We have some very addictive butter tarts in Ottawa called Rachel’s Butter Tarts and apparently the bakery is in Trenton. They are available plain or with pecans or with raisins. We can get them locally in most metro stores in Ottawa but. I’ve been going through a butter tart drought the last five years since our metro downtown was closed. The nearest metro is in the Glebe south of downtown but the store is really small so there is very little to be had. Our downtown metro re-opened last Thursday so I am planning on spending the afternoon there on Sunday afternoon and I am hoping they have my beloved butter tarts there. I also made note to look for Willard’s oatmeal cookies while I am there. Apparently they are very addictive and also available at metro.
The talented baker from Osgoode Hall, where the Law Society of Ontario and some courts are located, has opened her own bakery at 2336 Danforth near Main. Her butter tarts are legendary.
These butter tart pictures are torture My butter tart dealer seems to have disappeared so I am now on a quest to look for a new dealer When I went to the bagel store over the Christmas holidays I discovered they made butter tarts in-house so I bought a package and they were HORRIBLE! Both the filling and the pastry had a burned taste to it. They didn’t look burned, they just tasted burned Oh well I will just have to do some research to find a new favourite. @Phoenikia do you still like the Farm Boy ones?
The Farm Boy tarts are very good for a commercial bakery product. I get plain or raisin, because I find commercial bakery nuts aren’t always fresh enough for my fussy taste buds.
I think, near you, an indie coffee shop might also sell a good one. At the Ministry of Coffee or somewhere like that.
The going rate is around $3-$5 for an indie coffee butter tart in Toronto, but I think they’re worth it as a splurge.
If you do buy a half dozen at Farm Boy, I find Butter Tarts freeze well, if you want to freeze 3 or 4 of them for another week.
Thanks! I might start with the Farm Boy ones and take it from there. I used to buy Rachel’s Butter Tarts (from Trenton) which used to be available at pretty well every metro in Ottawa but I’ve been checking and they seem to have all but disappeared. I used to buy packages of 6 then freeze them individually so I can have one at a time so I am willing to buy them by the package if I find any that are really good. I don’t mind paying a little more for them since I usually just have one with my coffee/tea on Saturday night so it’s a treat. Thanks for your help
Oh I forgot about them! I used to work at Lisgar Collegiate (high school located just off Elgin Street near city hall if you are familiar with Ottawa). I used to often pop in on my way home from school to pick up bread or treats for dinner or a danish or something for breakfast the next morning. I remember them making some pretty good butter tarts.
Great list! Thanks for digging that up - I’m on reddit enough I don’t know how I missed that… And I am following the Ottawa subreddit as well as OttawaFood.
I pass 3Tarts on the way to my CSA pickup spot during the growing season and there is always a line up so they must be doing something right! I will have to add them to my list. Thanks again for your research.
My butter tart dealer seems to have disappeared so I am now on a quest to look for a new dealer 
When I went to the bagel store over the Christmas holidays I discovered they made butter tarts in-house so I bought a package and they were HORRIBLE! Both the filling and the pastry had a burned taste to it. They didn’t look burned, they just tasted burned 
Oh well I will just have to do some research to find a new favourite. 
