French raspberry and blueberry tart

A traditional French tart with a twist.

My family has had some happy news this week - my sister is engaged! In order to celebrate this important event, I decided to make a tart. As you do.

You can make this tart with any berries you choose. I've made one with strawberries before, and one with raspberries. This is my first time using blueberries, and also using more than one type of berry. 

I've also eaten a LOT of raspberry tarts in France; they are pretty much my favourite treat there. Yum yum yum. 

My recipe below has been cobbled together from the MasterChef website (pastry), a French cookbook I bought while travelling (crème pâtissière) and some information on the BBC GoodFood website (glaze). 

Hopefully it will all make sense. 

Equipment

22-24 cm loose bottomed round tart tin
Food processor

Rolling pin

Pie weights (or a dried pulse such as chickpeas)

Baking paper cartouche (for how to make one, click here; it's easy)

Electric mixer

Pastry brush
Palette knife

Ingredients

Berries

2-4 punnets of raspberries, blueberries or strawberries

Sweet shortcrust pastry*
1 cup plain flour, sifted
75g unsalted butter, diced, chilled
1/4 cup pure icing sugar, sifted
Pinch of salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla paste
4 egg yolks (three for the mix, one for the egg wash)
2 teaspoons milk

Crème pâtissière**
4 egg yolks
6 tablespoons sugar
4 teaspoons vanilla sugar
4 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons kirsch (artisan distilled cherry schnapps)
400ml milk

Glaze
6 tablespoons berry jam
2 tablespoons kirsch

Method*

Berries

• Remove the berries from their punnets and place in a small colander or seive. 
• Rinse, then place on paper towel or a tea towel to absorb the excess water. They need to be dry by the time you add them to the tart. 

Berry preparation.

Pastry*

• Preheat oven to 180°C (160°C fan-forced). (You may wish to do this later on as there are several steps to create the pastry case)
• Lightly grease the tart tin.
• Place all pastry ingredients except for egg yolks and milk into a food processor. Process mixture until it resembles almond meal or breadcrumbs. 
• Remove from processor and transfer to a bowl, making a well in the centre. 
• Place three of the egg yolks into well, then using your hands, work egg yolks into crumb mixture until just combined.
• If the mixture is too dry, add some extra butter. 
• Form dough into a ball and place in a clean bowl, then wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
• After refrigeration, place pastry on a lightly floured work surface. Using a lightly dusted rolling pin, start to evenly flatten dough, keeping it as round and neat as possible.
• For a helpful pastry-rolling tutorial, click here.
• Rotate the pastry as you roll it, until it is approximately 3mm thick. 
• To check if the pastry is the correct size for the tart tin, place the tin over the pastry. There should be a decent overlap of a few centimetres the whole way around. 
• Carefully line the tart tin with the pastry. If the overlapping pastry is quite heavy, trim it off before you attempt to push the pastry down into the corners of the tin.
• Don't be afraid of your pastry! If you make a hole, you can patch it up. Get a bit of excess pastry and wet it with milk or egg, and gently repair the hole. Wipe a bit of flour over it and you'll never know it was there. 
• When the pastry edges are in place, push down on the edge of the tin to "chop" off the excess (ie: the edge of the tin will cut the pastry very neatly for you). Excess pastry can be rolled into a ball and frozen for future use.
• Place tart tin in the refrigerator for 15 minutes. 
• Next, blind bake the pastry case. Line base with your cartouche then fill tart shell with pie weights or a dried pulse.

Blind baking.

• Place tart tin on a tray and bake in oven for 15 minutes. 
• Your kitchen should start to smell amazing!
• Remove tart tin from oven, check pastry is lightly golden before removing weights and baking paper. Leave the oven on.
• Use the edges of the cartouche to lift out the weights once they have cooled a bit. 
• Put your cartouche into a ziplock bag and save it for next time.
• Combine remaining egg yolk and milk in a bowl and brush pastry well with the mixture, before returning to oven to cook for a further 10 minutes or until golden. 

Completed tart base.

• Remove tart from oven, allow to cool completely.
• While your pastry is cooling, you can begin the crème pâtissière.

Crème pâtissière**

• Place the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla sugar into a bowl. Beat with an electric mixer until light and fluffy.
• Gradually add in the flour and kirsch, bit by bit.

L'ingrédient secret.

• Heat the milk until it is just below boiling in a small saucepan, then pour into the mixing bowl. Stir quickly until it becomes a smooth cream.
• Poor this into a clean saucepan and stir frequently but not constantly over a low heat until the mixture thickens. 
• Don't worry if you get lumps - just keep stirring. Make sure you scrape down all of the interior of the pot or else the mixture will congeal on the bottom. 
• Once it has thickened, take it off the heat before it can reduce too much.
• Leave the crème to cool completely. It will continue to thicken as it cools. Stir occasionally to ensure it stays smooth.
• While it's cooling, grab a teaspoon and have a taste. Miam!

Assembling the tart

• Pour the crème pâtissière into the pastry case. Spread evenly.
• Arrange the fruit on top of the crème; normally this would be done in concentric circles starting from the outside working in.
• If you're using strawberries and they're different sizes, cut them so that they're approximately the same size. 
• Pack the berries in as tightly as possible.

Tongs can help arrange the berries evenly.

If you're making a heart shape like I did, it's probably best to have a "dress rehearsal". I actually used a heart-shaped egg ring as a stencil. (Don't ask me where you get a heart-shaped egg ring from.) 

Berry dress rehearsal.

Glaze***

• To make the glaze, put the jam and kirsch in a small pan and bring to the simmer, stirring, until it lightly coats the back of the spoon. 
• Pass through a sieve to remove the seeds and any chunks of fruit.
• Using a pastry brush, gently brush the berries with the glaze.

Strawberry jam for the glaze.

Serving the tart

• Once the glaze has cooled, your tart is ready to serve.
• Check that the pastry is not attached to the tin around the edges. Gently prod the edges with a knife to separate the two there if is a connection at any point. 
• Place the tin on an upturned glass and gently slip the edge of the tin off. 
• Use a palette knife to remove the tart from its base, and place it onto your serving platter. You can actually leave it on the tart tin base if you're scared of breaking the pastry.

Bon appétit!

• Slice, plate, enjoy! 
• You can store the tart in the fridge overnight, however it is best eaten on the same day it's made. If you are pushed for time, you can make both the pastry and the crème pâtissière the day before. 

Mmmmmm...

* Adapted from the MasterChef recipe.
** Translated from Desserts d'hier pour gourmands d'aujourd'hui, Editions OUEST-FRANCE.
*** BBC GoodFood Raspberry, lemon & frangipane tart recipe method.