A good butter tart recipe is a must have for every Canadian cook.
We Canadians LOVE our butter tarts. And now the world has discovered our Canadian secret. These sweet treats are being enjoyed around the world as well.
What is a Butter Tart?
Well where do I start?
A butter tart is a tart of course, with a tender pastry “cup” for an amazing filling.
The butter tart filling is what’s most important here. The fillings can vary of course.
There are many arguments about what constitutes the perfect butter tart filling. Do you like yours runny or more solid, with raisins or nuts or plain.
Butter tart filling is a very sweet mix of sugars and of course butter, that results in a sweet filling that just hold together when you bit into it.
It is quite similar to a pecan pie filling. And at least as delicious.
That gooey, sweet filling and tart shell crust are a perfect combination.
My favorite recipes for butter tart filling calls for the addition of raisins, so that is what I have given you here.
You can easily turn this into a walnut butter tart or pecan tart by replacing the raisins with an equal amount of nuts, or even leave them plain.
If you use pecans, they will tend to float to the top of the tarts while they bake and look beautiful.
Variation:
- Replace the raisins with an equal amount of pecan halves for a pecan butter tart recipe. It is best to use the halves rather than pecan pieces because they will float to the top and the halves look much nicer than chopped pieces.
- Omit the raisins and pecans entirely for a plain butter tart.
Butter Tart Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup raisins
- 1/2 cup butter, or margarine
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup corn syrup
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 18 tart shells, unbaked, homemade or frozen
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450ºF.
- In heavy saucepan, combine the raisins, butter, sugar, syrup and salt. Heat on a warm stove at low heat until butter is melted and the mixture is warm. Remove from heat and add vanilla and eggs. Spoon the filling into the tart shells.
- Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350ºF and bake for 5 minutes or longer until pastry is golden. Do not let the pastry filling bubble. Let butter tarts cool completely before removing from the tart tin.
Notes
Nutrition
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You will find more easy dessert recipes as sweet as this wonderful butter tart recipe here.
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Adding a little bit of lemon juice to the recipe makes all the difference. Really takes the butter tarts from good to great.
Hi Katie,
I have a friend who adds vinegar to her butter tarts. I may add her recipe to the site one day. They are quite good too, although I love this recipe.
This is one of the best and easiest recipes ever! I’ve been using it for a few years now. Thank you from my buttertart loving family and friends!
Thanks Rosie for the wonderful comment! I am a butter tart lover too. One of my faves!
Awsome easy and so delish my now go to butter tarts recipe I don’t care for raisins I omitted them the recipe was flawless excellent flavor really went fast recipe made lil over a dozen for me anyways …thank u I really enjoyed this recipe
You are welcome Wanda. I’m glad you liked them. I love butter tarts!
Karen