The ultimate (raisins optional) butter tart recipe (2024)

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By Emma WavermanPublished: July 2, 2020Updated: June 11, 2022

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This recipe was originally published in the May ’20 issue ofCottage Life.

The ultimate (raisins optional) butter tart recipe (1)

Classic (raisins optional) butter tart recipe

Emma Waverman

The butter tart is not just any dessert. Within its fragile pastry shell, it holds a country’s memories of long weekends, country bakeries, recipes handed down through generations, and an eternal debate over raisins.

Here’s the family butter tart recipe from my mother, the food writer and author of many cookbooks, Lucy Waverman. It’s as classic as it gets.

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Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 30 minutes mins

Chilling and cooling time 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert, snacks

Cuisine Canadian, classic, Cottage

Servings 12 tarts

Ingredients

Perfect Flaky Pastry

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • ¾ cup butter, diced
  • ¼ cup shortening, diced
  • ½ cup very cold water
  • 1 tbsp vinegar or lemon juice

Butter Tart Filling

  • ½ cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 1 tbsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup corn syrup
  • ½ cup raisins (optional, obviously)

Instructions

Perfect Flaky Pastry

  • In a large bowl, sift together flour and salt. Cut in butter and shortening until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.

  • Combine water and vinegar in another bowl. Sprinkle liquid over flour mixture. With your fingers, work in liquid and gather dough into a ball and divide into two equal pieces. Wrap in plastic, and let chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

  • Lightly flour work surface and roll out dough to ¼-inch thick. Use 4-inch rounds to cut, re-rolling bits to use all dough.

Butter Tart Filling

  • Cream together butter, brown sugar, and salt with a whisk or a wooden spoon. Stir in vinegar, vanilla, eggs, and corn syrup just until combined. Don’t over mix. Let chill in fridge for 30 minutes.

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Fit pastry rounds into tart tins or muffin cups. It’s okay to have a slight overhang, or fold back in a little bit of pastry.

  • Place 1 tsp raisins (if using) in each shell.

  • Stir filling mixture. Spoon filling into shells until about three-quarters full.

  • Bake tarts for 25–30 minutes or until filling is set. Cool slightly in pan on a rack. Remove while still warm. Tarts will take about 2 hours to firm up.

  • Loosen tarts with a small, sharp knife and ease carefully out of pan. Eat any broken ones.

Notes

Tips for butter tart success

Pastry tips:

  • You can make the pastry by hand or in a food processor.
  • As with all pastry, keep everything cold—the bowls, utensils, and your hands (if they get hot, run them under some cold water and dry them quickly).
  • To keep the pastry from sticking, roll it out on a silicone mat.
  • Use a 4-inch pastry cutter. Food writer Elizabeth Baird favours a 28 oz tomato can.
  • The pastry should be rolled to approximately ¼-inch thick. Anything too thin will crack under the pressure of the filling.
  • The mix of butter and shortening gives the pastry flavour and texture, but you can use all butter if you like.

Filling tips:

  • Make sure you don’t over mix and create a frothy filling; the bubbles will create uneven texture.
  • If you want a runny centre, the filling needs some white vinegar or lemon juice, but no more than a tablespoon. You can also try apple cider vinegar.
  • Corn syrup gives a sweet taste and firmer texture, but feel free to try different ratios of corn syrup and maple syrup. Adding in maple syrup will give a more distinctive maple taste and make the filling a bit runnier.
  • Soak the raisins (if using) in hot water or even whisky or bourbon to plump them up.
  • Don’t worry about the filling looking goopy around the edges of the tart. (Some people love when the filling caramelizes on the pastry.)
  • Bake tarts in a silicone baking tray that has a wired rim. Even the tarts that ooze over the top during baking will come out every time.
  • Use a thin paring knife to remove tarts from the tin while they are still warm, no more than 30 minutes after they come out of the oven. If you wait too long, the tarts won’t come out of the tin without breaking.Looking for more pro tips for baking perfect butter tarts?

Keyword baking, butter tart recipe, classic (raisins optional) butter tart recipe

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  • baking
  • butter tart
  • buttertart
  • cabin
  • Canada
  • Canadian
  • cottage
  • dessert
  • pastry
  • treat

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The ultimate (raisins optional) butter tart recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is butter tart filling made of? ›

These buttery mini pies, typically baked in a muffin tin, have a flaky crust filled with a gooey mixture of butter, sugar, syrup, egg, and sometimes raisins or nuts. They bear some resemblance to the American pecan pie and British treacle tart, but their uniquely rich flavor sets them apart.

Why are my buttertarts so runny? ›

Butter tarts that are runny may be underbaked or may not contain enough egg. Eggs help thicken and stabilize butter tart filling while it bakes, which is why I've included two whole eggs in my recipe to ensure the filling is thick and fully set once baked.

What's the difference between a pecan pie and a butter tart? ›

The butter tart is different from the sugar pie given the lack of flour in the filling. The butter tart is different from pecan pie in that it has a "runnier" filling due to the omission of corn starch.

Should butter tarts have raisins? ›

Purists say true butter tarts should not contain raisins or nuts. For Currie and March of Wasaga Beach, Ont., they have to have raisins. Some like runny fillings, some firm. Some like thick pastry shells while others like thin so the filling stars.

Can you buy butter tart filling? ›

Get this item with your grocery order. Our Butter Tart mix strikes all the right notes of sticky and buttery sweetness while remaining convenient to prepare. With no artificial flavours or colours, simply add water and butter to the mix, cook and stir on your stove top for 10 minutes.

Why are my butter tarts gritty? ›

-- To avoid "gritty" butter tarts, caramelize sugar first by blending on the stovetop with butter, syrup and vanilla. Let it cool before adding eggs to the mixture or they'll be scrambled.

Why do my butter tarts crystallize in the oven? ›

Sucrose naturally wants to crystalize, which is how granulated sugar is made from simple sugars like fructose and glucose. To reduce the amount of crystallization in the butter tart filling when baking, try adding some acidity (i.e. lemon juice or 1 spoon of corn syrup).

Can I use oil instead of butter in tarts? ›

The pastry of a tart made by using oil instead of butter will be richer and more flavoursome and will have that home-made taste that is so special, with aromas reminiscent of one's granny's comforting recipes.

How to prevent butter tarts from sticking? ›

Use a muffin tin or tart pan. Greasing it (even a non-stick) helps with removal and also helps brown the crust. I use a 3 1/2-inch biscuit cutter and when you re-roll the dough for the last circle or two, try to cut it a little bigger since it will pull back in size.

Why is pumpkin pie not a tart? ›

PiesTarts – If you've ever thought a tart was pie, you're forgiven because they're incredibly similar. The main difference is that tarts only have a bottom crust, and the crust is much thicker than a pie crust.

What is a galette vs tart? ›

A tart is fancy. And a galette splits the difference, but is easier than either one. The defining factor of a galette (which can also be called a crostata if you've got Italian inclinations) is that it's a free-form pastry, baked without the stability of a pie pan or tart ring.

Why is a tart not a pie? ›

Pies are served straight from the dish in which they were baked. A tart is a sweet or savory dish with shallow sides and only a bottom crust. Tart crusts are usually made from pastry dough: traditionally flour, unsalted butter, cold water, and sometimes sugar. The goal is a firm, crumbly crust.

What country are butter tarts from? ›

' 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.

Can you use margarine instead of butter for tarts? ›

Yes, you can substitute margarine, but it may be a slightly different amount that you need to use. You'll also have a slightly different textured product at the end. Unlike butter, margarine is oil based.

Do Americans eat butter tarts? ›

Does America have butter tarts? Yes, any decent bakery will typically carry butter tarts, that quintessential Canadian pastry.

What are the four 4 types of fillings for pies and tarts? ›

Fillings make pies and tarts distinctive and flavorful. Four types of fillings are common: cream, fruit, custard and chiffon.

What is cream tart made of? ›

Cream tarts, also variously known as cream tart cakes, number cakes, alphabet cakes, are essentially two layers of shortbread or thin cake sandwiching a cream filling, and lavishly decorated on top. A bit like a napoleon but with the creativity turned up to 100.

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.

Why put butter in pie filling? ›

Some say that scattering small bits of butter over a fruit filling keeps the juices from bubbling over in the same way that adding a bit of fat to simmering jam keeps it from foaming up in the preserving pan. The theory is that the fat disrupts the formation of bubbles on the surface of the viscous fruit mixture.

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