My lovely neighbour, Dinie, sent me a message that she had some berries growing along her fenceline that I would be able to use in my baking. Never one to say no to the offer of fruit that I can try to bake something with, I headed over and discovered thorny branches laden with these delicious tart berries! After I had picked the Boysenberries and only had a minimal amount of scratches on my arms from the thorns to show for my efforts, I brought my bounty home and admired their gorgeous colour! I considered making muffins, but these seemed rather boring. So I used my buttertart pastry recipe and decided to create a simple tart that is a great beginner recipe!
PASTRY:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter softened
1 cup half and half cream
1/2 tsp, cinnamon
Start by putting all your dry ingredients together. Mix slightly with a fork. Add the softened butter and work together with a pastry blender. Use a fork if you don’t have a pastry blender. Once the dough is crumbly add 1/2 the cream and use a rubber spatula to gently work together. Then add the rest of the cream and work that in folding the dough gently with the rubber spatula.
Turn the dough onto a plate and gently shape into a ball. Cover with plastic wrap and place into fridge for 30 minutes. Cover your work space with 2 strips of parchment paper, about the length of a baking sheet. Lightly dust with flour and turn the ball of chilled dough onto it. Flour the top of the dough and begin to work it outward , working it into a flat piece that is about the thickness of a tart crust that you’d like. Some people prefer thicker crusts on their tarts, others quite thin. Just make sure that your dough thickness is consistent so that the tarts all bake the same. PREHEAT OVEN TO 350F now before you continue.
Take a round cookie cutter or a rounded container to cut out the rounds for the tarts. I used a Rubbermaid cylinder. Rule of thumb is that your fist should comfortably fit into the opening of the container. That is the perfect size to fit a standard muffin/tart tin size.
Drop each round into the muffin tin with the floured side down. No need to grease the pan. Take your fresh Boysenberries and place the berries into each tart until they reach the top of the pastry. The berries are large and will bake down.
In a bowl, measure out a 1/4 cup white sugar and a heaping tablespoon of corn starch. Mix together and then add to the top of each berry heap, making sure that there is enough on each one. If you run out, make a second portion of the same amount of sugar and corn starch and go around topping each one until the tarts have a fairly even helping of the sugar/starch mixture.
Bake on middle rack for 30 minutes. The pastry will be a nice golden colour and the fruit should have baked down a bit. The tops of the berries may still have a whitish look from the sugar/starch mixture, but this white residue will lessen as the berries absorb it as they cool in their shells.
Let the tarts cool thoroughly, which will take several hours. If they are not consumed the first day, store them in a covered container in the fridge. They should be good for 3 days or so.
Serve with a dollop of whipped cream, of course! As always, enjoy your creations! Lolita
Lolita Bakes! 