DCHP-2

butter tart buttertart DCHP-2 (October 2016)

• n. — Food, especially Ontario

  a tart with a filling made of butter, eggs and sugar, often with raisins or nuts added.

  Type: 2. Preservation — The butter tart is considered a classic Canadian pastry, although, like other recipes and cooking ingredients, it originated in the UK (see berry sugar).
  The first printed recipe for butter tarts found so far appears in a cookbook published in 1900 by the Women's Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital, in Barrie, Ontario (see the 1900 and 2008 quotations). It is likely, however, that the origin of the pastry is older, since recipes are often passed down in families, either orally or on handwritten cards, which is why we opt for Type 2 - Preservation rather than Type 1 - Origin in Canada.
  The origins of the pastry may be found in the French Canadian "tarte au sucre" (see the third 2007 quotation) though its filling usually omits the egg. Other similar tarts and pies use syrups or other sweeteners (see also Casselman (2006), s.v. "butter tart"). As Chart 1 shows, the term is most frequent in Canada. Within Canada, it is Ontario that uses the term most often, followed by (bordering) Manitoba, and, further East, Nova Scotia; the term is more popular in the Yukon Territory than in other Canadian locations.
  See also Gage-3, s.v. "butter tart", which is marked "Cdn.", ITP Nelson, s.v. "butter tart", which is marked "Canadian", COD-2, which marks the term "Cdn".

  See also: berry sugar  Nanaimo bar  blueberry grunt