Canadian Butter Tarts

Ingredients

• 250g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 150g cold unsalted butter, cubed
• 60ml ice-cold water
• 1 tsp cider vinegar
• 60g unsalted butter, softened, for the filling
• 200g light brown sugar
• 80ml golden syrup or corn syrup
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• Pinch of salt
• 80g raisins or chopped pecans (optional)

Before you cook

• Rub the cold cubed butter into the flour and salt until you have coarse flakes, then bind with the ice water and cider vinegar and chill the dough for 45 minutes
• Grease a 12-hole muffin tin well, including the flat top between the holes
• Soften the 60g of butter for the filling
• Heat the oven to 215C

Steps

1. Roll the chilled pastry out to 3mm thick on a floured surface.
2. Cut twelve 11cm rounds, re-rolling the scraps once if you need to.
3. Press a round into each muffin hole, easing it down without stretching so the sides come most of the way up.
4. Put the lined tin in the fridge for 15 minutes to firm the pastry back up.
5. Beat the softened butter with the brown sugar until the mixture is creamy and no longer grainy.
6. Mix in the golden syrup, maple syrup, beaten eggs, vanilla, white vinegar, flour and salt, stirring only until combined so you do not whip air into it.
7. Drop a spoonful of raisins or pecans into each chilled shell if you are using them.
8. Fill each shell two thirds full with the syrup mixture, leaving room for the filling to bubble up.
9. Bake the tarts on the bottom shelf of the oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and the filling is puffed and still trembling at the centre.
10. Take the tin out while the middles look slightly underdone, since they set as they cool.
11. Let the tarts sit in the tin for 10 minutes, then run a thin knife around each one and lift them onto a rack.
12. Cool the tarts completely before eating, or the filling will run straight out.