Butter Tarts
I do not know of many desserts that are officially deemed “Canadian”, but butter tarts are definitely one of them. Sometimes you’ll find them made with corn syrup, a la pecan pie, to yield a softer, runnier filling, but I like them to bake up a bit firmer than that, lest I feel I’m just tapping a tree and pouring buttery syrup directly into my mouth. If something rings in at 300 calories a mouthful, I want to at least chew it and savor it a second.
As humble and ubiquitous as butter tarts are, you can quickly dress them up to be something really special. By substituting the almond and clementine-infused pastry from the Mince Pie recipe to line a tart shell, adding the zest of a lemon and orange to the filling, and substituting the raisins for chopped walnuts, you can have an exceptional tarte au sucre to serve with the fanciest meals. Dust with icing sugar or serve with candied oranges and slivered almonds for even more fancification (note: not a real word.)
I don’t think I’m going out on a limb here by saying that a butter tart is not a butter tart if the pastry and filling are not made with butter. Butter, real butter, makes all the difference here.
For the Pastry
- 1 1/4 cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon (15 grams) granulated white sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, diced
- SQ ice water
- Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl, then cut in the diced butter with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture is crumbly and all the butter is covered with flour.
- Add the ice water with a fork, a tablespoon at a time, until you can press the dough together in your hand and it holds together instead of crumbling apart.
- Press the dough into a disk between plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour before using.
For the Filling
- 1/3 cup (70 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup (210 grams) light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup half and half cream
- Place the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl and cream together with an electric mixer. Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until the mixture is light and fluffy, then add the vanilla and cream.
Assembly
- 1/2 cup raisins
- flour, for dusting
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees with the rack positioned in the center.
- Lightly flour a work surface and roll out the pastry to 1/8″ thickness. Cut twelve circles with a fluted 4″ cutter and press into a twelve cup muffin tin. Chill in the freezer for a few minutes so that they do not shrink while baking.
- Place a scant portion of raisins in the bottom of each tart shell, then pour the prepared filling into each, coming almost to the top.
- Bake until the pastry has browned and the filling has puffed up, about 15-20 minutes, then remove from the oven and allow to cool. They will deflate, so don’t be concerned when it looks like you have overflowing domes of filling.
The original incarnation of this recipe can be found on Joy of Baking
Do you own a kitchen scale? If you do, do you use it for baking recipes? I’ve wondered on and off if I should get one, rather than measuring by volume for baking.
I do and couldn’t recommend the idea more highly! It makes the whole process easier, reduces the dishes/clean up and increases consistency/quality.
Okay, that’s what I’d heard (about the consistency/quality). Nice to have it confirmed!
I even use it for portioning cookie dough to make sure each cookie is the same weight and bakes evenly. It’s wonderful.
What kind do you have?
One by some “Salter” brand, but it has a lot of features that have no use to me really (it’s a diet scale, I think, I received it as a gift). The cheapest digital one (so it doesn’t have to be calibrated and is easy to read) with a large surface area that holds at least a couple kilos should suffice for any home baking.