I am officially on a holiday for two whole weeks!! It is seriously an incomprehensible thought to me, so naturally instead of teaching I threw myself into baking. Okay, I haven’t actually baked these butter tarts here (Brad did) but I did bake this truffle cake! I was just as surprised as you might be that my husband is such a master baker! He kept telling me he was going to make butter tarts but I was thinking sure, sure I will believe you when I see them and then I received a photo while I was at work that looked sorta like this. Underneath the photo it read: You like? Umm, yes I DOUBLE like! Would you like to be greeted by a hunky husband with a tray of flaky pastry tartlets filled with delicious golden custard, raisins and walnuts? I very much LIKE. The reason Brad was so set on making butter tarts is because it’s Christmas, he is Canadian through and through and everyone from the Truth North likes to have a butter tart or two… or a dozen during the festive season. Butter tarts are as Canadian as maple syrup, hockey or beavers and just like Canada they are sweet and moreish because you always want more.
Brad has become quite a cook in the last 3 years and I am so proud of him, but baking is still a bit out of reach for him although after tasting his butter tarts I and all of my colleagues would agree he aced them…because the recipe is SO EASY!
How do you make Canadian Butter Tarts?
Although they look fiddly to make nothing could be further from the truth – a great treat to make with kids – and if you use a pre-made crust like Brad did nothing could be faster. All you have to do is to roll out your pre-made pastry to ⅛″ thickness and cut out rounds to line your muffin tins using a 4″ round cutter or a regular glass, then fill them with the maple/nut mixture. One thing to watch out for is spills around the muffin cups. You want to keep things fairly clean, otherwise your spilled filling will caramelise around the edges of the tarts while baking and it will become nearly impossible to remove them from the tin. I hope you will give our butter tarts a go and tell me all about it. Until then I am signing off for the holidays! ~Merry Christmas!!!~
