- Butter tart
A butter tart is a type of
pastry best known as a Canadian treat. It should not be confused withButter pie a savoury pie from thePreston area ofLancashire ,England orbread and butter pudding .The
English Canadian tart consists of butter, sugar and eggs in a pastry shell, similar to the base of the U. S.pecan pie without the nut topping, and similar to the French-Canadiansugar pie . Additional ingredients can includeraisin s,pecan s,walnut s,coconut ,date s,butterscotch ,chocolate chip s orpeanut butter . Butter tarts were a staple of pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada, considered one of only a few recipes of genuinely Canadian origin (for example, by the 6th edition of theCollins English Dictionary ). One of the earliest known Canadian recipes is fromnorthern Ontario and dates back to 1915.Yet similar tarts are made in Scotland, where they are often referred to as "Ecclefechan butter tarts" from the town of
Ecclefechan ; and inFrance , though they are uncommon. There, they are related to the much more common "tarte à la frangipane", that differs from the basic Canadian recipe only by the addition of ground almonds. The origin thus appears to be unknown.Butter tarts are said to have been a favourite treat of Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir
John A. Macdonald .External links
* [http://archives.cbc.ca/IDC-1-69-1371-8373/life_society/canadian_food/clip6 CBC radio program on butter tarts]
* [http://www.scotlandforvisitors.com/eccle.php Scottish recipe at "Scotland For Visitors"]
* [http://www.canadianliving.com/Food/recipes/pecan-butter-tart-bars-r19261.html Butter Tart Bar recipe from Canadian Living Magazine]
*Shelley Posen on butter tarts [http://www.billcasselman.com/canadian_food_words/butter_tart_sixteen.htm]
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