These Canadian Keto Butter Tarts are made with an ooey gooey filling and a buttery crust. Butter tarts are a big deal in Canada. Seriously is there anything more Canadian? Butter tarts are definitely a thing here in Canada but there is no reason you can't make these at home. No matter where you live in the world these keto butter tarts are a must have.
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- Low carb snack recipes
- 🥘 Ingredients used for these butter tarts
- 👨🏻🍳 Steps to make these keto butter tarts
- 🍴 More diabetic friendly dessert recipes
- 📋 Substitutions and variations
- 👨🏻🍳 Top tips and serving suggestions
- 🥣 My kitchen essentials to make these butter tarts
- ♨️ How to store the butter tarts
- 💭 Frequently asked questions
- Other diabetic friendly recipes
- Recipe Card
- Keto Butter Tarts
Butter tarts are a delicious mix of flavours and textures, with flaky pastry and a sugar-free sweet filling. Think of a pecan pie but with a gooey butter filling that's semi-solid. Some butter tarts are made with raisins, but for a low-carb version, these keto butter tarts are made with a hint of maple and pecans.
🥘 Ingredients used for these butter tarts
The Pastry Crust
The main ingredients in these buttery pastry tarts are, of course, butter, almond flour, apple cider vinegar and xanthan gum. They all work well together and give this pastry a flaky crust that tastes great.
- Butter: helps create the light flaky pastry that we want in these tarts
- Coconut Flour: giving a mild sweet taste to the crust
- Almond Flour: ground blanched almonds were used for this keto ginger cookie recipe which gives it a slightly nutty flavour plus it's low carb and gluten free.
- Apple Cider Vinegar: helps to strengthen the dough and make it more springy
- Xanthan Gum: a great low carb stabilizer to prevent the ingredients from separating
Butter Tart Filling
I used brown sugar swerve in the filling to give it more of a caramel flavour. The swerve, butter and maple extract give the filling a sweet and caramel nutty flavour.
- Brown Sugar Swerve: this low carb sweetener is made with erythritol and gives these cookies a touch of caramel flavour that makes them ultra lux.
- Butter: melting the butter with the brown swerve creates that delightful sweet syrupy liquid for the filling.
- Maple Extract: adding that distinct and sweet almost burn note to these butter tarts
- Xanthan Gum: brings the ingredients together so they don't separate and keeps it gooey
- Eggs: helps thicken ane emulsify the luscious filling
👨🏻🍳 Steps to make these keto butter tarts
How to make these delicious low carb butter tarts
I highly suggest watching the video before making these sugar free butter tarts.
STEP 1: In a large bowl combine with a whisk the coconut flour, almond flour, ½ teaspoon of xanthan gum and salt. Then add the ½ cup of butter and cream cheese and cut with a pastry blender or two forks like I did in the video.
STEP 2: Next add the egg and the apple cider vinegar and mix together with rubber spatula. Once mixed together use your hands to knead the dough for about 1 minute and then shape the dough into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Store in the fridge for 1 hour.
STEP 3: After 1 hour lay some parchment on the counter and sprinkle with coconut flour. Remove dough from plastic wrap and roll out dough with a rolling pin just to loosen it up a little. Next layer another parchment on top of the dough and roll out to about a ¼ inch thick.
STEP 4: Remove top sheet of parchment and use a 4 inch round cookie cutter to cut 6 circles in the dough.
STEP 6: In a medium saucepan on low/medium heat melt together the brown swerve and ½ cup of butter. Allow to simmer for about 1 minute, then remove from heat while continuing to stir.
STEP 7: While off the heat whisk in the heavy whipping cream, maple and vanilla extract. Keep whisking until filling is cool to the touch.
STEP 8: Whisk in the 1 egg and then slowly add the xanthan gum a little at a time while vigorously whisking.
STEP 9: Remove pastry shells from fridge and fill each shell with chopped pecans. Then spoon in about 2 tablespoons of the filling into each shell and top with a pecan.
STEP 10: Bake the keto butter tarts in the oven at 375°F for 12-15 minutes. Edges of pastry shells should be golden brown and filling should not be jiggly after baking.
STEP 11: Allow butter tarts to completely cool in the muffin tins. Then turn the butter tarts in the tins to help loosen them up and then twist and lift to remove from muffin tins. Bottoms should be golden.
📋 Substitutions and variations
- Maple Extract: if you don't have maple extract you can simply go without or add other fun extract flavors like almond, banana or coconut.
- Pecans: not a fan of keto pecan butter tarts, try adding walnuts or even sugar-free chocolate chips instead
- Sweetener: if you don't have brown swerve or sukrin gold sweetener you can use regular erythritol or your other favorite sweeteners but the tarts will be much lighter and lose a lot of that caramel color and flavour.
Another favorite recipe of mine that uses a similar pastry crust is my Keto Quiche Lorraine.
👨🏻🍳 Top tips and serving suggestions
Top Tip: Do not overcook the filling in the saucepan as it can recrystallize much faster when cooled.
- Cooling: Ensure tarts are completely cooled before removing from muffin tins or they may fall apart. Do not flip over the muffin tin onto a cutting board as the filling may fall out in the process. Twist and lift the butter tarts out once they are cooled. Watch the video to see how I did it.
- Filling: Don't fill pastry shells more than two-thirds full
🥣 My kitchen essentials to make these butter tarts
- A simple 4" Cookie Cutter like this one is what I used to cut out the shellsLove using metal mixing bowls when I mix any batter but plastic or ceramic bowls will also work in a pinch
- I always have parchment paper on hand, it is a must for baking.
- Using silicone rubber spatulas always come in handy when baking, wooden spoons are a good substitute if it's just for mixing
- Having a good strong whisk on hand helps to bring a lot of ingredients together in this keto butter tart recipe.
- I couldn't have made this recipe without a heavy bottom saucepan
- Making these butter tarts would not be possible without a muffin tin or tart tin.
- My rolling pin does not get enough use as sometimes I use a tumbler glass to roll out dough but in a recipe like this I prefer a rolling pin.
♨️ How to store the butter tarts
The keto butter tarts are best served warm after baking as the filling will crystalize a little. However, a quick 20 second zap in the microwave will bring back some of the gooeyness in the filling. Butter tarts can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week. If freezing, store in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Simply thaw overnight and either warm up in the oven for 10 minutes at 350*F or microwave for 20 seconds after thawing.
💭 Frequently asked questions
These butter tarts have 3g of net carbs per serving and are likely to fit into a ketogenic and low carb diet.
These healthy butter tarts are made sugar free and only contain 3g of net carbohydrates per tart. Therefore, they can be considered as diabetic friendly. However, everyone reacts differently to different foods and you should monitor your blood sugars after consuming a tart to see how it affects you.
If butter tarts are too runny you can bake them for another 2 minutes to firm them up. Next time you can add an extra egg to the filling to firm it up even more. However, the filling may firm up as it cools.
According to Wikipedia "Butter tarts were common in pioneer Canadian cooking, and they remain a characteristic pastry of Canada, considered a recipe of genuinely Canadian origin." Source here
Due to the plenty of butter in the pastry dough the tarts do not stick to the tins for me. If you have an older muffin pan, you may need to butter the tins a little.
Each butter tart contains 349 calories.
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Recipe Card
Keto Butter Tarts
RECIPE VIDEO
Ingredients
Pastry Crust
- ¾ cup almond flour
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter
- 1 tablespoon cream cheese
- 1 Large egg
- 2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
Filling
- ¾ cup brown sweetener Sukrin Gold or Swerve Sweetener Brown (Swerve Sweetener Brown)
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon heavy whipping cream
- ¼ teaspoon Maple Extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon xanthan gum
- 6 pecans chopped save 6 pieces for topping (optional)
Instructions
Pastry Crust
- Combine the almond and coconut flour, xanthan gum and salt in a large bowl and whisk together.
- Combine the butter into the mixture using a pastry blender or with two forks (do this step quickly so the butter doesn't melt) then do the same with the cream cheese (see video for a visual)
- Add the egg and the apple cider vinegar, continue to mix until small pellets form
- Grab the mixture with your hands and knead the dough for about 1 minute until well mixed together to shape into a ball.
- Wrap ball with plastic wrap and store in fridge for an hour
- After 1 hour roll out dough on lightly coconut floured parchment paper, you may want to use another piece of parchment on top to roll out the dough to ¼ thick. Then using a 4" cookie cutter, cut out the shells. If you want a thick crust like the photos above, ⅛" - ¼" should work. Plus thicker makes it easier to peel off the parchment paper.
- Place each shell into a muffin tin, no butter or parchment needed as the butter in the crust should be enough. If pastry falls apart during this step use the extra rolled out dough to fill any holes. I did a lot of patch work here and it's ok, nobody is going to know. These tarts are rustic looking.
- Place into the fridge until ready to fill.
- Preheat oven to 375°F
Filling
- In a saucepan on medium/low melt the butter and brown sweetener/sukrin gold. Next, keep stirring, it might appear that the sweetener is not melting but it will. Simmer for 1 minute.
- Remove from heat and stir in the cream, maple and vanilla extract.
- Let it cool to the touch, about 5 minutes but keep stirring until its cool.
- Whisk in the egg and then sprinkle in the xanthan gum a little bit at a time while whisking vigorously.
- Chop the pecans and divide into each shell, save 6 pieces for the top. Feel free to add more pecans than suggested if you prefer.
- Using a spoon fill in the shells with the filling. About 2 tablespoons or up to two-thirds of the tart.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes at 375°F or until pastry shells are golden brown and filling is no longer jiggly.
- Allow to cool completely in the muffin tins and then use your fingers and gently twist the tarts to loosen them from the tin. Bottoms of tarts should be lightly golden.
- (See the video instructions below if further clarification is needed)
Notes
Important Information
For more information, tips and variations please review the recipe video and content above and below the recipe card.
Updates and Revisions
If the video and recipe card differ, follow the recipe card for the latest ingredients and instructions.
Nutritional Information
Nutrition info is estimated and varies by ingredients, measurements, and portions.
Nutrition
Food safety
- 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 a gas stove
See more food guidelines
Liz says
By far one of the best keto dessert recipes I’ve ever made!
Kelly says
I am so excited to make these. Is it possible to make the dough ahead of time and freeze without cooking?
Oscar Chimenti says
Depending on how long, it could dry out and become crumbly.
Ole says
Oscar, I'm happy to hear you consider yourself ex-diabetic, because that is a fact that you are 🙂 People always call it a disease, but it ain't, it's merely a condition, like all other folk-diseases, whether it being anything from obesity, pcos, asthma, arthritis, even cancer, it's just the body giving warning signs, and people don't listen...
Claudia says
First time baking keto butter tarts but was a little disappointed in the flavour. Felt like something was missing…. Wasn’t very sweet. It baked and held up well just maybe needs more sugar
Oscar Chimenti says
These butter tarts are sugar free as I bake for low carb/diabetics and therefore tend to lean towards a less sweet dessert. However, feel free to add more sugar or sweetener next time. Thanks for the feedback.
Ole says
Or you're a typical American, and you're addicted to sugar, which is why the rest of the world, makes desserts with less sugar, as the taste buds is like having a memory, you get too used to it... The American diet, typically has more than twice the amount of sugar needed, because there is fructose in everything they eat, and you can remove 85% of all items from a grocery store, if you remove the products containing fructose, it's horrible 🙁
Sorry, i had to get that out of my system 😉 But that being said, with sugar substitutes, then sure, if you think it should be sweeter, you just add more, you're the chef of your recipes.
Lisa says
Just by looks alone these should bang all my wants. Pre keto I made old style buttermilk biscuits. I am going to try the same thing I use for making those and grate my frozen butter. Makes things so much easier. I will let you know how that works compared to cutting in the butter!
Luca says
Following your very detailed instructions, they came out just perfect! The whole family loved them!