Because the world knows the butter tart as ubiquitously Canadian.” I just hosted a chef from the Philippines and the one thing on his checklist was trying a butter tart.

“I have demonstrated butter tarts in Argentina, Moscow, Dubai, all over Southeast Asia. “No matter where I am travelling, I’m always asked to demonstrate a butter tart,” says Anna. What’s even more incredible is the butter tart has become an international superstar. There are even butter tart trails that dessert lovers can follow, with Ontario’s Kawarthas Northumberland Region and Wellington County offering maps and self-guided itineraries to explore local bakeries and cafes. Related: Butter Tart Spots to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth We worked outside in the cold and needed to eat a lot more than we do now.” British and French settlers loved sugar, but butter tarts also fit a model of early Canadian foods that needed to pack a really high calorie load into each bite. “However I do feel that the butter tart is being influenced ever so slightly by Canada’s cuisine with its dedication to local foods. “The butter tart’s success in Canada is likely linked to our general love of sweet desserts,” says Dr. It was all the rage in the 1920s and 1930s, and it’s one of the few authentically Canadian recipes that exists on paper. ”įour hundred years later, the butter tart has become the quintessential Canadian sweet treat. “It looks like a lot of other tarts: like the French tarte au sucre or a treacle tart. “It just slowly evolved and appeared,” says Anna. Ultimately, no one knows for sure, but the tart’s origins are likely a combination of all of the above.

And some experts credit pioneer cooks for creating the beloved version known today, tracing the earliest printed recipes back to the 1900s. Others believe the butter tart has roots in pecan pie, brought to Canada by Americans or possibly is related to Québec’s sugar pie or even Scottish border tarts. Lenore Newman, food security and environment director at the University of the Fraser Valley. “The idea of mixing a syrup with eggs and dried fruit to form a dessert is an old one - and was likely born out of necessity to make do with ingredients on hand,” says Dr. These newly arrived Québécois brides filled their French tarts with New World ingredients: maple sugar, freshly churned butter and dried fruit such as raisins.

It’s believed that filles à marier (“marriageable girls”) created a crude version in the 1600s. Like many legendary dishes, the butter tart’s origins are fuzzy. Get the recipe for Pecan Whisky Butter Tarts

Treacle tart history