Other than the addition of some pumpkins and hay bales, the produce purveyors here in Florida don’t look much differently than they did two months ago in the heat of summer. I’m looking forward to that first whiff of autumn – the one you get unexpectedly one morning that smells vaguely of burning leaves and candy corn slow-roasted on a sidewalk after a smashing evening with a pair of sneakers.
That comes sometime in November here.
If you can find them, a big bite of summer is still available in the form of blueberries. The great thing about the recipe I’m sharing today is that you don’t need perfect blueberries. They tend to get a tad mealy and lose a bit of their sugar late in the season, but these tarts will snap them back to life. A bright citrus note snaps the little suckers to attention and makes for a great dessert.
Blueberry Mini Tarts
Ingredients
· 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting · 4 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
· Salt
· 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
· 2 to 3 tablespoons cold water
· 1/4 cup granulated sugar
· 1 tablespoon cornstarch
· 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
· 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
· 2 cups blueberries (Pick out the icky ones)
Directions
1. Pulse flour, confectioners' sugar, and a pinch of salt in a food processor to combine. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, about 10 seconds. With processor running, add cold water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until a dough forms (do not process more than 20 seconds).
2. Cut dough in half; shape each half into a disk. (Disks will seem shockingly small.) Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 30 minutes, or up to 1 day. Cut 1 disk into 12 pieces; on a lightly floured work surface, flatten each piece into a 2-inch round. Press a round onto bottom and up sides of each cup of a 12-cup nonstick mini-muffin tin. Repeat with remaining disk of dough and second muffin tin. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Stir together granulated sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice and zest, and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl. Add berries; toss to coat. Fill shells with berry mixture. Bake until crusts are brown and filling is bubbling, about 25 minutes. Let cool slightly in tins. Run a knife around tarts; remove from tins. Let cool completely on rack.
Martha's Tarts:
Jodi's Tarts:
Mine aren't as pretty, but they were REALLY good.
Pudge loved them!
(And so did everyone else!)
Highly recommended.
If you enjoyed this article, please visit my foodie blog at http://eatjax.com/blog/?author=6 - where every day is Foodie Tuesday!
Images:
Original recipe & Martha's tarts - marthastewart.com
all other photos copyright © 2009 by jodi a. kasten • all rights reserved
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Comments
Jodi,
these look fabulous, yummy, too!
(love the picture of Pudge, what a cutey!)
Don't you ever wonder how many hundreds of tarts were discarded as less than worthy to get the handful of perfect ones that are in Martha's photo?
bbd - This was just a cheap excuse to put up a photo of his cute little bat shirt.
surly - Hundreds - maybe thousands.
bobbot - You get the Latin Tart today! (Wait... am *I* the Latin Tart?!?)
"Kiss the Cook"
...and I think there's some sort of special dispensation for that.
Kathy - Martha has vast hoardes of chefs coming up with her stuff. The least I can do is bask in her glory!
Hooray for Pudge!
And you silly people thought it was just Martha....
As for the Latin, I never seem to figure yours out Jodi, yet some years ago, watching the movie "Priest", I figured out "You are a boil on the arse of Christ" right before the subtitle popped up. My old Latin teacher, who was a total prick, probably spun in his grave at that point (I hope).
Rated
Martha Stewart is Martha Stewart so the rest of us don't have to be. =o)