Butter Tarts

A butter tart is a Canadian specialty that, unless you have friends or family living up North, you may never have experienced. I’ve certainly never seen them sold in any bakery around here. The pastries are made with a tart shell that is filled with a mixture of sugar and butter, held together with eggs. Often, the tart filling includes raisins or chopped nuts, but a plain tart is pretty standard – and pretty darn tasty, too.

The closest way I can think of to describe the overall texture of the tart is to say that it is a little bit like a pecan pie without the pecans. But that really only emcompasses a small part (the sweetness) of the tart. The filling is gooey and buttery, almost slick with a melt-in-your-mouth texture and just the right amount of caramely sweetness from the sugar. It is held together with a hint of flaky crispness from the pastry crust. The tarts are light, but rich, and it seems prudent to make them small so that you can enjoy a few bites at a time. I baked mine in a standard muffin pan, which worked out perfectly and didn’t require me to pull out a set of miniature tart pans.

This recipe turns out a very tasty butter tart. Many recipes call for the filling to be made with corn syrup (sometimes lots of corn syrup), but mine starts with brown sugar. I added a little bit of maple syrup for an extra hint of flavor, and made sure to include a pinch of salt to take the edge off the sweetness of the filling. Since I made two dozen, I made half with raisins and half without. The amount of raisins given below is approximate; just sprinkle a few raisins into each tart shell to suit your tastes. Since the raisins take up some of the filling space in the shells, you might get two or three fewer tarts if you omit them entirely, so keep that in mind. I used my pate brisee recipe to make the crust. One recipe makes enough dough for two dozen small tarts.

Butter Tarts
1 recipe for pate brisee, chilled (enough for a double crust pie)
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350F.
Roll out chilled pate brisee base on a lightly floured surface until it is about 1/8-inch thick. Use a 3.5- or 4-inch round cookie cutter (a fluted cookie cutter will give you a nice edge, if you have it) to cut out 24 rounds from the dough. Place each round into a muffin cup on a standard muffin tin and press down lightly to make sure the crust goes into the corners.
In a large bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter. When light and fluffy, beat in eggs, vinegar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and salt until smooth.
Divide raisins into tart shells and top each with a generous spoonful of filling to cover the raisins and reach the top of the crust.
Bake for 18-22 minutes, or until filling is golden and the edges of the crust are lightly browned.
Remove from pan and cool on a wire rack. Serve warm, at room temperature or cold (if you have completely cooled them before storing in the fridge).

Makes 2 dozen.