Butter Tart
Serves 24 tarts Time 70 minutes Difficulty 2/5 Ingredients 15 Steps 12
Butter tarts (tartes au sucre) are an extremely common dessert in Canada. Many versions are made; some are gooey while some are not, and different nuts, fruits, and other fillings can be used. Similar tarts can be found in the culinary traditions of Scotland and France.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1 cup shortening
- 1 large teaspoon butter or margarine
- ¾ cup boiling water
- 3 ½ cups pastry flour or 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Filling
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- ½ cup corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 cup currants or raisins
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
- 2 teaspoons vinegar
- 1 pinch of salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
Steps
Dough
- Beat the shortening, butter and hot water until creamy.
- While still warm, sift in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix gently until a dough forms. Do not knead. Form into a large ball.
- Separate the dough into two equal portions. Chill 20 to 40 minutes.
- Divide the dough into two dozen equal balls. Roll each into a flat disc.
Tarts
- Preheat oven to 350°F (175˚C).
- Beat the eggs well. Add the sugar, syrup and melted butter. Beat again.
- Add the currants, walnuts, vinegar, salt and vanilla extract. Mix vigorously.
- Put a small amount of cornmeal into small tartlet pans, or count out 24 cupcake papers.
- Fit the dough circles into the pans, or into cupcake papers set in the pans.
- Fill the shells ⅔ full with the filling.
- Bake about 20 minutes until the pastry is light brown.
- Remove from the oven. Cool.
Notes from the original
- For runnier tarts, cook for 15 to 17 minutes. You can also adjust the filling ingredients to 1 cup of corn syrup and 1 cup of brown sugar.
- Try replacing the currants with coconut, or omit entirely.
- Try replacing the walnuts with pecans, or omit entirely.
- Try drizzling 4 oz (120 g) melted chocolate over the cooked tarts.
- This recipe (both the tarts and the pie crust) is a century-old recipe from rural North Western Ontario.
- If the top of the tart hasn't frothed while baking and formed a cream coloured crunchy top it means there was too much time between when you beat the mixture and when it started baking. If you have to do multiple batches in the oven with the same mixture, be sure to keep the batter cool and keep stirring it to make sure the second batch has the traditional crispy top.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Butter Tart” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-10-26, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.