Butter tart
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2008-07-02T09:50:00Z
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[[Image:Buttertarts-noflash.JPG|thumb|250px|Butter tarts]]
A '''butter tart''' is a type of [[pastry]] best known as a [[Cuisine of Canada|Canadian treat]]. It should not be confused with [[Butter pie]] a savoury pie from the [[Preston]] area of [[Lancashire]], [[England]] or [[bread 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-Canadian [[sugar pie]]. Additional ingredients can include [[raisin]]s, [[pecan]]s, [[walnut]]s, [[coconut]], [[date]]s, [[butterscotch]], [[chocolate chip]]s or [[peanut 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 the [[Collins English Dictionary]]). One of the earliest known Canadian recipes is from [[northern 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 in France, 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 ==
{{Wiktionary}}
{{Cookbook}}
*[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]
[[Category:Canadian cuisine]]
[[Category:Scottish cuisine]]
[[Category:Tarts]]