BLACKBERRY TART

Berries are really fantastic and I always look forwards to the summertime when they are abundant and grace the market stalls for our biggest pleasure! I also particularly enjoy picking blackberries in the countryside around the Arve as those little purple jewels are a lot more tasty when they are wild than when bought at the supermarket...

This "Blackberry Tart" is an example of how I love to eat those wonderful fruits. This is a recipe of my own inspired by the tarts that I used to eat at home or at my grandparents'...

I prefer to eat my "Blackberry Tart" with a special filling as I find that the slight sourness and the smokey flavor of blackberries go hand in hand with the rich and round taste of the cream. To add a little Swiss touch, I decided to perfume this tart with a little schnaps, but if you are not a big fan of such alcohols, then vanilla extract alone or lemon essence will be as delicious. In fact, I recommend you to try the lemon essence version as it rocks with such berries!

So, if you love tarts and berries, then I can only recommend you to run into your kitchen and get started as your whole apartment/house will be filled with a magnificent fragrance and your stomach/soul will show you it's greatfulness !!!

Obachan, this post is for you. You wanted to see a picture of my berry tart before it disappeared, well that's exactly how one of those fabulous tarts looked like after it was baked!...

Ingredients:
1 Quantity shortcrust pastry (see recipe)
500g Blackberries
50g Castor sugar
Filling:
60-70g Light brown sugar
2+1 1/2 Tbs Cornstarch
250ml Double cream
2 Eggs (~50g)
1 1/2 Tbs Kirsch (optional, see remarks)
1 Tsp Vanilla extract

~ Handpicked wild blackberries. ~

Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Over a floured surface, roll out the pastry so as to fit a 26cm (10.2 inches) diameter tart case.
3. Line the tart case with the pastry and slightly prick the base with a fork.
4. Gently mix the blackberries with 2 Tbs cornstarch and 50g sugar in a bowl.
5. Place the blackberries over the pastry.
6. Bake for about 30-35 minutes.
7. In the meantime, stir together the cream, cornstarch, eggs, brown sugar, vanilla extract and kirsch.
8. Pour the cream mixture into the prebaked tart and bake further for about 30-40 minutes at 200°C (400°F).
9. Cool on a wire rack.

Remarks:
If you don't have any Kirsch or don't want to use any alcohol, then replace it by a few drops of lemon essence (but then again, you don't even need to replace the Kirsch by anything...).
You could use normal cream instead of double cream, but the tart's filling will be less thick and less custard-like.
You can also use other berries (red currants for example) for the confection of this tart.
If you don't want your crust to overbake, then you can cover the tart with some aluminium foil.
The cream filling is perfectly cooked when it's surface bubbles slightly (while baking).

Serving suggestions:
Eat either lukewarm or cool with chantilly cream (whipped cream) or clotted cream.