Loaded Butter Tarts - a Canadian classic reinvented.

Loaded Butter Tarts. Traditional, easy-to-make butter tarts with the addition of toasted pecans, chocolate chips, raisins and dried coconut. Ultimately decadent.

These Loaded Butter tarts came about partly as the result of a very lively vote and discussion on the Rock Recipes Facebook Page. It was about whether the filling for a proper butter tart should be completely set or a little runny.

People definitely had strong opinions with 60% of the total votes going for the runnier filling version.

At least one of the voters mentioned the award winning butter tarts at Doo Doo's Bakery in Bailieboro, Ontario. After a little research I discovered they made a fully loaded butter tart using walnuts, raisins, chocolate chips and dried coconut.

I knew I had to try a version like that for myself... and I loved them!

All of these flavours together reminded me of Magic Bars, the kind we always made at Christmas time. They have a graham crumb base and layers of chocolate chips, nuts, coconut and condensed milk.

This was like the flavour of a Magic Bar inside a flakey crust! What's not to love?

Try changing up the type of nuts you use in this recipe, practically any kind you like will do, or trey using a combination of nuts.

Find our Original Butter Tart Recipe here. It has instructions on making them with a set or runny filling.

For more tried and true recipes, check out this collection of our 25 Most Popular Recipes since Rock Recipes began back in 2007.

Originally published June 2016. Updated May 2020.

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Loaded Butter Tarts

Yield: 16 -18 tarts

Prep Time: 45 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour

Loaded Butter Tarts - traditional easy to make butter tarts with the addition of toasted pecans, chocolate chips, raisins and dried coconut; ultimately decadent.

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Ingredients

For the Pastry

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• 2 ¼ cups flour, pastry flour is best to use but all-purpose will do
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ cup shortening, Very cold and cut in cubes
• ½ cup butter, Very cold and cut in cubes
• 6 tablespoon ice water (approximately, enough to bring the dough together)

For the Filling

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• ½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup corn syrup
• ¼ cup butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup raisins
• ¼ cup chocolate chips
• ¼ cup lightly toasted chopped pecans, or walnuts
• ¼ cup dried coconut, finely cut (not sweetened)

Instructions

To prepare the pastry

1. Pulse the cold butter and shortening into the flour sugar and salt using a food processor until the shortening or butter is reduced to pea sized pieces.
2. Sprinkle the water over the surface and toss with a fork until the water is just incorporated into the dough. Do not over work the dough; handle it only enough so that the dough stays together.
3. Form the dough into two rounds about an inch thick.
4. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest in the fridge for about a half hour.
5. Roll out on lightly floured surface. Cut into rounds with 4 inch cutter. Fit into muffin cups. Chill in the fridge or freezer while you prepare the filling. Cold pastry heading into a hot oven will always be flakier.

To make the filling

1. Combine all filling ingredients except raisins, chocolate chips, pecans and coconut.
2. Mix well.
3. Sprinkle raisins, chocolate chips, pecans and coconut evenly in the bottom of the pastry lined muffin cups.
4. Fill ⅔ full with syrup mixture.
5. Bake on bottom shelf of oven at 425 degrees F for 12 to 15 minutes.
6. Cool completely on a wire rack and remove tarts from from pans.

Notes

Notes
There is considerable debate about whether the filling in a butter tart should be runny or firm. Preferences vary, especially geographically but if you want a firmer, less runny filling simply add an additional egg, increase the brown sugar to ¾ cup and decrease the corn syrup to ¼ cup.

Nutrition Information

Yield

18

Serving Size

1 g
Amount Per Serving Calories 305Total Fat 17gSaturated Fat 9gTrans Fat 0gUnsaturated Fat 7gCholesterol 36mgSodium 190mgCarbohydrates 36gFiber 1gSugar 17gProtein 3g

The nutritional information provided is automatically calculated by third party software and is meant as a guideline only. Exact accuracy is not guaranteed. For recipes where all ingredients may not be used entirely, such as those with coatings on meats, or with sauces or dressings for example, calorie & nutritional values per serving will likely be somewhat lower than indicated.

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