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Christmas Recipes For the Last Minute Panic People: Butter Tarts

How to make tasty and simple butter tarts. A Canadian classic!
close up 3 pieces Butter Tarts with raisins on a white floral tablecloth background
4.8 from 5 vote(s)81 comments
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Come along and cheat with me. Cheating is good for the soul. Let go of those crazy Christmas baking expectations and make something so delicious, so easy and so fast that you will weep with relief.

I make no secret of the fact that I totally cheat with my butter tarts. I don’t even pretend that I attempt to make my own shells. I buy pre-made, unsweetened no-name brand from Superstore. Which, by the way, are the only ones I have found without hydrogenated oil in them, so thank you Loblaws, for that little blessing. I honestly don’t know what I would do without those tart shells. I make- no word of a lie people– hundreds of butter tarts every Christmas season.

3 pieces Butter Tarts with raisins on a white floral tablecloth background

I bake around 4 dozen for my husbands work. This does not include the 5 dozen I have to send for their Potluck every year, that’s just his immediate co-workers who demand tarts every Christmas season.

I bake around 12 dozen for gifts. I bake for teachers, the wonderful lunch ladies at my kid’s school and my work.

I bake around 3 dozen for our own Christmas Day eating.

I think I’m around 300 tarts right there.

I have definitely considered trying to make my own shells, but never will it be for my huge tart making spree. It’s not even feasible. I will make my own for us personally, but for this massive baking need, you simply have to use pre-made shells.

The other thing is that I use margarine in most. People prefer the margarine taste. I cannot convince my family otherwise and my husbands work would freak right out if I changed anything on them.

Superstore No Name non-hydrogenated margarine is the ticket. It makes people flip out over the taste.

I have committed more baking cardinal sins with making my butter tarts (BUTTER tarts!) than in any other single recipe on my site.

But people love them. People have paid me to make them yearly for them – with margarine for that exact taste they want- and my husband knows when I use butter and turns up his nose at them.

I secretly make myself a batch every year with butter. I certainly have an affinity for the buttah.

So, feel free to sin along with me. These are fast and easy. Literally, it does not get faster than this and you end up with butter tarts to give away or to grace your Christmas dinner dessert table.

Ingredients Needed

1 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of raisins
1/3 cup or margarine or butter, melted
1 egg
2 tablespoons of cream
1 tsp vanilla
15-18 unsweetened and unbaked tart shells

Kick the tires and light the fires to 375 degrees

Melt your margarine, then add in the vanilla,egg, cream and brown sugar. The lovely part about these is they are SO easy and fast to make. Throw it all in, mix the ever-livin’ devil out of it, and you are good.

Now add in your raisins, and half a cup is the bare minimum I use. I find that sometimes there is too much liquid and not enough raisins by the time I reach the end, be brave and just add in what you need at that point.

Put your tart shells, still frozen, on the tray and fill a good 3/4 of the way. I say still frozen because I have found when they are defrosted the filling leaks through the pasty, not ruining them, but making them softer. A good frozen tart shell will hold the contents in, and cook at the same time.

Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, until the rims of the tarts are beautifully browned.

close up 3 pieces Butter Tarts with raisins on a white floral tablecloth background

So go ahead.

Cheat. A lot.

You’ll feel all the better for it.

Love,

The Cheatin’, Mistreatin’, Butter Tart Eatin’ Magpie

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close up 3 pieces Butter Tarts with raisins on a white floral tablecloth background

How To: Make Butter Tarts

How to make tasty and simple butter tarts. A Canadian classic!
4.80 from 5 votes
Print Pin Rate
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: Canadian
Prep Time: 4 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 19 minutes
Servings: 16
Calories: 173kcal

Ingredients 

  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup raisins
  • 1/3 cup margarine or butter melted
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tablespoons cream
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 15-18 unsweetened and unbaked tart shells

Instructions

  • Kick the tires and light the fires to 375 degrees. 
  • Melt your margarine, then add in the vanilla, egg, cream and brown sugar. The lovely part about these is they are SO easy and fast to make. Throw it all in, mix the ever-livin’ devil out of it, and you are good. 
  • Now add in your raisins, and half a cup is the bare minimum I use. I find that sometimes there is too much liquid and not enough raisins by the time I reach the end; be brave and just add in what you need at that point. 
  • Put your tart shells, still frozen, on the tray and fill a good 3/4 of the way. I say still frozen because I have found when they are defrosted the filling leaks through the pastry, not ruining them, but making them softer. A good frozen tart shell will hold the contents in, and cook at the same time.
  • Bake in a 375 degree oven for 15-18 minutes, until the rims of the tarts are beautifully browned.

Nutrition

Calories: 173kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 8g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 15mg | Sodium: 91mg | Potassium: 59mg | Sugar: 14g | Vitamin A: 210IU | Vitamin C: 0.2mg | Calcium: 17mg | Iron: 1.5mg
Tried this recipe?Mention @TheKitchenMagpie or tag #thekitchenmagpie!

 

Karlynn Johnston

I’m a busy mom of two, wife & cookbook author who loves creating fast, fresh meals for my little family on the Canadian prairies. Karlynn Facts: I'm allergic to broccoli. I've never met a cocktail that I didn't like. I would rather burn down my house than clean it. Most of all, I love helping YOU get dinner ready because there's nothing more important than connecting with our loved ones around the dinner table!

Learn more about me

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Reader Interactions

Comments & Recipe Tips Share a tip or comment!

  1. Erika Boyer says

    a really good butter tart recipe is a TREASURE!

  2. Heather Pollock says

    I think you need a proof reader… Lol
    Butter tarts are my favorite … My mom used a recipe with maple syrup and pecans 🙂 Yumm

  3. Ashley Meek says

    Perfect timing on your post, my husband just asked if I could make some.

  4. Rosaline Linhart says

    that old five roses cook book has been in our family since 1948 when we got the first copy…its amazing

  5. Sarah M says

    I am very disappointed that in order to share these with my family, I have to make my own tart shells. In Canada, they seem to be everywhere, in the US, they’re nowhere. Ah well, just a small sacrifice to be able to share this Canadian classic with my American in laws.

  6. The Kitchen Magpie says

    Well I DO want the whole recipe here for everyone, that part just got left out in the cut and paste somehow!

  7. Debbie Robinson Woloshyn says

    Awesome! Going to try these as a last minute Christmas dessert! Thank you for posting so many awesome recipes!!

  8. Kathleen Klohn says

    Thanks! Although if I’d just looked at the link you had it did say brown sugar.\U0001f633

  9. Ruth Cadman says

    Seeing as it’s Christmas, I need to come over and make Mince Pies with you xxx

  10. Happy Gourmand says

    I love this recipe, it’s a favourite! But how can you call them Butter Tarts if you use margarine? 🙂

  11. Christine Covacci says

    Always use your recipe, the best !!!!!!

  12. Kathleen Klohn says

    The directions say brown sugar but I don’t see it in the ingredients?

  13. The Kitchen Magpie says

    Mine was this morning but only around 5 dozen. They are SO fast with this recipe!

  14. The Kitchen Magpie says

    Yup! They will be pecan tarts and that’s dang delicious too!

  15. Mary Markoulis says

    Will the recipe work without raisins, or replacing the raisins with pecans?

  16. Bonnie Hale says

    Hi There,

    Had great success with these.  Used GF pie crust and your recipe for the insides – DELICIOUS.  I am curious…..when you are giving them for gifts do you have some suggestions for packaging/wrapping them.

    Thanks.
    Bonnie

  17. Keyko Davidson says

    I love your blog! Merry Christmas to you and your family!

  18. The Kitchen Magpie says

    hahha! You know what, I love them in a beautiful homemade pastry. BUT this time of year is so busy for everyone, what working person has the time to make the fiddly ones? Even I don’t and my job is cooking up recipes LOL!

  19. Keyko Davidson says

    I like the cheating idea… as I will never forget when my nephew looked at my butter tarts and said “They don’t really look right”…

  20. Keyko Davidson says

    Butter tarts… such a part of Christmas for this first generation American from Canadian roots… I might just have to make some today!!!

  21. Carrie B says

    Just made 4 dozen of these today. Two dozen I made with raisins and the other two dozen I made with pecans. LOVE them. They are now safely tucked away in the freezer for Christmas. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. 

  22. Karlynn says

    I use no name Superstore ones, they have no hydrogenated oil in them. Tenderflake would work as well, any unsweetened premade tart shells will work.

4.80 from 5 votes

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