By Keighley’s Mike Armstrong, an award-winning master baker with a big passion for baking...

THIS week's recipe, butter tartlets, sure evokes nostalgic memories. Many of you will be wondering why the heck is he doing another 'golden oldie' recipe? Well, I'll tell you.

This recipe can be found in many of the old Be-Ro books, which filled me with enthusiasm about a baking career, and were the go-to books for all our family staples.

You are forgiven for not holding these old and well-loved books in as high esteem as I do, yet the classic recipes are there, which bring back the happy memories.

I also have to say these little books really are a good basic teaching tool, so don't underrate them.

It's true to say as well that many of the recipes are coming back into fashion today, especially now that budgets are a little less flexible.

Butter tartlets are one of my personal favourites and in my opinion the best thing in the Be-Ro books, alongside coffee kisses!

The history of the butter tartlet is as complex as finding a second-hand Be-Ro book at a charity shop.

Canada is a large country with a rich indigenous history and it says the butter tartlet trails its way back to bakeries around Ontario.

I guess there were very few traditional Canadian recipes back then and these simple, gooey, incredibly sweet tarts are a national treasure, even appearing on a Canadian postage stamp. Butter tartlets were common in Canadian pioneer baking, with the earliest recipe published in 1900 – long before the Be-Ro books were born in 1923.

But some say the Scots can lay claim to the tartlets, with lots of Scottish immigrants living in rural Canada at that time, and likely to have adapted their own recipe.

If you haven't tried butter tartlets, you need to. They are delicious, and always make you feel like you're experiencing a little bite of heaven.

No doubt you won't be thinking of the origin of the butter tartlets when eating them, but nevertheless, it is fun to share them with you – my thoughts and research that is, not my butter tartlets!

RECIPE

BUTTER TARTLETS

Makes 12

Ingredients:

100g/4oz shortcrust pastry

25g/1oz butter

100g/4oz currants

100g/4oz demerara sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

Few drops of vanilla essence

Method:

1. Roll out the pastry thinly and cut out 12 x 3’’ rounds to fit bun or muffin tins.

2. Melt the butter, then add the egg, currants, demerara sugar and vanilla essence and mix well.

3. Put a small spoonful of mixture into each case and bake in a preheated oven at 200C/180C fan/Gas Mark 6.

4. Bake for around 15-20 minutes till golden brown.

5. When cool, decorate with a little water icing.