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.

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.

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.

Next time you make butter tarts, mix the filling by hand, as overmixing incorporates air into the eggs, which causes the filling to rise and overflow, and then collapse when removed from the oven.

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.

Pie crusts and tart shells can be made from several types of dough or crumbs. Flaky dough, mealy dough and crumbs are best for pie crusts; sweet dough is usually used for tart shells. Fillings make pies and tarts distinctive and flavorful. Four types of fillings are common: cream, fruit, custard and chiffon.

-- 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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

First of all, pecan pie is always made with pecans while butter tarts is either made without any additions, or raisins. Although some may get crazy and (gasp!) even add nuts! Secondly, butter tarts tend to have a slightly gooey-er filling since there isn't cornstarch.

Let the pan cool until it's room temperature, then slide a paring knife around the perimeter of each tart before removing, says Campbell-Sim. Leave them too long and they may stick (check after 10 minutes). Even simpler: Rooke suggests using large muffin liners.

If the filling is runny and flowing out of the tart when you cut into it, then it is likely that the curd was not cooked for quite long enough. You need to be patient when cooking citrus curds as if you heat the mixture too quickly then it can curdle and become lumpy. You need to keep a low heat and stir constatntly.

Prefer whole lemons for this lemon tart recipe, since you need both the juice and the zest (and all the lemon flavors comes from the zest). How do I know my tart is baked? It should be set on the edges and still slightly jiggling in the center. The lemon tart will continue to set as it cools.

A decorated cream tart, also known as a cream tart cake, is made up of a butter cookie base and is typically piped with buttercream. The tart is then decorated with a variety of berries and often things like edible flowers, and macarons.

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.