Butter tarts are quintessentially Canadian confection. And, the Canadian Amish, have taken a liking to them too. Really, what is there not to like? Buttery goodness and deliciousness. The same applies to butter tart pie!
In fact, the first time I’d ever heard of a butter tart was actually when I was visiting an Amish home in Ontario. The Amish tend to adopt local food customs, and in Canada that includes the famous butter tart, anything maple, and poutine, french fries smothered in gravy and whatever else one can grab.

By the way, the Canadian population of Amish is growing. The largest Amish settlements are in the province of Ontario, near Kitchener, Aylmer, and Milverton. The province of Prince Edward Island has experienced a boom of Old Order Mennonites and Amish moving in. I’ve only been to the Amish community at Aylmer and another smaller one near Lindsay. And my understanding is that they’re Amish that moved into Manitoba. Quebec does not have an Amish population because of strict regulation of parochial schools, which the Amish like to run themselves.
Below are a photo of Canadian Butter Tarts, these were made by an Amish woman in Aylmer.
Butter tarts are great, but they are a little bit labor-intensive. You have these tiny pie crusts and you fill each one individually and while I highly recommend them, they do require some steps. But this butter tart pie is something I could really get behind, because there are fewer steps just one crust to deal with. Thank you, reader Penny, who appropriately lives in Canada, for sharing this recipe with us. And her photo.
SIGH, the pie recipe calls for over 2 cups of raisins. I have such a love-hate relationship with raisins. I'd be tempted to forego them. The Amish Canadian butter tart recipe I have says you can sub walnuts or coconut for raisins. I don't know, I say raisins are not my favorite - and they are not - but sometimes they work well in a recipe like this, I will grudgingly admit. So, the raisins are up to you.
As for the pie crust you could use a pre-made one...this Amish in-the-pan no-roll crust is now my go-to it literally takes just minutes. So I'd use this.
🥧 Canadian Butter Tart Pie
- 1 – 9 inch pie shell
- 3 eggs
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons butter ( melted )
- 1 teaspoon flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cups raisins
📋 Butter Tart Pie Instructions
- Beat eggs lightly.
- Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, flour, vanilla & salt.
- Stir in raisins.
- Pour into unbaked pie shell.
- Bake at 400 for 5 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for about 35 more minutes or until the center is just firm to touch. Cool completely before cutting.
🍁 Five More Canadian Amish Recipes!
Here are five more favorites from our Amish friends north of the border, recipes like Mom's Goulash, Butter Tar Muffins (yes, muffins), and more. The Amish culinary community definitely likes Canada! Click here
🖨️ Butter Tart Pie
Canadian Butter Tart Pie
Ingredients
- ¾ cup packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons butter melted
- 1 teaspoon flour
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 ¼ cup raisins
Instructions
- Beat eggs lightly.
- Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, flour, vanilla & salt.
- Stir in raisins.
- Pour into unbaked pie shell.
- Bake at 400 for 5 minutes.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 and bake for about 35 more minutes or until the centre is just firm to touch.
- Cool completely before cutting.
Heather
Hi from Canada , Southwestern Ontario to be exact . I make my butter tarts with just 5 ingredients , Butter , eggs , Brown sugar , salt and raisins . I whip the butter and brown sugar together , then add the eggs and salt and beat until light and fluffy then stir in the raisins . I do not use flour or corn syrup (corn syrup is not good for you) . I don't like runny butter tarts and these are not runny but very very delicious ( or so everyone tells me )
Kevin Williams
I like the way your butter tarts sounds, I don't like runny tarts either! Do you ever omit the raisins?