Fresh Blackberry Tart

It’s really starting to feel like summer at Eckert’s in Belleville! We have our first-of-the-season peaches, Lodi apples (perfect for making applesauce), blackberries and homegrown cherry tomatoes in our Country Store. My mouth waters as I walk past the piles of fresh produce and think about all my favorite summer recipes…

With blackberries on my mind and in my culinary dreams, I just had to pull out this recipe for a Fresh Blackberry Tart from The Eckert Family Summer Cookbook (found on page 71). The recipe as written in the cookbook, is a faster version of what we made today. The cookbook version calls for mixing and dumping the berries in the pie shell which makes this recipe easy and efficient. Today however our classroom culinary instructor, Lana, taught me a new little trick to make our tart look even prettier. She had an idea to face all the berries upright in the pie shell and boy does it look lovely!!

Lana also shared a tip on rolling rounded pieces of dough. When you roll pastry dough with a tapered rolling pin (like the ones we sell in our Belleville Country Store), the pie dough naturally maintains its circular shape. Pastry chefs favor tapered rolling pins, also called a French rolling pins, for shaping bread or pastry dough. It is really quite amazing so if you would like to see for yourself, stop by our cooking classroom and we will do a little demo for you.

In the meantime, I hope you will give this recipe a try in its simple or fancy form. Thanks to premade pie dough and a short baking time, you can have this delicious blackberry dessert on the table in an hour or less!

Eat well this summer,

Angie

Fresh Blackberry Tart
1 (9-inch) Eckert’s unbaked pie shell, defrosted (but still cool)
4 Tbs. all-purpose flour, divided
5 to 6 cups fresh Eckert’s blackberries, washed and patted dry with paper toweling
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbs. granulated sugar, divided
2 tsp. lemon zest
Pinch of salt
1 large egg, well beaten
Eckert’s Vanilla Custard (optional)

Preheat oven to 350-degrees.

Spread 1 tablespoon of flour on countertop. Remove pie shell from tin. Gently roll out pie shell flat (final diameter should be 11-12”). Use fingers to crimp edges of pie dough all around the crust forming a 3/4 inch border. Set aside.

In a large bowl, mix 1/3 cup sugar, flour, lemon zest and salt.  Add berries and toss gently.

Place each berry, stem side down, side-by-side inside the pie dough.

Brush tart crust sides and edges with beaten egg. Use remaining egg to brush on the tops of the berries. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of berries and crust. Bake for 35 minutes or until crust is golden brown.

Allow to cool 10 minutes before cutting into wedges. Serve with Eckert’s Vanilla Custard. Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Note: Some of the fresh blackberry juices may escape, but that’s okay!