The Butter Tart: A Truly Quintessential Treat in Canada (2024)

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The Butter Tart: A Truly Quintessential Treat in Canada (1)

The Butter Tart: A Truly Quintessential Treat in Canada (2)

By Algoma Staff Writer Algoma Country is a spectacular 4-season vacation destination for outdoor and urban adventures.

March 28, 2024

Let’s assume you reading this already know what a butter tart is. If you do, skip this next paragraph. But for those who don’t know what a butter tart is, read on:

Anatomy Of A Butter Tart

A butter tart is not complicated in any way, shape, or form. It’s a simple, tasty Canadian dessert. It’s similar to pecan pie, or Quebec’s sugar pie. And in Canada, we are obsessed with butter tarts.

The basic recipe is simple: flaky pastry in a tart shape, sugar, egg, syrup, and butter. It’s then baked and gets a crunchy top. Common add-ins are pecans, raisins, and shredded coconut. There are twists on butter tarts like the bacon butter tart, and it’s become a flavour in other desserts such as butter tart ice cream or butter tart cheesecake. In my personal opinion just a simple, nothing-fancy butter tart is the best butter tart. But do as you wish.

The Butter Tart: A Truly Quintessential Treat in Canada (3)

Butter Tart Culture In Ontario

In Ontario, there are dedicated butter tart trails that lead to bakeries and festivals where people compete to make the tastiest butter tart ever.Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival

And yes, there are people who specifically seek out the best-tasting butter tart, at every place they travel in Ontario.

The History Of The Butter Tart

Canada is a place where we celebrate different cultures, and there are actually very few what I guess you could say are 'traditional Canadian recipes.' 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. Another early published recipe was found in a 1915 pie cookbook.

"According to thecanadianencyclopedia.ca… the origin is believed to be much older, most likely the result of the filles du roi (King’s Daughters), in which approximately 800 young women were sent to Québec from France between 1663 and 1673 to help colonize."

“These young ladies brought with them their traditional European recipes but were forced to adapt them according to what was available. The sugar pie, a single-crust pie with a filling made from flour, butter, salt, vanilla, and cream, is a likely precursor to the butter tart.” And there are those who say the Scots should lay claim to the tart’s identity, given they create a similar treat.

Learn some facts from an article from the Toronto Sun published in June 2017.

The Butter Tart: A Truly Quintessential Treat in Canada (4)

Butter Tart Culture In Algoma Country

Traditionally, butter tarts are made with corn syrup. But in Algoma Country, we love making ourswith fresh maple syrup. There are manylocally-owned restaurants, bakeries, and even some family-owned convenience stores that sell them as well.

Favourite Butter Tart Stops In Algoma Country

These are just some of the butter tart stops in the region. If you have a favourite butter tart stop in Algoma email us at info@algomacountry.com and we’ll add it to the list below.

Try This Butter Tart Recipe

Below is a butter tart recipe that has been handed down for three generations.

Ingredients

Directions

  1. For this recipe, you should plan on 12 butter tarts. Roll pastry thinly on a lightly floured surface. Cut into four-inch rounds, fit the rounds into a medium-sized muffin tin, and place in the fridge until ready to be filled.
  2. Combine maple syrup, brown sugar, and butter, stirring until smooth. Add remaining ingredients (except raisins or chopped nuts) and mix well.
  3. If using raisins or nuts, simply sprinkle a few in the bottom of the pastry shells.
  4. Fill the shells 2/3 full with the maple syrup mixture; be sure not to overfill. Bake on the bottom shelf of your oven set at 425°F for 12 - 15 minutes, or until just set. Be careful not to over-bake.
  5. If any filling has overflowed, run a knife or spatula between the pastry and muffin tin so that breakage does not occur.

Tarts can be eaten warm or cold. Enjoy!

The Butter Tart: A Truly Quintessential Treat in Canada (2024)

FAQs

Why are butter tarts famous in Canada? ›

Like many legendary dishes, the butter tart's origins are fuzzy. It's believed that filles à marier (“marriageable girls”) created a crude version in the 1600s. These newly arrived Québécois brides filled their French tarts with New World ingredients: maple sugar, freshly churned butter and dried fruit such as raisins.

Are there butter tarts in the USA? ›

Does America have butter tarts? Yes, any decent bakery will typically carry butter tarts, that quintessential Canadian pastry.

What is a butter tart Canadian Encyclopedia? ›

A butter tart is a small pastry tart, which generally consists of butter, sugar, syrup, and egg, filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.

What are Canadian butter tarts made of? ›

Butter tarts are a quintessential Canadian dessert—and, oh, how I love them! 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.

What does a butter tart taste like? ›

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.

Why is butter so expensive in Canada? ›

Canadian Butter. Why do Canadian butter sticks (4 per pack) cost so much more in Canada than in the US? this means that dairy producers are limited in the amount that they produce and saw you do not have the kind of surplus that they have in the USA. this also means that the price of dairy products remains fairly high.

What is a butter tart slang? ›

Butter tarts are indeed a popular Canadian pastery. The phrase butter tart, as used in the song, is also slang for a woman's parts.

Does Costco have butter tarts? ›

Grandmothers Bake Shoppe Pecan Butter Tarts, 15 Pack | Costco.

What do Americans call tarts? ›

And American pies, which in England always have a pastry lid, often appeared in the U.S. version to be like English tarts, with their jewel-colored filling open to the sky.

What's the difference between a quiche and a tart? ›

Here are some of the main differences: Ingredients: A tart filling is usually made of fruit, chocolate, cream, or nuts, and is often sweet. A quiche filling is usually made of eggs, cream, cheese, and meat or vegetables, and is always savory.

How long are butter tarts good for? ›

Butter Tarts should be stored in an airtight container and refrigerated, they will keep for up to five days in the fridge. If you keep them at room temperature remember they will only keep for about a day or 2 depending on how warm your home is. To freeze, place them in an airtight freezer container.

Why are butter tarts runny? ›

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.

Why are butter tarts important to Canada? ›

History. Butter tarts became common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada. It is primarily eaten in and associated with the English-speaking provinces of Canada.

Why doesn t Canadian butter melt? ›

To explain it simply, palm oil given to dairy cows increases the proportion of saturated fat in milk compared to unsaturated fat, thus increasing the melting point of butter. This explains why butter made from cows fed with palm oil remains difficult to spread at room temperature..

Why are my butter tarts gritty? ›

-- 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.

Which country invented the custard tart? ›

History of the Pasteis de Nata (Portuguese Custard Tarts)

Initially produced in Belem, Lisbon, the origin of the pastel de nata is sacred and spiritual, known as the pastel de Belem. This delicacy was created before the 18th century by Catholic monks in the Jeronimos Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site today.

Where does butter come from in Canada? ›

It starts with Canadian milk

The best butter comes from naturally delicious milk. It's collected at the farm and brought to the creamery.

Why should you try butter tarts? ›

Butter tarts are an iconic Canadian dessert that's perfect for Thanksgiving or any other holiday or special dinner. With a tender flakey crust and a gooey buttery filling, the prep work is surprisingly easy and they bake up in just 18 minutes.

Which culture did milk tarts come from? ›

Melktert (/ˈmɛlktɛrt/, Afrikaans for milk tart) is a South African dessert originally created by the Dutch settlers in the "Cape" (South Africa) consisting of a sweet pastry crust containing a custard filling made from milk, flour, sugar and eggs.

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