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Fresh Blueberry Tart

Blueberry Tart

A trip to a local market this week yielded a huge basket of sweet, ripe blueberries. They were so good that I couldn’t pass them up, but I also knew that I would need to come up with at least one blueberry-heavy recipe to use them up before they went past their prime, or just bite the bullet and freeze some. A pie seemed like an ideal way to use up lots of berries, though a double crust wouldn’t show off how gorgeous they were. I opted instead to make an open blueberry tart, letting both the flavor and color of the berries shine.

There are many different types of berry tarts out there. Some encase the berries in a batter of some kind, while others use berries as a jewel-like topping for a creamy filling. I wanted to have a filling where berries were the focal point, not just an afterthought or accessory. In amongst my bookmarks, I have a recipe for small blueberry meringue tarts from Anna Olsen and I decided to use it as a jumping off point for my tart. The filling for the tarts particularly interested me, as it used both fresh and cooked blueberries.

The filling worked out beautifully. The fact that some of the berries were cooked in a sugar/cornstarch syrup gave the filling an excellent color and just enough sweetness, while the fresh berries (stirred in at the end), added texture and a bit of a “pop” when you bit into one. If you look closely at the sliced tart, you can just see the green centers of some of the fresh berries. The filling firmed up well enough to slice after being refrigerate, but was still soft and very juicy. You can try this filling with frozen and thawed berries and it will probably come out ok; fresh berries are far and away the best way to go here.

The crust was shortbread-like, and a good balance for the filling. I really liked the fact that it was sturdy, but tender – excellent qualities in a base for a soft filling. I brushed the whole crust with melted white chocolate to “seal” it once it was cool, so the filling never had a chance to make the crust soggy, even after a couple of days in the fridge (so this tart can be made a day or two ahead of time). I used a rectangular tart pan, but this crust will work for a 9 or 10-inch round tart, as well.

Blueberry Tart, sliced

Fresh Blueberry Tart
Crust
6 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
3-oz. white chocolate

Filling
3 cups fresh blueberries, divided
3/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
2 tbsp water

Make the crust: In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg. When fully incorporated, stir in flour and salt until dough comes together. Press dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350F.
Roll chilled dough out on a lightly floured surface until it is large enough to cover a 9 or 10-inch round pie tin (or a 4×14-inch rectangular tart pan). If the dough cracks around the edges, you can patch it with an extra piece of dough. Press into pan and up the sides. Poke bottom crust a dozen times with a fork.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until edges just begin to turn golden.
Cool completely.
When crust has cooled, melt white chocolate in a small bowl and use a small offset spatula or pastry brush to brush an even layer of chocolate on the inside base and sides of the crust. Chill until ready to use.

Make the filling: Combine 1 1/2 cups of the fresh blueberries with 3/4 cup sugar in a medium sauce pan. Whisk together water and cornstarch in a small bowl and stir into blueberry mixture. Cook, over medium-high heat, until berry mixture comes to a simmer and begins to thicken. Stirring occasionally, boil for about 1 minute. Transfer berry mixture to a large bowl to cool to room temperature.
When berry mixture has cooled, stir in fresh blueberries. Pour blueberry mixture into prepared crust and spread into an even layer.
Refrigerate (up to 2 days) until ready to serve.

Serves 10.

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16 Comments
  • freelance metasnob
    August 15, 2008

    Oh, this is so beautiful. I want to go make this and take the exact same photos, ha! =)

  • Laura
    August 15, 2008

    This looks gorgeous. I love the idea of adding a layer of chocolate to the crust. I realise it wouldn’t be FRESH blueberry tart, but would it be possible to make this with frozen berries? It’s winter here and a fruit pie sounds fabulous, but obviously fresh berries are a bit hard to come by! 🙂

  • Rachel@fairycakeheaven
    August 16, 2008

    oooo gorgeous, all jammy and lucious. The chocolate is a fantastic idea!!!

  • extreme weight loss
    August 16, 2008

    Yammy!!! This looks so gorgeous&tasty. I love the idea of adding a layer of chocolate to the crust.But there is one problem& i think i should solve it by myself If i want to take such item.So i’ve to say the receipe to my mom…Thank’s for sharing a dalecious food item……..

  • Jeri
    August 16, 2008

    So yummy and what a beautiful picture!

  • CookiePie
    August 16, 2008

    Gorgeous tart! And your photos are amazing – I could practically taste the delicious berries and buttery crust. Yum!!

  • Katrina
    August 17, 2008

    Beautiful! I love the idea of some cooked berries and some fresh ones.

  • Mrs.Sound
    August 17, 2008

    Whoa! This is so yummy. I’d love to have a piece of this. Thanks for the share.
    http://www.foodista.com

  • snookydoodle
    August 17, 2008

    this looks so delicious and yummy

  • giz
    August 17, 2008

    Besides being so incredibly delicious, blueberry anything is usually so simplistic to put together. To me – it’s a true sign of an extremely versatile product – gotta love blueberries.

  • DreamWeaver
    April 8, 2009

    I found this last night and made it today as a dessert to follow salmon cannelloni w/a lemon cream sauce and a kale salad w/ricotta salata. THIS was my favorite part. I was soo proud to share it with my friends- it blew all of our minds. The crisp, tender crust and that gooey, fresh, sweet, light filling made me go back for seconds. The white chocolate is brilliant and gives this a secret upper-hand. I made mine in a round spring-form pan and the only different thing I did was: before I put it into the fridge, after I covered it with plastic wrap and it was in the shape of a disc, I gently pressed through the wrap and smoothed it into a large (~11″) circle. It seemed much more palpable before it was chilled and when I took it from the fridge it was ready to slowly sink into the pan as-is. Thank you so much for sharing this and giving me a new favorite recipe! Kudos and cheers!

  • Kent
    November 27, 2009

    I believe there is no better way to let someone know how special they are than by cooking for them. I used your recipe for my boyfriend as well. He fell in love all over again! Thank you.

  • Aileen
    August 28, 2011

    I find the topping too sweet so next time I’m making this, I’m definitely going to cut back on the sugar or probably add a little lemon juice and zest for a little touch of “tanginess”. The crust was also a little too hard and not as flaky as I imagined it to be. Anyway, this is a nice recipe to work on. Thanks for sharing. 🙂

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