Bake 15a: Mixed Berry Tart

For the showstopper, the contestants were tasked with making both sweet and savory tartlets, 12 of each. As I lack tartlet pans, I decided to make one tart for sweet and one for savory.

First up, sweet! A mixed berry tart with fresh blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries, over a honey lemon pastry cream with a sweet tart crust with just a hint of lemon. We were set to have dinner with family and it felt like an ideal dessert to bring along, since they just harvested honey for the first time from their backyard hive and the summer berries were looking great at the store. 

Ingredients

Crust

1 1/4 cups flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

zest of 1 lemon

1 stick cold cubed salted butter (1/2 cup)

1 egg yolk.(save the white for the filling)

Filling

1/2 cup lemon curd (recipe here)

3 eggs

1/4 cup flour

3 tablespoons corn starch

2 cups whole milk

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoons salted butter

Topping

Berries of your choice, I used 1 cup each of blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup jelly of your choice

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat a tart pan (I used a 9" round) with cooking spray with flour. 

Make the crust first. Process the flour, sugar, and zest together. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add in the egg yolk and pulse until the dough clumps together. Press the crust into the pan, using your fingers, and the outside of a measuring cup sprayed with nonstick cooking spray so it won't stick. Dock the bottom of the crust with a fork 5-7 times. Bake until golden brown, 13-15 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Next the filling. Whisk together lemon curd, reserved egg white from the crust, and eggs in a large bowl. Add the flour and cornstarch. In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and honey over medium to a summer. Add 1 cup of that heated milk to the egg mixture, whisking constantly. Then return the egg mixture to the saucepan, cooking over medium, until thick and bubbly. 3-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and add the butter, whisking until smooth. Pour into the cooled crust, covering with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours. 

While that chills, glaze your berries. Melt the lemon juice and jelly in a small saucepan or a microwave safe bowl. You can then either toss your berries in the glaze (be gentle with raspberries adding them last as they fall apart) or arrange your fruit on top of the tart and then brush with the glaze. I went with the toss method so I could pile on LOTS of berries.