Blueberry Tart
This tart dough avoids all that is scary about tart doughs -- no rolling! No cold butter!
The warm butter is just barely mixed into the sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and flour...
...and pressed into the tart pan.
Start by working the dough out from the middle, and then slowly up the sides. You'll want to have the dough hang over the top of the pan's edges a touch, as it'll contract during baking...
After it comes out of the fridge, we weighed it down with pie weights (or dal, as the case may be) and blind baked it for 8-10 minutes. This wasn't specified, but is a good way to ensure...
As the crust bakes, we chop the fruit. Or rather, Merrill chops fruit, and Amanda tastes it.
We decided to play it risky and juice the lemon straight over the fruit.
Stupid. Those seeds are awfully slippery.
To make the crisp topping, you simply throw all the ingredients together, and work it into a crumbly texture with your fingertips.
When filling the tart, be sure to lift the fruit out of the accumulated liquid, otherwise your lovingly blind-baked crust will become a soggy mass.
The tart baked for about 35 minutes, until the center was bubbly and the crust and the topping were golden brown.
Author Notes: The crust of this pie is more like a shortbread than a typical pie pastry, which means no rolling and no fuss. It's adapted from Alice Medrich's recipe for a mocha tart (aka the kind of pie I typically like: chocolate), and it takes well to this fruit filling. —Cara Eisenpress
Food52 Review: We have a soft spot for press-in pastry dough, which is a great feature of this blueberry tart. SmallKitchCara has you simply mix the pastry ingredients with a wooden spoon and pat the wet dough into a tart pan – a boon to anyone afraid of rolling pins (ahem, Merrill). But it was the crumble-like topping on this tart that really appealed to us. The crumble sinks down into the blueberries and peaches as they soften, and crisps on top, creating layers of texture. The filling and juices are pure and loose, and timidly sweetened, which we thought complemented the fruit’s acidity. Two notes: we lifted the fruit from its juices before adding it to the tart, as we didn't want to make the crust too soggy, and we found that our filled tart needed a little extra cooking time -- about 35 minutes in total. - A&M —The Editors
Serves 1 pie
For the Crust and the Filling
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup flour
- 2 cups blueberries, picked over and washed
- 2 peaches, diced
- juice from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon sugar
For the Crisp Topping
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/4 cup sugar
- pinch of cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons softened butter
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix together all the ingredients for the crust and press the dough into a fluted pie pan with a removable bottom. Use your fingers to spread the dough evenly, and be sure to press it up the sides. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes, until is is just beginning to firm up.
- Toss the fruit with the lemon and sugar and set aside.
- To make the crisp topping, combine the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Work in the butter, using your fingers, until you have a very dry dough that clumps together when you press it.
- When the crust is done baking, spread the fruit evenly in it. Sprinkle the crisp topping over everything, then return to the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes more, just until the crust is brown, the blueberries are slightly melted, and the topping is crisp. Cool slightly before serving with vanilla ice cream.
- Your Best Fruit Tart Contest Finalist!
More Great Recipes: Fruit|Desserts|Pies & Tarts|Blueberries|Tarts
4 months ago Tara chamot
The good news first: absolutely delicious, simple & quick. The tiny bit of bad news: baked it quite a bit longer than called for & still the top never did turn golden brown. The only thing I did different was using a 9" glass pie dish instead of tart pan & there's no way that would've cause that problem. I would consider putting this under the broiler just to get the pretty brown color next time, but besides that absolutely delicious! We drizzled leftover condensed milk over ours which was fabulous, but of course it would be great with whipped cream or ice cream
over 1 year ago Ellen Fox
I don't see a specification for the size of the tart panin the original recipe, but one comment said they had to double the crust recipe to fit a 9" pan. What size pan is meant to be used?
about 2 years ago DebJ
This is a terrific tart. I took a lesson from a Patricia Wells tart and sprinkled some finely ground almonds over the pre-baked crust to keep it from getting too soggy. And I also left most of the liquid behind when I added the fruit.
about 2 years ago JoAnn Bauer
Can you freeze it???
Bake it first?????
about 2 years ago ehrrin
This was SO good! (No ripe peaches here yet, so I doubled the blueberries & made some extra crumble--with almonds--because it's awesome.)
over 2 years ago mslupine
Made this last night, using 4 c. of blueberries, and adding 1 tsp. cinnamon and the zest of a lemon to the filling and 1/4 c. chopped pecans to the topping. It was delicious! But -- I baked it earlier in the day and warmed it in the oven during dinner, and in the process the bottom crust completely disappeared. Never had a crust dissolve completely before, I'm mystified! I'll make it again, but with a different crust recipe I think.
about 4 years ago gustus
Finally tried this tonight and loved it! But I'm tempted to mash this recipe up with Amanda's Peach Tart recipe, with a similar crust but it doesn't have to be precooked. I had great results with that recipe, too. Either way, I'm a convert to the press-in crust!
about 4 years ago pattette
I made this last week for a BBQ and everyone practically inhaled it! The shortbread crust rocked my world.
Two adjustments I made that people will hopefully find useful: I doubled the crust so it fit into a 9" tart pan, and I placed the finished tart under the broiler for 15-20 seconds to properly brown the crust and oat topping. But watch it SUPER carefully so it doesn't burn!
about 4 years ago Tashie
This was amazing! i popped the unbaked tart shell into the fridge for 30 mins to firm up before baking. And my tart required 40 minutes of baking time because my crumble topping wouldn't brown. The crust is out of this world, and brainless.
over 4 years ago AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.
Just a postscript to my last comment: A guest at the dinner party to which I took this on Friday night told me yesterday that it was one of the best desserts of mine he'd ever tasted. Also, a couple of cook's notes: I only had salted butter, so that's what I used. Quite a few people mentioned how delicious the crust was, and wondered what I put in it. (I did not add any salt to the crust, by the way.) Also, the topping seemed dry and still a bit uncooked after 30 minutes, and I was running out of time and concerned that the crust was overcooking, so I drizzled on a couple tablespoons of heavy cream and cooked the tart for another 5 or 6 minutes. Someone specifically mentioned what a great idea it was to add that touch of cream. I agree! ;o)
over 4 years ago AntoniaJames
AntoniaJames is a trusted source on Bread/Baking.
Made this after work to take to a dinner party earlier this evening. I was a bit skeptical about the extremely wet unbaked crust, so I added about 1/4 cup wheat germ before pressing into the tart pan, and then popped it into the freezer for about ten minutes before baking. Like others who have commented, I added more fruit. And I added a few toasted pecan pieces. Everyone raved. And it's so easy to make! ;o)
over 4 years ago oranji
i also added more blueberries than the recipe called for, along with some blackberries. so glad i did. for some reason, the crust mixture was really greasy (and wet) for me... and i had to keep adding flour to make it drier.
over 4 years ago pghcooks
What a fabulous base and top for a fresh fruit tart! Have made this to rave review twice now - the second time I used 2x the blueberries and substituted lime juice for lemon and it tasted even more delicious than the first time I made it. Nice work!
over 4 years ago em-i-lis
Emily is a trusted source on General Cooking.
have you ever made this in advance? how does it do? i'd like to make it today for tomorrow. have you tasted in served cold after a night in the fridge? many thanks!
over 4 years ago Pat in SoCal
This was crazy easy and delicious with blueberries and raspberries. Wonderfully adaptablento many different fruit combinations.
over 4 years ago Pat in SoCal
I meant "adaptable to..." :-(
about 5 years ago frydelsu
Made this wonderful tart. It was delicious and a huge hit at home, even with my picky teenager. Thanks. We will be making this recipe often!!!
about 5 years ago SuzanneBaggett
Loved this for its beauty, deliciousness, ease of preparation! Was making it again for my company this weekend when my oven ceased to function after I roasted asparagus (doubtless, immaterial). So what to do? Though the solution was obvious and very simple, deconstructed, this was as delightful if not better than the tart. Cereal bowl perfectly centered with one modest scoop of organic vanilla ice cream, colorfully wreathed with blueberry/peach mixture, prepared as specified, sprinkled with raw streusel.Healthier and better! What were the chances.
about 5 years ago DebJ
Made this tart yesterday for a dinner party and it was a huge hit! So simple, so delicious. Thanks so much! I'll be making this again, and again! Oh, and I agree with Chef Patty - I needed to bake it an addition 20 minutes to get the topping to brown. More than worth the wait!!
about 5 years ago chefpatty
A wonderful recipe. Lacking a 9" round tart, I used a 9" square. And I substituted sliced almonds for the oats in the topping. We couldn't stop eating this tart. I will try it again with the oats. One note: when the tart baked for the second time, it took 30 minutes to brown. Thanks for an easy crust and a yummy tart.
about 5 years ago tinaa.choi
I love how the crust was so simple yet so delicious!! :) Our fatal mistake was not letting it bake longer and ruining the topping a bit by completely melting the butter. (We also did not use a removable bottom pan). However, even with our mistakes it was still delightfully delicious! :D Thank you so much for this recipe! :D