Butter Tarts

The Olympics always have a habit of making me feel delightfully Canadian. I may not have been born here, but somehow Alex Bilodeau hugging his brother after receiving his medal, and Tessa and Scott being robbed of the gold still manage to bring me to tears. (I just can't suppress my soppy side...sorry!)

In light of this resurgence of nationalism, I thought I'd share with you a truly Canadian dish.

Butter Tarts.

Now, the name is certainly not the most appealing, but the taste is heavenly.

What you'll need...

Pie pastry (I made my own but otherwise buy enough to fill 16 muffin cups)
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1/4 cup of soft (sweet) butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup of corn/golden syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla

What you do...

Prepare the muffin pans by rolling out pie dough and cutting (approximately) 4-inch wide circles; fit the dough into the muffin pan and either set aside in the fridge (or on a cool windowsill if you don't have the space) until you're ready to fill them.

Place the raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot tap water; let these stand on the counter for 30 minutes.

In a large bowl, mix together the soft butter, brown sugar, salt, and corn syrup.
Stir until all sugar is dissolved and butter is creamed.

Mix in the egg and vanilla.

Add a small handful of raisins to each muffin cup.

Pour this batter into each of the muffin cups (atop the raisins).

These were quite shallowly filled so if you want more batter per tart, make 12 instead of 16 (using the same amount of batter).

Pop these into the oven at 200ºC/400ºF/gas mark 6 for 15-20 minutes.

The filling should still be bubbling when you pull the tray out.

Let the tarts cool in the tin for about 10 minutes then place them on racks to cool completely.

Serve with tea and a reminder to everyone that these are healthy on account of the raisins.

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do!

Love, Milly