Butter Tarts--Canada's favorite dessert

[Jenise]

So last night I had my first butter tart and was shocked to discover that it was identical in texture and flavor to what I know of as pecan pie--but without the pecans. Oh, and just a few raisins!

[Robin Garr]

Lose the raisins, and you're pretty close to chess pie!

[Jenise]

Never had it! But I thought, from pictures, that chess pie was more pale/opaque. IOW, custardy. No?

A little research suggests that chess pie is definitely not a custard pie; it is really a cheesecake made without cheese.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/History ... essPie.htm

I think Pecan Pie was a good association.

[Robin Garr]

I always thought that chess pie was pecan pie without pecans, but I'm not really an expert on pie. Or pi, for that matter!

[Jenise]

A little research suggests that chess pie is definitely not a custard pie; it is really a cheesecake made without cheese.
https://whatscookingamerica.net/History ... essPie.htm

I think Pecan Pie was a good association.

That's interesting! Mind you, at another recent event little things called Butter Tarts made by a friend named Jill (who is Canadian) also showed up, but they were vividly yellow and opaque. That they were made from cream and egg yolk would explain the visual (god knows, I did NOT sample them).

Okay, let me discuss this with Bob who is a southern boy with a sweet tooth and who sampled BOTH of the butter tarts in question....

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We have a verdict! Bob's dad LOVED Chess Pie. Loved as in he used to trade plumbing services for pies. Bob ate his share. And those Chess Pies and all he had in the south were pretty much just like Jill's Butter Tarts, though he reports that hers were smoother than the slightly-grainy (he said they were similar to tapioca pudding consistency--curdled egg yolk?) Chess Pies of his youth. But the Vancouver Butter Tarts on Monday were identical to Pecan Pie, as I observed.

So apparently there's more than one way to butter your tart, and differences are likely regional. Scant evidence, but we're probably dealing with a high degree of variants so everybody's right.

And those Chess Pies and all he had in the south were pretty much just like Jill's Butter Tarts, though he reports that hers were smoother than the slightly-grainy (he said they were similar to tapioca pudding consistency--curdled egg yolk?) Chess Pies of his youth.

One of the pages I read (but did not post here) said that the cook may also add extra flour or cornmeal into the batter. That, or something like it, might explain the grainier texture without curdling.

[Jenise]

Cornmeal! In the south, they'd do that. Cool explanation.