have stepped up their use of palm oil substances in an attempt to boost supply. Canada's Dairy Processors Association told Real Agriculture there have been no changes to butter production itself nor national ingredient regulations.
