Butterscotch Tart

Do you remember butterscotch tart from school dinners? It's definitely a traditional pud that I loved rather than the gooseberry tart that was often served at school.

This rich and sweet tart has a crisp buttery pastry base. It is filled with a sweet creamy caramel that tastes like butter tablet and is pure comfort food.

If you like sweet desserts, you will love this recipe. The only small problem is that I found that one slice quickly leads to another! However, this tart easily feeds 10, so there's plenty to feed a crowd.

Enjoy!

Jump to:

• Why you will love this dish
• 🥘 Ingredients
• 🍽 Equipment
• 🔪 Instructions
• How to blind bake pastry
• ⏲️ Baking Time
• 🥗 Serve with
• Storage
• FAQs
• 📋 Recipe
• 💬 Comments

I have fond memories of this tart from school, along with pink custard, which didn't taste like custard at all. It was definitely a time of some freat recipes and some not so great!

According to my old Farmhouse cookery book, butterscotch tart originated in Scotland.

Originally a sweet, butterscotch is the combination of butter and sugar boiled together. It is believed to have originated in 1667 when a merchant brought a cargo of West Idnian sugar to the Clyde.

Either way, this magic concoction makes a delicious pie for a treat. Personally, I am quite happy to eat the whole tart with a fork, but you could add some cream for a completely decadent dessert!

Why you will love this dish

• Delicious hot from the oven or served as a cold dessert.
• Make from scratch or use ready made pastry or a cooked pastry case.
• Makes 10 generous portions.
• Easy, store cupboard ingredients that you probably already have.
• Great for kids.
• Slices easily.
• Make in advance.
• No 'rubbing in' of the pastry or chilling of the ingredients.

🥘 Ingredients

For the pastry

• Butter - ideally unsalted butter for baking, so that you can control the flavour. The butter needs to be soft, so that it can easily combine with the other pastry ingredients.
• Flour - plain or all purpose flour.
• Sugar - icing or confectioners sugar. The icing sugar blends really easily and makes a smoother pastry.
• Salt - plain table salt.
• Egg - large free range egg and an egg yolk.

For the filling

• Milk - I've used semi skimmed milk, as it's what I usually have and I can't taste the difference when using whole milk.
• Flour - cornflour or cornstarch. Traditionally, plain flour was used in this recipe, but it can easily make the sauce lumpy. I've adapted the original recipes to make it foolproof.
• Butter - salted or unsalted. You may need to add a pinch of salt to cut through the sweetness.
• Vanilla - vanilla extract to deepen the flavour. However, this is an addition and not traditionally used.

See recipe card for quantities.

🍽 Equipment

• 23 cm / 9 inch loose bottom tart tin
• medium saucepan
• wooden spoon
• baking parchment
• whisk
• baking tray
• food processor or large bowl
• rolling pin
• baking beans - or use some dried products such as rice or beans that you keep seperate just for baking blind, so they are not eaten.

🔪 Instructions

Start by making the pâté sucrée pastry, or sweet pastry.

How to make sweet pastry by hand or in the food processor

To make the pastry by hand cream the butter and sugar together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon until pale and fully mixed.

Whisk the egg to break it up then beat into the mixture.

Combine the flour and salt with the butter mixture.

Use your hands to squeeze the mixture together to form a dough.

To use the food processor put the egg, butter and sugar into a processor bowl and process for 10-15 seconds until well combined.

Tip in the flour and pulse until the mixture comes together.

For both methods, gather the pastry together in floured hands, knead lightly and place on a piece of cling film.

Use your fingers to form a rough ball shape then flatten with the palms of your hand.

Wrap over the clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and ideally 2 hours.

💭 Top Tip

• By letting the pastry cool in the refrigerator the butter solidifies, after softening in the processor or by using the spoon. This makes it much easier to roll out without sticking or breaking.

How to blind bake pastry

Blind baking is necessary when you need to put a liquid filling into a pastry case that needs to be cooked, such as a quiche.

This stops the filling from escaping from the pastry and also ensures that the pastry is crisp.

It is also required when making chilled desserts using a pastry base, such as this recipe.

Unwrap the pastry from the fridge and dust the worktop with a little flour.

Roll the pastry out and line the tart tin. Trim the edges and lightly fork the base.

Chill for 20 minutes in the fridge or 10 minutes in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 200 C / 400 F / 180 FAN / Gas 6 and place a rimmed oven tray into the oven to heat up.

This makes sure that the pastry base gets some instant heat as soon as it goes into the oven.

Take a square of baking parchment, 30cm/12inch square and fold into quarters, then fold again through the middle.

Hold the fold to the middle of the tin and trim off the outside edge of the paper. You will be left with a circle that lines the  pastry to protect it from getting burnt.

Scrunch the paper up into a ball to make it easier to shape the paper to cover the pastry.

Add some ceramic baking beans to the paper.

This will stop the pastry from rising up and the paper from moving. If you don't have ceramic beans then use any dried beans or rice and keep them separate for this purpose.

⏲️ Baking Time

Place the tin on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Carefully peel back the paper. If the pastry is set then remove the paper and beans.

Cook for about 5 minutes more until the pastry is set and an even colour.

Remove from the oven to cool.

💭 Top Tip

• If you have any cracks in the bottom or sides then lightly whisk an egg white and use a pastry brush to cover the base and sides before the final bake.

Filling

Put the flour, milk and sugar into a bowl and whisk well together.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a medium heat.

Take the butter off the heat.

Whisk the milk mixture into the butter mixture and return to the heat.

Cook, stirring for about 3 minutes until the mixture thickens.

Allow it to cook for a minute and then remove from the heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Pour the mixture into the cold pastry case.

Transfer the butterscotch tart to the refrigerator to set for about 3 hours before serving.

🥗 Serve with

I think this tart is delicious on it's own but you can serve it with lots of different things,

Serve it at a dinner party in thin slices with a pile of reaspberries on the side or some bananas fried in butter and rum.

• custard
• whipped cream
• clotted cream
• ice cream
• fresh fruit

Storage

• Refrigerator - leave the tart in the fridge for up to 5 days. I am lucky if I can make it last 3 days!
• Freezer - cut individual slices and place in airtight containers for up to 3 months. Defost overnight in the refrigerator.

FAQs

More tart recipes to try

There are more dessert choices too.

• Lemon Tart
• Raspberry Frangipane Tart
• Apple Crumble Tart
• Balsamic Strawberry Galette

More British desserts

Here are some of my favourite British desserts

• Eve's Pudding
• Microwave Syrup Pudding
• Macaroni Pudding
• Lemon Syllabub

📋 Recipe

Food Safety

• Do not use the same utensils on cooked food, that previously touched raw meat.
• Wash hands after touching raw meat.
• Don't leave food sitting out at room temperature for extended periods.
• Never leave cooking food unattended.
• Use oils with high smoking point to avoid harmful compounds.
• Always have good ventilation when using gas.

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