Butter Tarts

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Ecclefechan Butter Tarts

Butter Tarts are a traditional Scottish dessert made with butter, brown sugar, egg, walnuts, mixed dried fruit and vinegar. The mixture is spooned into tart shells and baked.

A Scottish specialty, they are often laid out on festive tables along with other traditional Scottish foods. In Scotland, they are often referred to as "Ecclefechan Butter Tarts."

Butter Tarts are also popular in Canada, particularly in the provinces of Ontario and Nova Scotia, both of which were heavy centres of Scottish immigration. Some Scottish recipes omit the vinegar; some Canadian recipes swap in lemon juice for the vinegar (though vinegar was the original ingredient, the swap for lemons shows the evolution of lemons becoming more affordable over time.)

If you omit the fruit and just use nuts, specifically pecans, then you have a recipe for Pecan Pie. Pour it into a pie shell and you have the pie; pour it into tart shells and you have Pecan Tarts (which in the American South are actually called "Pecan Tassies", again showing the Scottish heritage and influence on these recipes.)

If both fruit and nuts are omitted, and just the sugar filling is used, then the Butter Tart is actually a "Taffy Tart", and is very similar to Treacle Tart, which is English, and Sugar Pie, which is French-Canadian.

In Canada, when not debating which worthy effort the country should undertake next, people will debate whether the fruit should be raisins or currants, and whether there should be fruit at all. All versions are good, though the academic part of the debate is easily settled with just a simple reference to the traditional Scottish recipe. Versions without any fruit or nuts become "Taffy Tarts", as mentioned above.

Some people in Canada add chocolate chips, which is actually quite good, but which would horrify purists of all camps. Except, perhaps, the Scots, who might welcome a way to introduce more sugar into the dessert.

Cooking Tips
Lowering the cooking time results in a slightly runnier tart, which some people prefer.

Storage
Freeze well.

History
The Scots have been making Butter Tarts since before even Robbie Burns was born.

Ecclefechan is a small town in Scotland close to the English border. The British historian, Thomas Carlyle, was born there on 4 December 1795.

Literature & Lore
It's a myth that Butter Tarts were invented in Canada. The recipes were brought over by Scottish immigrants. It's actually not that surprising that something that sweet and bad for your teeth has to be Scottish.


GAT ye me, O gat ye me,
O gat ye me wi' naething?
Rock an reel, and spinning wheel,
A mickle quarter basin:
Bye attour my Gutcher has
A heich house and a laich ane,
A' forbye my bonie sel,
The toss o' Ecclefechan.
-- Robert Burns, The Lass o' Ecclefechan

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It's a myth that Butter Tarts were invented in Canada. The Scots have been making Butter Tarts since before even Robbie Burns was born.