Butter tarts are a distinctly Canadian summertime sweet treat. There are many different recipes and most of them are pretty good, but butter tart fans know when they taste one if it hits the standard of perfection they are after.
This is a recipe that I have tried to perfect over the years. I can’t count the amount of tarts that I have baked as entries to our local fair. I try to think about who I am baking for. My brother in law John, likes a drip down your chin, runny filling. Our friend Mark who is recipient of the extras from my fair entries, likes a slightly oozy filling, with a thinner crust. Then there are the fair judges, those are the ones that I can’t figure out and I have come to the conclusion that it is a very personalized taste.
What I know now is that the butter tart lovers that I know will not turn down one of my tarts they just want to give me reasons to give it another go so that they have more to sample.
Here is my latest version. I adapted a recipe (for the filling) from a real Canadian chef named Anna Olsen. This one has my family and friends asking for more!
Ingredients
Pastry:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2/3 cups shortening
6 Tbsp cold water
Sift flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut shortening into the flour using a pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly.
Pour cold water into the dry ingredients and form into two balls.
Lightly flour the counter top and roll the dough. A 4″ round cutter is the ideal size for your tart shells.
Tart Filling:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
dash of salt
3/4 cup raisins
Melt and stir the butter and brown in a saucepan over medium heat until mixture comes to a bubbling boil. Remove from the heat.
In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs maple syrup, vanilla, lemon juice and salt. Slowly pour into the hot sugar mixture whisking constantly.
Sprinkle raisins into the tart shells and pour the filling into each tart shell.
Bake the tarts for 10 minutes at 400 F, reduce the temperature to 375 F and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
Cool for about 5 minutes in the tins. Twist each tart to make sure it releases, store in the pan until completely cooled.
Tips:
Adding a Canada Day touch to my favourite butter tarts. I used the leftover scraps from the pastry to make maple leaves. I took it one step further and used a leaf from my backyard to get the imprint…Just Amazing results!
For another good pastry recipe, follow the pastry direction on the back of the Crisco shortening box.
Nuts especially pecans work well combined or as a substitute for the raisins.
