![]() Put a tray of butter tarts on any dessert table and watch them disappear quickly! In fact, I’d go so far as to say tarts were almost a staple in the household and we always kind of looked upon them as rather commonplace as opposed to a delicacy. My mother would often whip up a batch of butter tarts on a Saturday morning and think nothing of it. I grew up with butter tarts regularly being made by both my mother and grandmother. They are a true Canadian classic that are always en vogue. Some desserts are trendy for awhile and will come and go with time. I beat the eggs very, very little and only with a whisk. For this reason, I don’t use my Kitchen Aid or hand mixer to mix the filling. It then becomes difficult to remove the tarts from the pans without wrecking them. One of the tricks I have learned when making tarts is not to beat too much air into the eggs as this causes the filling to rise while baking and, consequently, spill over the top of the pastry shell and stick to the muffin tins in which they are baked. These, however, are not traditional additions to butter tarts on PEI. Some bakers have started being creative with butter tarts by adding ingredients such as chocolate chips, coconut, or dates, for example, to their tarts. I don’t necessarily mind those additions but my preference is to leave them out in favour of a nice smooth, uninterrupted filling. Then there is always the perennial question about whether the tarts are better with, or without, raisins and/or nuts. I prefer tart fillings that are not runny but yet have soft texture and are sufficiently thickened that the tarts can be picked up in the hand and eaten without the filling dripping down the chin. Some fillings are very runny, so much so that the tarts have to be eaten on a plate and with a fork. The consistency of the filling varies from recipe to recipe. Then, I immediately fill the shells and pop them right into the pre-heated oven. This helps to reduce the shrinkage during the baking process and keeps the original size and shape of the pastry shells, or at least close to it. Because pastry will shrink when baking, I fit the pastry shells into the muffin tins and put them in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes to chill. You may need to experiment to find just the right size of pastry circle to fit the tins you are using. I use a 3 7/8″ ruffled edge cookie cutter to cut out the pastry shells but it depends, of course, on the size of muffin tins you are using. I think it also makes a more refined, neater, and pleasing tart presentation when the shell perfectly and smoothly fits the muffin tin. I make my own pastry and roll it quite thin, just leaving it thick enough to hold the filling and just large enough that it only lines the muffin tins – no extra tucks or folds of pastry for me. I guess you could say that I don’t like a dessert that is more about the pastry and less about the filling (the yummy part!). Some use very thick pastry for their tarts and they fold and pleat in quite a chunk of pastry to each muffin cup however, I don’t care for a lot of pastry as I find it detracts from the filling. When you bite into the tart, the pastry should be very tender and just literally flake apart and you should be able to see its different layers. Just as in a pie, tart pastry shells should be light and flaky. No matter how tasty the filling is, if the pastry is tough or hard, a good butter tart is ruined. What will often define a good butter tart is the pastry. The ingredients may vary in different amounts from recipe to recipe and this will impact the flavor and texture of the filling. Essentially, these are the basic, core ingredients that will normally be common to all butter tart recipes: brown sugar, eggs, butter (absolutely no substitutes), and usually some kind of syrup (e.g., maple, corn, or both). Butter tarts that melt in your mouth, is there anything better? There are as many recipes for butter tarts as there are bakers and pastry chefs making them.
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