Best butter tarts in the Greater Toronto Area
Butter tarts are one of the few food specialties of Ontario and indeed, Canada. It’s not famous because it’s not much different from other tarts nor is it a craveable food. But if you want to taste what the fuss is all about, head to The Maids’ Cottage or anywhere that carries their goods.
Butter tart components
Although butter tarts contain butter, the predominant flavour is indistinct sugar. A butter tart is made of shortcrust pastry and a filling of butter, egg, and lots of sugar. It is almost identical to sugar pies from Quebec or American pecan pie. From this basic recipe, it is not unusual to add other ingredients like pecans or raisins. At commercial bakeries, they are usually palm-sized so that customers can mix and match flavours.
The most difficult component to pull off is the filling. Nobody likes a liquid filling, so the key to getting a right consistency lies with temperature control and ingredient mix. Personal preferences may vary but I think the best consistency is one where the filling has just set. No liquid should run out when one bites into the tart, but the filling should bulge a little.
The pastry is just standard shortcrust pastry. Any decent baker should be able to create a crumbly shell while still being solid enough to hold the filling and withstand slicing. Traditionally, the pastry shell is thick.
The food
The Maids’ Cottage has the largest variety of butter tarts in the country. They have seasonal specials and gluten-free (GF) options. When I went, there were these flavours:
- Top row: Raisin GF, Plain GF, Pecan GF, pumpkin GF, plain, pecan
- Middle row: Blueberry crumble, raspberry crumble, apple crumble, mincemeat, raisin
- Bottom row: Ginger spice, currant, pecan chocolate chip coconut, coconut, pumpkin, pumpkin pie, pecan/raisin
They also offer discounts on “imperfect” butter tarts.