Butter Tarts: Flaky Canadian Tarts with Gooey Brown Sugar and Raisins

Make the pastry. Mix the flour, sugar and salt, then rub or pulse in the cold butter until the pieces are the size of peas. Sprinkle in the iced water a little at a time until the dough just holds when squeezed. Press into a disc, wrap and chill for 1 h; those small butter pieces turn into steam in the oven and give the flaky layers.

Line the tins. Roll the pastry 6 mm thick and cut 18 rounds, rerolling the scraps once. Press them into the muffin holes so they rise up the sides in loose pleats, then chill for 30 min to firm the butter again.

Heat the oven. Set the oven to 220 °C (200 °C fan).

Whisk the filling. Whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, vinegar and salt in the jug until glossy. The vinegar balances the sweetness and keeps the sugar from turning grainy.

Fill the cases. Scatter about 5 g of raisins into each case, then pour in roughly 1.5 tbsp of filling, keeping each no more than two-thirds full so it does not overflow.

Bake in two stages. Bake for 10 min at 220 °C to set the pastry, then turn down to 175 °C (155 °C fan) for about 12 min more. The pastry should be golden and the filling bubbling across its surface, which means it has passed 71 °C.

Release and cool. Leave them in the tins for 15 min, then run the palette knife round each tart to free any caught filling. Lift them out and cool on a rack.