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Canadian Butter Tarts

A Canadian favorite for dessert
Course Dessert
Cuisine Canada
Prep Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Servings 24 tarts
Calories 263kcal
Author International Cuisine

Ingredients

  • For the Crust:
  • cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ½ teaspoon kosher salt
  • cups unsalted butter COLD (NOT room temperature), cut into pieces
  • cups shortening COLD (NOT room temperature)
  • cups ice water
  • 3 teaspoons distilled white vinegar
  • For the Butter Tarts:
  • cup dark brown sugar
  • ½ cup dark corn syrup
  • ¼ cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ½ cup raisins or currants
  • sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions

  • First, make your dough.
  • Whisk together the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl or the bowl of your food processor. Add in the chopped pieces of cold butter and cold shortening.
  • Blend together with your hands or pulse with your processor until you have coarse crumbs.
  • Mix together the water and vinegar in a small bowl. When ready, slowly drizzle it over the dough, a tablespoon or so at a time, gently stirring the mixture with a fork or pulsing with your processor, until fully incorporated (you may not use all of the water).
  • It might seem a bit too wet at this point, but it will dry up while it sits in the fridge. Form the dough gently into 2 loose balls, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill in the fridge for a minimum of 3 hours or as long as overnight.
  • Make your filling when you are almost ready to use your dough.
  • When you're ready to bake, liberally butter your muffin tins.
  • This recipe makes about 30-36 tarts.
  • Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.
  • Lightly flour a work surface, and take one of your balls of dough and roll it out to about ¼-inch thick.
  • Cut out circles that are a bit larger than the circumference of your tins, so that there is enough crust to hold in the filling, and gently place each circle in the tins, re-rolling your dough as you go.
  • Drop 3-4 raisins in the bottom of each tart before adding in the filling.
  • Whisk together your dark brown sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, and vanilla. Drop 2-3 teaspoons of filling (it will bubble during baking so don't overfill ) then sprinkle with a touch of sea salt.
  • Bake for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden and mostly set.
  • Allow to cool completely before removing the tarts from the pan. I used a dull paring knife to cut around any hardened caramel and then popping each tart out.
  • These will keep well at room temperature for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 263kcal | Carbohydrates: 35g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 13g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 4g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 19mg | Sodium: 65mg | Potassium: 45mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 20g | Vitamin A: 217IU | Calcium: 18mg | Iron: 1mg