Spring

Blackberry and Plum Tart

by:
May  4, 2019
3
1 Ratings
  • Prep time 20 minutes
  • Cook time 35 minutes
  • Serves 8
Author Notes

I love a good back pocket recipe, especially one that can be made without the need for special equipment or fancy ingredients but still makes you look like a pro. This tart is one of those recipes. I adapted it from Amanda Hesser's Peach Tart, tweaking both the crust and fruit filling to suit the tastes of my family. I found beautiful plums and blackberries in my market so they took the place of the peaches. I don't love almond extract so I swapped it out in the crust for lemon zest, my mom's trick to her amazing tart crust, and backed off on the olive oil in the original to let the lemon flavor shine through. I tossed a pinch of cardamom into the topping because I think it marries beautifully with plums, but that bit is optional. The end result is a flaky, crusted beauty that lets the simple fruit filling shine through. —Renee Zublic

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup plus 2 teaspooons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons lemon zest
  • 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 6 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
  • 2 tablespoons mild olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons whole milk
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 2 tablespoons cold, unsalted butter
  • 3 ripe but firm plums, pitted and sliced into 1/2 inch slices
  • 2/3 cup fresh blackberries
Directions
  1. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. In a mixing bowl, rub the lemon zest into the 3/4 cup sugar to extract some of the oils from the zest. Using a fork, stir 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt into the sugar mixture. Pour the oils and milk over the dry ingredients, give them a quick mix together and then stir them gently into the flour mixture until the ingredients just come together into a dough.
  2. Transfer the dough into an 11 inch round tart pan or an 11 x 5 inch rectangular tart pan. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan with the back of your knuckles. Be firm and push the dough all the way into the corners evenly. The back of a measuring cup is a helpful tool in ensuring the crust is even and smooth once you've gotten it mostly in place with your fingers.
  3. In the same bowl, stir together 3/4 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons flour, cardamom and salt. Using a fork or your fingers, press the butter through the dry ingredients until the mixture's texture is pebbly.
  4. Arrange the plum slices overlapping snugly in the tart pan. Tuck the blackberries in between the plum slices. Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the fruit. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the fruit juices are bubbly and the crust is golden. Serve warm or room temperature.
Tags:

See what other Food52ers are saying.

Popular on Food52

1 Review

ss
ss August 18, 2022
We have both blackberries and plums in our yard, so I thought this was going to be perfect.
As written, it says to add 3/4 c. sugar twice, one to the dough and one for the crumble, which absolutely cannot be right. I added the 3/4 c. to the dough, and the 2 tbsp to the crumble topping, and it was still too sweet. Hopefully the author will update and correct the measurements so the next person has more success.
Other than the sugar issue, this was pretty good! I didn't have an 11 inch tart pan so my crust was too thick, but it was good otherwise.