Butter Tarts
- Total Time
- 45 minutes, plus chilling and cooling
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
- 1½cup/191 grams all-purpose flour, more for dusting
- Pinch of fine sea salt
- ½cup/113 grams cold unsalted butter or lard (103 grams), cubed
- ¼cup/60 milliliters ice water
- 1large egg yolk
- 1teaspoon white vinegar
- ¼cup/36 grams raisins (optional)
- 1cup/220 grams packed brown sugar, light or dark (see Note)
- ½teaspoon fine sea salt
- ¼cup/57 grams unsalted butter, softened
- 1teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1large egg
For the Pastry
For the Filling
Nutritional analysis per serving (12 servings)
244 calories; 12 grams fat; 7 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 3 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 33 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 20 grams sugars; 3 grams protein; 124 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
- Step 1
Make the pastry: In a large mixing bowl, combine flour and salt. Using a pastry blender or your fingertips, rub butter or lard into flour until mixture is in pea-size pieces.
- Step 2
In a small bowl, mix water, egg yolk and vinegar until well combined. Add liquid to the flour mixture, using a fork to combine. Add 1 tablespoon more water if it looks dry.
- Step 3
Knead dough several times by hand to bring it together and shape into a flat square. Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
- Step 4
Once chilled, roll out the dough into a 16-inch-by-12-inch (40.5 centimeters by 30.5 centimeters) rectangle about ⅛- to ¼-inch (3 to 6 millimeters) thick. Flour the work surface and rolling pin as you work with the dough.
- Step 5
Use a circular 4-inch (10 centimeter) cookie cutter (or a clean 28-ounce/496 milliliter can) to cut 12 pieces. Reroll dough if needed to cut more circles, but try to cut as many pieces on the first pass. With your fingertips, press each circle into the cup of a standard muffin tin, so that the edge of the dough is flush with the pan. Refrigerate while while you make the filling.
- Step 6
In a bowl, cover raisins with hot tap water to plump. Heat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Step 7
Make the filling: In a bowl, mix brown sugar and salt, and then beat the butter into the sugar by hand until smooth. Add vanilla and egg and mix until combined. Do not use an electric mixer; it will add too much air to the filling.
- Step 8
Drain the raisins and place seven or eight raisins in each chilled tart shell.
- Step 9
Divide the filling evenly among the tart shells, filling each one about halfway. Place muffin tin on a baking sheet. Bake 13 to 15 minutes for a runnier tart and 17 to 19 minutes for a firmer one.
- Step 10
A few minutes after removing the tarts from the oven, run a knife or offset spatula around the edge of each tart to loosen. Let cool completely in the tin. To remove, run a butter knife or offset spatula around and under each tart to pop it out of the tin.
- For a runnier tart, use ⅓ cup maple syrup, corn syrup or golden syrup plus ⅔ cup brown sugar.
Private Notes
Comments
I was nominated as a butter tart judge, many years ago at a remote hydro electric dam project in northern Manitoba. The contests were the two camp cooks. One batch of tarts was runny, the other was firm. The cooks confessed to using the same recipe. It turned out that the firm tarts had the sugar and butter thoughly beaten together and the egg beaten into that. The runny tarts had the filling ingredients mixed in one go.
The joy of a butter tart is the sweet ooze that may. in some peoples view, mar the pastry. The photo is the real thing. They are not overfilled just delcious and ready to enjoy. As a Canadian who has made many a butter tart and eaten more, I speak from expreince.
As a Canadian, who grew up making butter tarts (and who continues to make them at Christmastime), skip making the pastry step and buy the pre-formed frozen shells.
The oven is too hot. Mine turned out scorched. The oven should likely only be 375F.
These are delicious, but if you don't use raisins, there isn't enough filling to come close to filling 12 crusts. I might go so far as to double it. The couple that were filled to the brim were amazing. A friend recently made this with store-bought pie dough, and they were just as good.
My grandmother made something similar but with pecans and I'm allergic to them so finding the raisin filling option in this recipe was wonderful. They are dainty, tasty and fairly easy to make. I served 2 with a small scoop of vanilla ice cream at a dinner party and everyone devoured them.
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