Butter tart
Encyclopedia
A butter tart is a type of small pastry
tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine and considered one of Canada's quintessential desserts. The tart consists of butter
, sugar
, syrup, and egg
filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.
The butter tart should not be confused with butter pie
(a savoury pie from the Preston area of Lancashire
, England
) or with bread and butter pudding
.
In general, the English Canadian
tart
consists of butter, sugar, and eggs in a pastry shell, similar to the French-Canadian sugar pie
, or the base of the U. S. pecan pie
without the nut topping. The butter tart is different from pecan pie
in that it has a creamier filling due to the omission of corn starch. Raisin
s are in the traditional butter tart, but walnut
s, or pecan
s are commonly added. However purists contend that such additions should not be allowed.
Other additional ingredients may include currant
s, coconut
, dates, butterscotch
, chocolate chip
s, peanut butter
, maple syrup
or chai.
). It is primarily eaten and associated with the English-speaking provinces of Canada
. However the origins of the tart, its name, and its recipe are unclear. Some suggested pastries with similar origins to the butter tart include:
The earliest published Canadian recipe is from Barrie, Ontario
dating back to 1900 and can be found in The Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook. Another early publication of a butter tart recipe was found in a 1915 pie cookbook. The food was an integral part of early Canadian cuisine and often viewed as a source of pride.
Similar tarts are made in Scotland, where they are often referred to as Ecclefechan butter tarts from the town of Ecclefechan
. In France
, they are related to the much more common tarte à la frangipane, that differs from the basic Canadian recipe only by the addition of ground almonds.
Pastry
Pastry is the name given to various kinds of baked products made from ingredients such as flour, sugar, milk, butter, shortening, baking powder and/or eggs. Small cakes, tarts and other sweet baked products are called "pastries."...
tart highly regarded in Canadian cuisine and considered one of Canada's quintessential desserts. The tart consists of butter
Butter
Butter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
, sugar
Sugar
Sugar is a class of edible crystalline carbohydrates, mainly sucrose, lactose, and fructose, characterized by a sweet flavor.Sucrose in its refined form primarily comes from sugar cane and sugar beet...
, syrup, and egg
Egg (food)
Eggs are laid by females of many different species, including birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish, and have probably been eaten by mankind for millennia. Bird and reptile eggs consist of a protective eggshell, albumen , and vitellus , contained within various thin membranes...
filled into a flaky pastry and baked until the filling is semi-solid with a crunchy top.
The butter tart should not be confused with butter pie
Butter pie
A butter pie is a traditional savoury pie consisting mainly of onions and potatoes.-History:The butter pie is thought to have been created for workers from Lancashire's Catholic community, to consume on days when meat could not be eaten....
(a savoury pie from the Preston area of Lancashire
Lancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
) or with bread and butter pudding
Bread and butter pudding
Bread and butter pudding is made by layering slices of buttered bread scattered with raisins in an oven dish into which an egg and milk mixture, commonly seasoned with nutmeg , is poured.-Instructions:...
.
Description
Recipes for the butter tart vary according to the families baking them. Because of this, the appearance and physical characteristics of the butter tart – the firmness of its pastry, or the softness of its filling – also varies.In general, the English Canadian
English Canadian
An English Canadian is a Canadian of English ancestry; it is used primarily in contrast with French Canadian. Canada is an officially bilingual state, with English and French official language communities. Immigrant cultural groups ostensibly integrate into one or both of these communities, but...
tart
Tart
A tart is a baked dish consisting of a filling over a pastry base with an open top not covered with pastry. The pastry is usually shortcrust pastry; the filling may be sweet or savoury, though modern tarts are usually fruit-based, sometimes with custard....
consists of butter, sugar, and eggs in a pastry shell, similar to the French-Canadian sugar pie
Sugar pie
Sugar pie is a typical dessert of the western European countries of France and Belgium, Quebec, and Midwestern United States states such as Indiana, where it is known as sugar cream pie .-Recipe:Sugar pie is a single-crust pie with a filling made from flour, butter, salt, vanilla, and...
, or the base of the U. S. pecan pie
Pecan pie
Pecan pie is a sweet pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the...
without the nut topping. The butter tart is different from pecan pie
Pecan pie
Pecan pie is a sweet pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the...
in that it has a creamier filling due to the omission of corn starch. Raisin
Raisin
Raisins are dried grapes. They are produced in many regions of the world. Raisins may be eaten raw or used in cooking, baking and brewing...
s are in the traditional butter tart, but walnut
Walnut
Juglans is a plant genus of the family Juglandaceae, the seeds of which are known as walnuts. They are deciduous trees, 10–40 meters tall , with pinnate leaves 200–900 millimetres long , with 5–25 leaflets; the shoots have chambered pith, a character shared with the wingnuts , but not the hickories...
s, or pecan
Pecan
The pecan , Carya illinoinensis, is a species of hickory, native to south-central North America, in Mexico from Coahuila south to Jalisco and Veracruz, in the United States from southern Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, and Indiana east to western Kentucky, southwestern Ohio, North Carolina, South...
s are commonly added. However purists contend that such additions should not be allowed.
Other additional ingredients may include currant
Currant
Currant may refer to:Plants:* Ribes, genus of berry plants, e.g. blackcurrant, redcurrant* Zante currant, dried Black Corinth grapes; smaller than raisins* Currant tomato, Solanum pimpinellifolium, small tomato species...
s, coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
, dates, butterscotch
Butterscotch
Butterscotch is a type of confectionery whose primary ingredients are brown sugar and butter, although other ingredients such as corn syrup, cream, vanilla, and salt are part of some recipes...
, chocolate chip
Chocolate chip
Chocolate chips are small chunks of chocolate. They are often sold in a round, flat-bottomed teardrop shape. They are available in numerous sizes, from large to miniature, but are usually around 1 cm in diameter.-Origin:...
s, peanut butter
Peanut butter
Peanut butter is a food paste made primarily from ground dry roasted peanuts, popular in North America, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and parts of Asia, particularly the Philippines and Indonesia. It is mainly used as a sandwich spread, sometimes in combination as in the peanut butter and jelly...
, maple syrup
Maple syrup
Maple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species such as the bigleaf maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then...
or chai.
History
Butter tarts were common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada, considered one of only a few recipes of genuinely Canadian origin (for example, by the 6th edition of the Collins English DictionaryCollins English Dictionary
The Collins English Dictionary is an important printed dictionary of English. It is published by HarperCollins.The first edition of the Collins English Dictionary with Patrick Hanks as editor and Lawrence Urdang as editorial director, was a milestone in British dictionary making as it was the...
). It is primarily eaten and associated with the English-speaking provinces of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. However the origins of the tart, its name, and its recipe are unclear. Some suggested pastries with similar origins to the butter tart include:
- Sugar pieSugar pieSugar pie is a typical dessert of the western European countries of France and Belgium, Quebec, and Midwestern United States states such as Indiana, where it is known as sugar cream pie .-Recipe:Sugar pie is a single-crust pie with a filling made from flour, butter, salt, vanilla, and...
(tarte au sucre): which possibly came with the arrival of the "King's DaughtersKing's DaughtersThe King's Daughters were between 700 and 900 Frenchwomen who immigrated to New France between 1663 and 1673 under the monetary sponsorship of Louis XIV. The government sponsored them so settlers in the colony could marry and start families to populate New France...
" (filles à marier) in QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
during the 1600s, where the imported brides used maple syrupMaple syrupMaple syrup is a syrup usually made from the xylem sap of sugar maple, red maple, or black maple trees, although it can also be made from other maple species such as the bigleaf maple. In cold climates, these trees store starch in their trunks and roots before the winter; the starch is then...
, butterButterButter is a dairy product made by churning fresh or fermented cream or milk. It is generally used as a spread and a condiment, as well as in cooking applications, such as baking, sauce making, and pan frying...
and dried fruitDried fruitDried fruit is fruit where the majority of the original water content has been removed either naturally, through sun drying, or through the use of specialized dryers or dehydrators. Dried fruit has a long tradition of use dating back to the fourth millennium BC in Mesopotamia, and is prized...
to make a possible precursor to modern examples of the butter tart, - Pecan piePecan piePecan pie is a sweet pie made primarily of corn syrup and pecan nuts. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the...
: which possibly came north from the southern United StatesUnited StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with the slaves, - Backwards pie: which is found in the maritimes and western Canada and made with corn syrup,
- Shoofly pieShoofly pieShoofly pie is a fluffy molasses pie considered traditional among the Pennsylvania Dutch and also known in Southern cooking.The term "shoo-fly pie" first appeared in print in 1926...
: which is made with molasses and comes from the Pennsylvania DutchPennsylvania DutchPennsylvania Dutch refers to immigrants and their descendants from southwestern Germany and Switzerland who settled in Pennsylvania in the 17th and 18th centuries...
community, - Treacle tartTreacle tartTreacle tart is a traditional English dessert. It is made using shortcrust pastry, with a thick filling made of golden syrup, also known as light treacle, breadcrumbs, and lemon juice. The tart is normally served hot or warm with a scoop of clotted cream, ordinary cream, ice cream or custard...
: which is an English pastry made with golden syrupGolden syrupGolden syrup is a pale treacle. It is a thick, amber-colored form of inverted sugar syrup, made in the process of refining sugar cane juice into sugar, or by treatment of a sugar solution with acid. It is used in a variety of baking recipes and desserts. It has an appearance similar to honey, and...
or treacleTreacleTreacle is any syrup made during the refining of sugar and is defined as "uncrystallized syrup produced in refining sugar". Treacle is used chiefly in cooking as a form of sweetener or condiment....
.
The earliest published Canadian recipe is from Barrie, Ontario
Barrie, Ontario
Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, located on the western shore of Lake Simcoe, approximately 90 km north of Toronto. Although located in Simcoe County, the city is politically independent...
dating back to 1900 and can be found in The Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook. Another early publication of a butter tart recipe was found in a 1915 pie cookbook. The food was an integral part of early Canadian cuisine and often viewed as a source of pride.
Similar tarts are made in Scotland, where they are often referred to as Ecclefechan butter tarts from the town of Ecclefechan
Ecclefechan
Ecclefechan is a small village in the south of Scotland in Dumfries and Galloway.Ecclefechan lay in the early middle ages within the British kingdom of Rheged, and the name is derived from the Brythonic for "small church"...
. In France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, they are related to the much more common tarte à la frangipane, that differs from the basic Canadian recipe only by the addition of ground almonds.
Nutritional information
A typical recipe of Butter tarts has the following nutrition facts per serving (around 100g):- Calories: 577
- Total fat (g): 25.2
- Cholesterol (mg): 60
- Carbohydrates (g): 84
- Protein (g): 6.4