Butter Tart
Flaky tart with a gooey, buttery maple filling.
About Butter Tart
A small pastry shell holds a runny filling of butter, sugar, syrup and egg, baked until just set and caramelised. A Canadian classic, the runny-versus-firm debate is fierce.
🏛️ History & Culture
The butter tart is a quintessential Canadian dessert, most strongly associated with Ontario, where it likely originated among the early English-speaking settlers of the 19th century. Its core ingredients—butter, sugar, syrup, and egg—mirror British baking traditions like the treacle tart, but the filling’s distinctly runny centre sets it apart. The exact origins are debated, with no single baker or recipe conclusively credited, though the tart appears in Canadian cookbooks by the early 1900s.
Regional variations hinge on texture and add-ins: some insist the filling must be liquid and sticky, while others prefer a firmer, more cake-like interior. Raisins or currants are common, though purists often reject them, and modern versions may include pecans, walnuts, or maple syrup. Culturally, the butter tart is a proud symbol of Canadian home baking, frequently featured at church suppers, fairs, and family gatherings, and it even inspires an annual festival in Ontario. Its humble, adaptable nature has made it a beloved national icon, with fierce loyalties to local recipes.
🍳 How to make Butter Tart
AI-assisted, not kitchen-testedClassic Canadian Butter Tarts
A true Canadian classic: a small, tender pastry shell filled with a buttery, caramel-like filling of brown sugar and maple syrup that bakes to a softly set, just-runny centre. The debate over runny vs. firm is real — pull them a few minutes early for the gooey version, leave them longer if you prefer set.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 22 min
- Total
- 47 min
- Serves
- 12
- Difficulty
- Easy
Recipe ingredients
- 300 g (10½ oz / 2¼ cups) all-purpose flour, for pastry
- 200 g (7 oz) cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 5 g (1 tsp) fine salt
- 30 g (¼ cup) ice water, approximately
- 150 g (5¼ oz / ¾ cup packed) light brown sugar, packed
- 60 ml (¼ cup) pure maple syrup, Canada No. 1 medium, if possible
- 60 g (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
- 1 whole (1 large) egg, room temperature
- 5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla extract
- 15 g (2 tbsp) raisins, optional but traditional; or chopped pecan/walnut
Steps
- 1 Make pastry: pulse flour and salt, cut in cold butter until pea-sized. Drizzle in ice water, a tablespoon at a time, tossing, just until shaggy dough forms. Flatten, wrap, chill 1 hour.
- 2 Roll dough to 3 mm (⅛ inch) on a floured surface. Cut 12 rounds of about 8 cm (3¼ inch) and press into a 12-cup standard muffin tin, trimming flush. Chill 20 minutes while you make the filling.
- 3 Heat oven to 220°C / 425°F with a rack in the lower third.
- 4 Make filling: whisk egg, brown sugar, maple syrup, melted butter and vanilla until smooth. Do not over-beat or the filling will foam and crack the pastry.
- 5 Scatter raisins (or nuts) into the chilled shells, about 4–5 per tart.
- 6 Pour filling into each shell, filling no more than three-quarters full — any higher and they will boil over.
- 7 Bake at 220°C / 425°F for 10 minutes, then reduce to 180°C / 350°F and bake 10–12 minutes more. Pull at the first sign of a set edge and a still-jiggly centre for a runny tart; bake 2–3 minutes longer for a firm set, but do not exceed the upper time or the caramel will scorch.
- 8 Cool in the pan for 15 minutes — the filling finishes setting here — then run a thin knife around each and lift out. Serve warm or at room temperature.
- 9 Safety check: filling is safe once the centre registers at least 82°C / 180°F on an instant-read thermometer; eggs are fully cooked in this recipe, so children and pregnant people can eat them safely.
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