The Butter Tart Awareness Club

Sharin a recent telephone conversation:

Me:  Do you smell somethin wonderful?
Not Me: Um, no. What should I be smellin?
Me: My very first batch of butter tarts are in the oven.
Not Me: What are butter tarts?

Silence while I decide if I should continue a friendship with someone who does not know what butter tarts are. Continued silence while Not Me decides if he should continue a  friendship with someone who believes that scent is transmitted  over the telephone.

Of course my silence is justified under the brown suar code of awareness.
His? Heck, everyone knows I ask silly questions, yes? 

Please, for the love of plump raisins, tell me that butter tarts are widely available in places outside of Canada.  You  know what a butter tart is,  don't you?

irl With Apron Update: Oh. My. oodness. You poor butter tart-less dears. The recipe I used is in the extended post. 

Michele Says Mmm Butter Tarts.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons butter
• 2/3 cup raisins
• 2 teaspoons heavy cream
• 1/3 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 10 (2 inch) unbaked tart shells

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C).
2. Cream the butter, sugar and eggs well.  Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour batter into tart shells, no more than half full. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Watch carefully!!--they'll burn quickly. Filling will keep in the refrigerator for 2 weeks or so. Liquid coffee creamer can be used for cream. Use any good pie pastry for shells.
4. While waiting for 20 - 25 minutes call friends and say doesn't this smell yummy?

Additional Information:

Calories: Many.
Fat Content: Not until eaten.

Origionally found at allrecipies.com

Comments

[JustSue]

Droooooooooool!

I have to be honest, I never had a butter tart until I moved to Canada. So when are you inviting me around to have a tart'n'tea?

[nat]

Uhhhhh. Is it called something else in the US?

[SEV]

i've heard of butteries.. i'll assume that the sweet version of butteries is a butter tart.
did i get it right ? did i ? did i ?
if i did, i want one.:P

[J&J's Mom]

Ummm ...yeah...yeah...those are those cookie cup things made with brown sugar and butter right?

Regardless...can I have one?

[Adamant]

Like the owner of a blind Bambi once said:

I have no-eyed deer

Honk honk!

[Shane]

Plump raisins? Yuk! Butter tarts? Nope. Haven't the foggiest. Try turning left at the lights then head into town. Someone there will know about butter tarts.

Butter tarts indeed.

[meeta]

i've never had one, are they like lemon tarts?

[kenju]

This is the first time I have ever heard of them, but I do believe it is something I'd like to try!!

[Mamacita]

I know what they are: kind of like little pecan pies without the pecans and with dried fruit instead. But I will also have to tell you that I have never actually seen one down here.

There's a picture in my ethnic cookbook, though.

[franchini]

No I haven't heard of them either but I would love to try one, and I'm sure I can smell them......

[kimbofo]

Never 'eard of 'em but if they taste as good as they smell I'm sure I must be missing out. Any chance you'll post the recipe?

[Paula]

Those scantily dressed girls at the dairy plant?

[Jazzy]

Um, no...Do tell.

[Raehan]

Those delisciouslooking things in the picture.

I don't remember them in Scottish bakeries....which I frequented often. Yum, yum.

[Arethusa]

I can't believe so many people don't know them. It's almost sinful. :o

[ms. mac]

I have no idea what a butter tart is. Is it the end for us?

[peri]

I've never heard of them, but they look nice.

[christina]

As a Canadian I've been eating butter tarts since I could chew solid food, but I'm now horrified to find that they aren't the international delicacy I thought they were. Maybe posting the recipe would be in order, Michele?

[Marie]

I've never heard of a butter tart, but anything with butter in its name sounds A-OK to me! Pass 'em around!!

[elle]

Never heard of them, but don't hold it against me, there are alot of things I have never heard of. But it looks delicious and smells divine. Yes, smell does come through in blogging in case you were wondering. May I have a bite? I'm sure I'll love it. In fact I'm pretty sure there isn't a dessert that I haven't loved.

[Kimberly]

Oooh! You're baking! What fun!

I had no idea what you were talking about until I googled 'butter tart recipe'. Mamacita's description seems right on. Had I read comments first...

Michele, if Mr. Wonderful is a Southerner, you might want to try a pecan version of those. All the southern men in my family are crazy for pecan pie.

[Christine]

Well, consider first that I wouldn't be thought of as the world's best baker. Okay - people laughing at the fact that there is me and the work baker in a sentence!

Butter tarts - this is a newly found dessert for me! But hey, they smell and look amazing...and everything tastes nicer when it is made by someone else. =)

[:: jozjozjoz ::]

OMG! I am actually drooling right now!

[LuAnn]

um what is a butter tart...lol

never heard of them either

[Jennie]

what?!?! You're in Canada?!

No, I don't know what a butter tart is, but it looks like a butterscotch pie that I make. Is that what it's like? If so, it is, perhaps, my favorite sweet on earth.

[Mommak]

I've never had them (or heard of them) but they sound divine!!

[Phil]

Never heard of them before. But should we really trust a recipe from someone who, as she admits herself, is rather kitchen challenged? ;)

[jen]

do they have alcohol in them? i mean, like a BUTTERY NIPPLE?

okay, i'm going to have to make me some of these now.

;^)

[tanya]

I've never heard of butter tarts. But then, I'd never heard of gooey butter cake before I moved to St. Louis. Yes, good old St. Louis, MO: the town where everyone wants to know "Where did YOU go to high school?"

[Bakerina]

Three pieces of butter tart trivia:

1. I believe that in the U.S., or at least in parts of it, butter tarts are known as tansies. This is what Maida Heatter calls them, anyway. Maida's recipe is delightful, too, although I don't think it calls for those lovely plump raisins. (I have been known to substitute sultanas for raisins, and the resulting butter tarts were so wonderful that I burned the roof of my mouth, willingly, in the rush to eat them.)

2. The Len song "Steal My Sunshine" has a spoken-word intro in which the singer's friends talk among themselves about how depressed Mark is, and maybe they should try to cheer him up. On the beat before the vocal starts, one of the friends asks: "Do you think he likes butter tarts?" It is, as far as I know, the only mention of butter tarts in a pop song.

3. I love butter tarts so much that I am heading north, husband tucked under my arm, to move in with you. Michele, you have been warned. :)

[Robert]

I've never heard of butter tarts, but I once had a date with a truck stop waitress.

And gee...I live so close to the Quebec border the birds chirp in French. (Come to think of it, so did the waitress)

[Melody]

I don't dare make them....they'd be gone probably before they were actually baked!

[Grins]

Count me as a deprived southerner.

[Jackie]

Like Mounties and loonies, butter tarts are Canadian. In the US South there are chess pies, which are similar, but whole pies rather than tarts.

[Lala]

Yaa! Canada has one or two things we can call our own! Umm umm good butter tarts. Yes, they come with pecans up here, walnuts as well. You can get the at most corner stores, raisins or not. Mamacita: you be a funny lady! But I already knew that......

[Sol]

I've never heard of a Butter Tart... sounds luscious.

[Cara]

I've never heard of them but now that I have my family and I will be enjoying them. Thanks for passing along the recipe!

[Julie]

I've never had one nor have I heard of one. But, it sounds yummy! :)

[Dingo]

No, I think it is a canadian thing, just like Tim Hortons and Joe Louis.

[christine]

This must be a Canadian thing. Never heard of 'em, and I think I've been missing out. Michele, next time you're baking, give me a call, and I'm on my way with a fresh-pressed pot o'joe.

[tshsmom]

I make pecan tassies, which are similar, at Christmas. I haven't heard of butter tarts though. I'd better learn, since our daughter lives in Canada.

[Alda]

Yes, I know what a butter tart is [and how!] but only because I used to live in Canada. I've since lived in the UK, Germany and Iceland, and visited many countries, but I've never come across a butter tart since.

[Lisa]

I don't know what a butter tart is, but if you send me one, I will taste it and let you know if it is ok. :)

[Lisa]

AHH! Now I see the recipe! lol (trying hard not to sound like a dork) I must make some.

[Katarina]

HAHHAHAHAH!! I KNOWWW! I'm a Canadian living in the States (until May that is...), and for Christmas, I asked my hubby if there was anything that's particularly Christmassy to him that I could cook. He mentioned his grandmother's butter tars and nanaimo bars. Ok, I'm 29 and have never made butter tarts, so I scoured the book slooking fo something close to grandma's. Nothing. In any book. No matter how big. until I leafed through my Canadian cooking encyclopedia. There they were. And yes, don't they smell yummy. Nanaimo bars are my next challenge, since these are not found here, either. Can you believe it???? I have to track down custard powder, because i think this is another one of those things that don't exist outside the Commonwealth.

How crazy, eh?

[Mary]

I love butter tarts! I only discovered them less than a year ago after my Canadian girlfriend introduced them to me. I have searched for a bakery (here in the states) to purchase them (I'm not a baker) but have been unsuccessful in doing so. If anyone knows of a bakery that makes them and delivers to New York state...PLEASE....let me know. Have a great day!

[Shawn]

Yes the butter tart is Canadian, possibly an offshoot from the sugar pie which I believe is french and also popular in Quebec. Canada is a trove of unique sweets, many things you find in canada like Coffee Crisp, Cherry Blossoms, butter tarts, Nanaimo bars and many other things can only be found in Canada, Caramilk I also understand is a product only in Canada. As for Tim Horton's they are spreading through the USA. As is Poutine. It's funny how Canadian products are often seen as American, most of the good Canadain companies have been swallowed by larger American ones... And to think that KFC Sanders guy once said that Canadian food was bland and tasteless... I guess he was eating in all the wrong places or foraging in the woods.

[Daniel]

Tim:hey Matt..
Matt:Yeah Tim?
TIm: Hey you talked to Mark lately?
Matt: Uh..haven't really talked to him but..he looks pretty uh..down.
Tim: He looks pretty uh..down? (while laughing)
Matt: Yeah well maybe we should cheer him up then
Tim: What do you uh..suppose we should do?
Matt: Well does he like butter tarts?

[Stphanie]

I love butter tarts. My father made them every easter and christmas. I prefer them without raisins because I like to savor all tha gooey goodness without anything in the way. It is truely one of the best canadian treat ever.

[John]

A better recipe can be found here >>> http://www.donogh.com/cooking/comfortd/tarts.shtml

Now all we have to do is introduce you people to poutine, pate chinois , creton and tourtiere.