Butterscotch Tartlets

5 from 2 votes

Simple yet scrumptious butterscotch tartlets made with sweet pastry crusts filled with luscious, creamy, and slightly salty butterscotch.

Prep Time20

Cook Time20

Chilling time3

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: British

Servings: tartlets

Calories: 231kcal

Author: Helen

Equipment

1 mixing bowl
10 tartlet cases or a tartlet tin
1 saucepan

Ingredients

Sweet shortcrust pastry (inspired by BBC Good Food)

150 g plain/ all-purpose flour
75 g unsalted butter fridge temperature, chopped into small cubes
50 g icing sugar
1 egg yolk
A pinch (⅛) tsp salt

Butterscotch filling

60 g unsalted butter (Note 1)
100 g light brown soft sugar (Note 2)
4 tsp flour
2.5 tbsp double cream (Note 3)
½ tsp vanilla extract (or essence) (optional)
¼ tsp sea salt (optional)

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Sweet shortcrust pastry

Heat the oven to 180C or 350F.
Add the flour and butter to a mixing bowl and rub it together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.
Then sift in the icing sugar and add the salt and egg yolk and continue to rub together with your hands until combined.
Add a little water (one teaspoon at a time) if the pastry is too dry to form into a ball.
Roll the dough into a ball, wrap in cling film and place it in the fridge for a least 30 minutes.
Place the dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll out until around 3-4mm (⅛ inch) thick.
Use a cutter to cut the dough into circles and place them into tartlet cases or a tartlet tin.
Repeat these steps until all the dough has been made into tartlet shells.
Prick the bottom of each tartlet shell with a fork a few times.
Place the tarlet shells into the middle of the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until they begin to brown.
Allow them to cool in the tin or cases for 10 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Butterscotch Filling

Place a small saucepan on a medium heat and add the butter.
Stir in the sugar when the butter is hot and completely melted, add the flour and continue to stir until smooth.
Add the cream and stir for another minute or two until the sauce starts to thicken slightly and remove from the heat and set aside.
Stir in the sea salt and vanilla essence if using and spoon the sauce into the tartlet shells.
Chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours until the butterscotch has set. For best results allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Notes

Unsalted butter: You can use salted butter instead but you won't need to add additional salt to the filling.
Sugar: after testing a number of different sugars I found light brown soft sugar produced the best results, however, other light brown sugars like muscovado or demerara sugar will also work well. Some butterscotch recipes call for darker brown sugar, I personally found it a bit rich and treacly, but feel free to try it if it appeals. If you only have dark brown sugar, you could also mix it with some white caster sugar to make it less rich.
Double cream: You can use milk instead (ideally whole milk) but the consistency of the filling will be a little thinner.

Storage:

The tartlets will keep for up to 5 days when stored in an airtight tin in a cool place. You can also keep them in the fridge in an air-tight container.

If you need to store them for longer these mini-tarts can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Simply place them into a freezer bag or container with pieces of baking paper between them to prevent them from sticking together and defrost on the counter or in the fridge overnight.

Nutrition