 A pair of plain butter tarts with some salt | |
| Type | Pastry |
|---|---|
| Course | Snack or Dessert |
| Place of origin | Canada |
| Main ingredients | Pastry shell, butter, sugar, syrup, eggs |
| Variations | Addition of raisins, walnuts or pecans or other flavourings |
| 580 kcal (2428 kJ) | |
| Part of a series on |
| Canadian cuisine |
|---|
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A butter tart (French: tarte au beurre) is a type of small pastry tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine. The sweet tart consists of a filling of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg, baked in a pastry shell until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.[1] The butter tart should not be confused with butter pie (a savoury pie from the Preston area of Lancashire, England) or with bread and butter pudding.
Recipes for the butter tart vary according to the families baking them. Because of this, the appearance and physical characteristics of the butter tart – the firmness of its pastry, or the consistency of its filling – also vary.[2][3]
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.[4] The butter tart is different from pecan pie in that it has a "runnier" filling due to the omission of corn starch. Often raisins, walnuts, or pecans are added to the traditional butter tart, although the acceptability of such additions is a matter of national debate.[5][6] As an iconic Canadian food and one of the most popular desserts in the country, the raisin-or-no-raisin question can provoke polarizing debate.[7]
More exotic flavours are also produced by some bakers. Examples such as maple, bacon, pumpkin, chili, and salted caramel cardamom flavours have been made for competitions.[8]
- ^ Presenter:Peter Gzowski Guests:Max Burns, Marion Kane, Charles Pachter (December 5, 1991). "What makes a great butter tart?". Morningside. Moose Jaw. CBC Radio. CBC Radio One.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
SSwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "Better butter tarts", The Ottawa Citizen, October 26, 2006, archived from the original on November 10, 2012
- ^ "Butter tarts". The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 29, 2019.
- ^ Bonisteel, Sara (January 12, 2018). "Butter Tarts, Canada's Humble Favorite, Have Much to Love". The New York Times.
- ^ Jackson, Lisa (January 2018). "The sticky sweet history of the butter tart". Food Network.
- ^ Grief, Amy (April 24, 2019). "Step Down, Nanaimo Bars. Butter Tarts Are The Ultimate Canadian Dessert". Chatelaine.
- ^ "Ontario's best butter tart bakers gather in Midland for a contest and festival", Jennifer Bain, Toronto Star, June 25, 2015