Thought to be originated in Quebec in the 1600s, the butter tart is a pure Canadian dessert.
Credit: Gotta Luv Butter Tarts
A recipe for this flaky pastry shell treat filled with a flavourful filling first appeared in The Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook (Barrie) in the 1900s. The recipe from the Barrie cookbook by Mrs. Malcolm MacLeod was simple and had only two lines for the filling, “One cup sugar, 1/2 butter, 2 eggs, 1 cup currants; Mix. Fill the tarts and bake.”
Credit: Simcoe County
This seemingly simple dessert caught the national imagination and launched the now-famous annual festival in the home county of the cookbook’s author. Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival will be held in Midland on June 8th. There will also be over 200 vendors selling everything from butter tarts to handy crafts.
To celebrate the sweet indulgence of Canadian butter tarts, Gotta Luv Butter Tarts has curated various vendors selling the finest butter tarts, cupcakes, and other tasty treats and will tour Southern Ontario locations starting in Bowmanville on April 27th.
Gotta Luv Butter Tarts will also visit Mississauga on June 25th, Barrie on July 8, Burlington on August 12th and Pickering on September 2.
Other locations include Streetsville and Lakeview Farmers’ Market in Mississauga on September 23 and October 29, respectively.
If you are a butter tart aficionado, then there is also a themed Butter Tart road trip in the home county of Trent Serven Waterway, where you can visit 50 locations selling buttery tarts.
Whether you are a purist looking for true butter tarts without raisins or nuts or tarts so thin that the filling stars, you will surely find a butter tart with your name on it.
So mark all these dates on your calendar, and plan a day trip to celebrate the closest thing we have to a national dessert.
Butter Tart Festivals and Markets in Ontario
Ontarios Best Butter Tart Festival
- Bowmanville Butter Tart Festival on April 27 @ Garnet B. Richards Rec Centre, 2440 Highway 2, Bowmanville
- Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival on June 8 @ Downtown Midland
- Barrie Butter Tarts and More Markets on July 13 @ Along Dunlop St. East. Meridian Place, and Dunlop St. West, Downtown Barrie
- Burlington Butter Tarts Festival on August 10 @ Burlington Centre, 777 Guelph Line, Burlington
- Streetsville Butter Tarts & More Markets on September 21 @ Streetsville Centre Square