I love, love, love, LOVE butter tarts. They are my absolute favourite dessert/snack to have (aside from fresh apple fritters). The flakiness of the tart and the gooiness of the filling make them so irresistable. I am currently looking for THE BEST recipe out there. There is a place called Madelyn's Cafe in Stratford, Ontario that serves `to die for`ones but I can`t be driving 2 hours out of town just for them everytime I have a craving for a fantastic butter tart. Which is why I have decided to try out different recipes in the attempt to find a tart that is identical to Madelyn`s. This is recipe number one I plan to try this weekend. I`ll let you know how it goes...
Butter Tarts Recipe
Crust (by
Simply Recipes)
What You Need
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 3 to 4 Tbsp ice water, very cold
What You Need to Do
1 Freeze the butter in cubes at least 15 minutes, better an hour, best overnight.
2 Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined. Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 more times. You should have a mixture that resembles a coarse meal, with many butter pieces the size of peas.
3 Add a couple of tablespoons of ice cold water (without the ice!) to the food processor bowl and pulse a couple of times. Then add more ice water, slowly, about a tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition, until the mixture just barely begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready, if not, add a little more water and pulse again. Try to keep the water to a minimum. Too much water will make your crust tough.
4 Remove the crumbly mixture from the food processor and place on a very clean, smooth surface. If you want an extra flaky crust, you can press the heel of your palm into the crumbly mixture, pressing down and shmooshing the mixture into the table top. This is a French technique, called “fraisage”. Do this a few times, maybe 4 to 6 times, and it will help your crust be extra flaky. Then, use your hands to press the crumbly dough together and shape into a disc. Work the dough only enough to just bring the dough together. Do not over-knead or your crust will end up tough. You should be able to see little bits of butter, speckling the dough. When these bits of butter melt as the crust cooks, the butter will help separate the dough into flaky layers. So, visible pieces of butter are a good thing, what you are aiming for, in the dough. Sprinkle the disc with a little flour on all sides. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour. (At this point you can freeze the dough disk for several months until ready to use. Defrost overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding.)
5 When you are ready to roll out the dough, remove the disk from the refrigerator and place on a clean, smooth, lightly floured surface. Let it sit for 5 to 10 minutes to take just enough of a chill off of it so that it becomes easier to roll out. Sprinkle some flour on top of the disk. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check if the dough is sticking to the surface below. Add a few sprinkles of flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate, lining up the fold with the center of the pan. Gently unfold and press down to line the pie dish with the dough.
Filling (by
Back of the Cupboard)
What You Need
- pie pastry
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup soft butter
- 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup corn syrup
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
What You Need to Do
- Prepare muffin pans by rolling out pie dough and cutting 4-inch (approx) circles; ease dough circles into ungreased muffin cups; set aside in fridge until ready to fill.
- In a small bowl, place raisins and cover with hot tap water; let stand on the counter for 30 minutes.
- In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, mix together the soft butter, brown sugar, salt and corn syrup; stir well until sugar is dissolved and butter is creamed.
- Add egg and vanilla and mix well.
- Drain raisins.
- Retrieve tart shells and divide raisins equally into all shells; then divide butter mixture into all tarts. Don’t fill tarts all the way to the very top, as the filling bubbles up quite a bit, and will get everywhere
- Bake at 400F for 15-20 minutes; filling will be lightly browned but still bubbling.
- If you prefer a firmer filling, baked for the full 20 minutes.
- Let cooked butter tarts cool in pans for 10 minutes after removing from oven; then carefully remove and place on racks until completely cool.
