Butter Tart
A hearty vegetarian built around shortening, corn syrup or maple syrup and raisins — roughly 70 minutes start to finish, and rated medium to make. Scroll down for the ingredient checklist, a serving scaler and unit converter, and the method broken into 7 steps.
You'll mainly reach for oven and saucepan. At medium difficulty across 7 steps, it's manageable with a little attention. As written, it's meat-free.
What you'll need
Shopping list (3)
Pantry staples (you likely have these)
🔁 Unit converter
How to make it
- To make the pastry, whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder, then cut in the shortening and cold butter with a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
- Sprinkle in the boiling water and stir just until the dough comes together, then wrap and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a 12-cup muffin tin; roll the chilled dough out thin, cut into rounds and press one into each cup to form shells.
- Divide the raisins among the pastry shells, scattering them evenly across the bottoms.
- In a bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, syrup, softened butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth, then spoon the filling into each shell until about two-thirds full to leave room for bubbling.
- Bake on the lower rack for 18 to 22 minutes until the pastry is golden and the filling is puffed and bubbling but still slightly jiggly in the center.
- Let the tarts cool in the tin for 10 minutes so the filling sets, then gently run a knife around each one and lift them out to finish cooling on a rack.
You'll use: Oven · Saucepan · Whisk
Ingredient substitutions
- Butter
- olive oil (¾ the amount) · coconut oil · margarine
- Brown Sugar
- white sugar + 1 tbsp molasses per cup
- Eggs
- ¼ cup unsweetened applesauce (baking) · 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water per egg
Tips & common questions
How long does Butter Tart take to make?
About 70 minutes from start to finish — an estimate based on the 7 steps and 12 ingredients. Times vary with your kitchen and how much prep you do ahead.
What can I use instead of butter?
Try olive oil (¾ the amount). See the substitutions section above for more swaps.
Can I scale this recipe up or down?
Yes — use the servings control above the ingredients and every quantity rescales automatically (fractions included). Cooking times stay roughly the same; very large batches may need a little longer.
Is Butter Tart vegetarian?
Its ingredients contain no meat or fish, so it's suitable for vegetarians. Check any cheeses for animal rennet if that matters to you.
Related recipes
Butter Tart is an original recipe developed in-house by Consomee. Photo: Pecan butter tart, May 2011.jpg by Hisakazu Watanabe, CC BY-SA 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons. We add the serving scaler, ingredient tools, timing and structure on top — how we source recipes.