Make these decadent Maple Butter Tarts for your festivities this year

Autumn is the perfect time to bring out the cozy recipes like this Canadian staple of Maple Butter Tarts. Flaky crust, sweet and mapley filling, these tarts are the perfect addition to any Fall Festivity you have planned.

Maple Butter Tarts are just the essence of autumn – sweet, buttery morsels full of that earthy maple goodness. The fact that they’re tarts make them that much easier to serve at parties or give away. Or have with a nice cup of tea or cup of coffee. I think they’re too decadent to make all year round, but are perfect for the holidays, though I think some Canadians might strongly disagree!

Happy Thanksgiving, Canada!

Since today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada, I wanted to feature this Canadian treat for the next recipe in the Vintage Autumn series. Maple Butter Tarts are very reminiscent of Pecan Pie, but Canadians have very decided opinions on what makes a good butter tart. I don’t know if Americans are as divided about their pecan pies. I think we’re more divisive about how to say “pecan pie” than about how it’s made. lol

Butter Tart Requirements:

A good butter tart needs to have a thin crust, but not too thin that it falls apart. The filling needs to have a good firmness so when its cut into, the filling doesn’t run out. There’s some debate about with raisins or without. With nuts or without. With chocolate or without. I say no to the chocolate. I’ve tried it and it completely overpowers the buttery filling. Nuts are okay, but I personally think raisins or plain taste the best!

I need to note here that most butter tarts I’ve seen are plain, not made with maple. But, come on! Maple and Canadian butter tarts? What’s not to love about that?

The Recipe

The recipe I tried is an authentic Canadian recipe called “Maple Syrup Butter Tarts” published in the Purity Cook Book in 1945. I also used one of the pastry recipes it recommended in the cookbook. Purity was a flour milling company in Canada that was founded in 1905, and their cookbooks became a staple in Canadian households for many, many years. I believe their last published edition is from 1967 which you can still buy as a reprint now.

Ingredients

• eggs
• brown sugar
• salt
• vinegar
• maple syrup
• melted butter
• nutmeats or raisins (optional)
• pastry

Tools You Might Need

• bowls
• whisk
• spoons
• pastry cutter
• biscuit cutter or large glass
• rolling pin (if making your own pastry)
• muffin tin or tart tins

Tricks for making Maple Butter Tarts

• Use a large biscuit cutter or a large glass to cut the pastry circles if using a muffin tin. It makes things way easier!
• Chilling your pastry dough for 20 minutes or so will help it be easier to work with.
• You can use a liquid measuring cup to pour the filling into the muffin tins. This works best if you’re making the plain filling. A small ladle or measuring cup works better if making the filling with nuts or raisins.

Tips for avoiding disaster with Maple Butter Tarts

Probably the two biggest issues that arise with making butter tarts are the crust being the wrong thickness and the tarts being overfilled.

1. The image above gives a great idea of a good thickness for the pastry. Just thin enough to not be eating a ton of pastry, but not too thin that they’ll fall apart. I had the bonus of posting this on Instagram and a seasoned Canadian veteran of eating butter tarts comment on how great they looked. Yesss! If that’s not a gold star on looks, then I don’t know what is!
2. The recipes suggests filling the tarts only 1/2 to 2/3 full. It’s better to be conservative than generous. If you know anything about making pecan pie, it’s that the eggs make it puffy as it bakes and then it settles back down as it cools. These little tarts do the same. The last thing you want are the tarts spilling over and a burnt sugar mess in your oven.

Okay, now that you’ve got the tips and tricks for making these, I do hope you make them. They are worth the effort and ever so delicious!

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Maple Butter Tarts

Yield: 12

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes

Autumn is the perfect time to bring out the cozy recipes like this Canadian staple for Maple Butter Tarts. Flaky crust, sweet and mapley filling, these tarts are the perfect addition to any Fall Festivity you have planned.

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Ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vinegar
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 6 Tablespoons melted butter
• 2/3 cup chopped nutmeats or whole raisins (optional)
• Pastry

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.
2. Whisk the eggs only until the yolks and whites are well blended.
3. Add the sugar, salt, vinegar and maple syrup.
4. Mix well and add in the melted butter and nutmeats or raisins if desired.
5. Line the tart or muffin tins with the pastry and fill them 1/2 to 2/3 full. Be careful not to overfill.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350°F. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the filling is firm.
7. Let cool before removing from tins.