The perfect Canadian recipe to celebrate Canada Day!
Today is Canada’s 150th birthday! To help celebrate, here’s a recipe from my handwritten notebook, a recipe I brought with me when I immigrated from Canada to Scotland in 1999. I have no idea where the original recipe came from, and, if I am to be honest, twenty years ago butter tarts weren’t exactly my favourite of all the Canadian sweet desserts. I genuinely don’t even know how it ended up in my notebook! I think it might have been at the insistence of a Canadian friend who suggested I take the recipe with me across the pond.
Fast forward twenty years and wow, I can’t believe these butter tarts haven’t been made regularly in my kitchen! The only reason I ended up making them recently was because, while flipping through said notebook for recipe inspiration, I noted that the filling included currants.
Currants are not an ingredient I usually buy unless I’m making a Christmas cake, but I had the remainder of a packet lurking in the back of my cupboard after buying them to make a Whalsay Hufsie recipe some months ago and so I thought I’d give the tarts a try again after all these years.
I am so very glad I have rediscovered this recipe! The butter tart filling is a delicious, sweet, caramel/treacle like filling, a bit like a pecan pie but without the nuts. When it first comes out of the oven the filling is very liquid and the tarts need to be served on a plate (perhaps with a scoop of ice cream), but as they cool the filling solidifies. On day two they’re much more portable and you can grab one or two and eat them on the go.
There are many variations out there of this recipe. Some include nuts, either pecans or walnuts. Some use raisins. Some add golden syrup or an extra egg to help thicken up the filling. I think this recipe is perfect as it is.
A good pastry is important too, and as my handwritten recipe only contained the ingredients list for the filling I turned to Nigella Lawson and her shortcrust pastry recipe. I’ve doubled her quantities to make enough dough for the amount of filling specified. Make sure you follow the steps closely, freezing the butter and flour at the start and using cold egg yolk to bind. It really makes for a delicious, flaky pastry. To save time you could always use some ready made shortcrust pastry.
Another tip is to use a tart tin, as pictured above. Now, tart tins, I remember from my Canadian childhood, were not something usually found in kitchens. I picked mine up (here in Scotland) in a charity shop for only 50 pence, and it really does make for perfectly formed tarts. I read somewhere that you’re supposed to grease tins like this with a different type of fat than used in the dough to make them turn out easier. I used vegetable fat, since the dough contains butter, and although the pan is non-stick they turned out perfectly.
If you don’t have a tart tin just use a 12-hole muffin tin. Note, also, that the butter tart filling will rise and bubble up during baking, and it might overflow a bit. Just leave the tarts in the tin for five minutes to cool before removing. The filling will subside and if you remove the tarts before the bubbled up extra solidifies completely you’ll be fine. Soak the pan in hot soapy water for a few minutes to clean, no problem.
My family absolutely loved these tarts, but be warned, one is usually sufficient. They are rather sweet, but incredibly delicious.
Are you celebrating Canada Day where you are in the world? How so? Let me know in the comments!
Canadian Butter Tarts
Ingredients
for the shortcrust pastry
- 240 grams plain flour
- 120 grams butter cold, cubed
- 2 free-range egg yolks
- 2 tsp soured cream
- 1 pinch Shetland sea salt
for the filling
- 250 grams dark brown sugar
- 75 grams butter
- 1 large free-range egg beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp double cream
- 85 grams currants
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Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 200C and grease a 12-hole tart tin. Set aside.
- To prepare the shortcrust pastry, place the butter and the flour together in a bowl and pop into the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Whisk the egg yolks together with the salt and soured cream. Pop this into the fridge to chill.
- Make the filling: cream the butter and sugar together until light and thoroughly combined. Add the egg, vanilla and cream and beat well. Fold in the currants and set aside.
- Using a food processor, pulse the cold flour and butter together until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
- Add the chilled egg yolk mixture to the flour/butter and pulse until it begins to come together to form a dough. You might need to add a few teaspoonfuls of ice cold water to help it come together.
- Form the dough into a flat disc, wrap in cling film and chill for 20 minutes.
- Roll the dough out to a thickness of 4 mm on a floured surface.
- Using a 7.5 cm fluted cutter, cut 18 rounds from the pastry dough, rerolling the ends.
- Press the rounds into the tart tin and prick the bottom with the tines of a fork, once.
- Fill the tarts with the sugar/currant mixture until level with the top.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 8 minutes, then turn the heat down to 180C and bake for a further 8-10 until the pastry is golden. The filling will bubble up but it will settle back down upon cooling.
- Leave the tarts in the tin for 5 minutes to cool before carefully transferring to a wire rack. Serve warm or cold.
OTHER CANADIAN RECIPES YOU MIGHT LIKE
Nanaimo Bars: Canada’s National Confection
Cape Breton Fruit Scones
Homemade East Coast Style Donair Kebabs
Cape Breton Oatcakes
Jane’s Ginger Cookies
Sweet n’ Sour Pork Stirfry
Cape Breton Chow Chow
Pumpkin Loaf
Old-Fashioned Soft Molasses Cookies
Camp Aitebreagh Chocolate Chip Cookies
Pineapple Squares
Peach & Wine Ice Jam Using Produce of Niagara-on-the-Lake
Maple Cinnamon Glazed Plum & Blackberry Sticky Buns
Spiced Cauliflower and Purple Potato Poutine
CANADA TRAVEL POSTS
Exploring Toronto’s Kensington Market Underground
A Food Lover’s City Break in Ottawa’s Byward Market
A Visit to Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada
Forays Into First Nations Food & Culture | Visiting the Huron-Wendat in Quebec, Canada
Quebec City’s Marché du Vieux-Port & Île d’Orléans
Halifax, Nova Scotia – The Bridge, the Bison and the Four Poster Bed
The Citadel, Halifax : Sporrans, Rifles and the School Room
A Local Tasting Tour, South of Morris Street, Halifax
Crab Cakes by the Ocean at Pictou Lodge Resort
New Brunswick Clams – Fork to Fork
A Meander Around Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
Foraging for fiddleheads on the banks of the Miramichi, The Ledges Inn Doaktown
A Wander Around Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia, Canada
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Aw happy 150th birthday to Canada, these butter tarts look absolutely scrumptious. Do you back to Canada at all? x
oooo, these look good! When I was a kid I would take the pecans out of my pecan pie slices lol. I love pecans now, but as a kid, no way. These would solve that problem and they’re so cute!
They look absolutely delicious! I’ve never tried butter tarts before, or any other Canadian food as far as I’m aware! They definitely sound like my kind of treat 😀
I honestly don’t think I’m allowed to call myself Canadian anymore, because I’ve never had a butter tart. I better make these this weekend!
Ooh, I haven’t come across one of these for years but they are SO delicious! I will have to give your recipe a try 🙂
Oo I’ve never other come across these before but they look and sound amazing! I love Canada and it’s a place I’d like to visit again one day 🙂
This is fanatic . i am sure my 4 year old would not stop eating them. They are on my to do list 🙂
That’s a rich little tart! May have to try a GF version!!! x
I love Canada…been twice…once to a wedding – not mine 😉 I like the way Canadians tend to be so understated compared to their fellow North American cousins. Happy belated Canada Day!
I don’t know the first thing about Canada but these look DELICIOUS! If there was ever a reason to visit I think these could be it!
These look wonderfully comforting, Canada is such a fabulous country. Watched Neil Oliver documentary on the Ship Hector, which I visited at Pictou, Nova Scotia. Fascinating stories and legends.
Ooh these look delicious, I must make these on my next baking session
Do let me know what you think of them if you do! 🙂
These look fabulous. I’m sure my 4 year old would not stop eating them. They are on my to do list!
Thanks! My kids love them too, but just one. More than that gets too sickly sweet as they really are very sugary.
I haven’t heard of these before, but they sound like something I want to enjoy with a big cup of coffee! Happy Canada Day!
Happy Canada Day to you too! 🙂 You should definitely try the tarts 🙂
My family is originally from Canada, but I’ve never been there and I’ve never tried any Canadian food. These tarts look so tempting! I love tiny desserts.
Oh, you definitely need to visit Canada! Such a beautiful country. 🙂
Love butter tarts, they’re so flavorful, thanks for the recipe, will certainly make it! Pinning
Thank you, Patty! Let me know what you think of this recipe if you do make them! 🙂
These look incredible, those old cherished recipes are precious and timeless. So glad you saved this one!
Thanks Dahn, I’m glad too! 🙂
Wow now those tarts look amazing. I would love to eat one now with a cup of tea. Canada has recently come onto my travel list, some areas are simply stunning
It’s a country that really does have everything. Mountains, lakes, sea views, flat prairies. Something for everyone. And good food too. 🙂
I LOVE butter tarts! Had some marvellous ones on our two trips to Canada last year and year before. These look so so so good!
I’m delighted that a) you’ve been to Canada! and b) that you tried butter tarts. It’s a Canadian institution!