And now the real debate can begin.
Which is better? Plain, with raisins, pecans or for those really ‘out there,’ how about a butter tart teeming with walnuts, coconut or even peanut butter and jam?
That’s right, Midland’s preeminent festival is making a return appearance this spring after a two-year hiatus due to COVID-19.
Ontario’s Best Butter Tart Festival, which bills itself as Canada’s original and largest butter tart festival, takes over downtown Midland June 11 from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Since its inception in 2013 when butter tart bakers sold out of their precious goodies by 11 a.m., the festival has continued to grow and prosper.
The number of butter tarts available for sale increases each year (with 150,000 to 200,000 butter tarts available for sale this time around) as does attendance (65,000 butter tart lovers visited the town during the last festival in 2019).
But how did this humble, sweet and gooey treat become so popular and like la tarte au sucre du Québec and Nanaimo bars in British Columbia turn into one of the country’s most iconic desserts?
The butter tart's roots are older than the actual country itself, tracing its beginnings back to a 10-year period from 1663 to 1673 when 770 young women were sent to Québec from France by Louis XIV to help grow the population, according to Canadian food blogger Gabby Peyton.
Peyton says Les Filles du Roi, as they came to be known, did what any resourceful baker would do: They made do with what they had.
“With the abundance of new food they created the butter tart forerunner with baking ingredients readily available like maple sugar and dried fruit,” the Newfoundland-based Peyton writes on the foodbloogersofcanada website.
“This ancestral tart later led to variations like tarte au sucre and the butter tart. This iconic dish has stood the test of time and its syrupy simplicity has evoked a sense of Canadiana like few others.”
And while this writer can be found firmly entrenched in the raisins-in-butter tarts camp, Peyton notes that wasn't the case for the first documented butter tart recipe published in The Women’s Auxiliary of the Royal Victoria Hospital Cookbook in 1900, out of Barrie.
“Mrs. Malcolm MacLeod’s recipe did not include raisins, but currants paired with that ooey-gooey filling we know and love today,” Peyton writes.
As for Midland’s upcoming salute to this unique Canadian creation, things officially kick off this time around at 9 a.m. with the opening ceremonies that include the Piping of the Tart with Midland Pipes and Drums.
One of the festival’s highlights is a contest held at the Midland Cultural Centre’s Rotary Hall to award the prize for the Best Butter Tart in Ontario.
The contest, which is open to both professional and amateur/home bakers, features both traditional and “wild style” categories.
This year’s judging panel will again include celebrities, chefs, food and travel bloggers and local dignitaries, who all have one thing in common…an affection for the gooey baked goods. The judges' verdicts in a number of categories will be handed down at about 3:30 p.m.
Midland’s downtown core and adjacent parks will also be busy throughout the day with hosting 200 vendors and food trucks selling everything from butter tarts to unique, handmade items.
“And the variety of butter tarts you’ll find at our festival includes plain, raisin, pecan, walnut, Skor, maple, bacon, coconut, chocolate covered, PB&J, s’mores, gluten-free, vegan, nut-free, cheesecake, pumpkin...and many more,” according to the organization.
The festival also includes free, family-friendly entertainment, a kids zone, free shuttles and a butter tart trot (pre-registration is required).
And while COVID-19 scuttled the festival the past two years, this time around organizers will continue to follow all public health guidelines in response to the pandemic.
For more information on the festival, click here.
