Fresh berry tart recipe

July 8, 11:26 AMLA Baking ExaminerHilary Cable

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Artfully arranged fruit tops the pastry filling in a bakery tart./Wikimedia Commons

Berries are plentiful and reasonably priced in the farmers markets and groceries around LA, so it’s a great time of year to indulge in a luscious fresh berry tart and save some money doing it. 

This fresh berry tart recipe starts with a sweet cookie crust, adds a layer rich vanilla pastry cream and is topped with blackberries, raspberries and blueberries. Top the tart with a glaze of melted jelly for a shining bakery-like finish. 

Ingredients: 

1 9½-inch sweet cookie crust, baked in a tart pan with removable bottom

1 ½ cups pastry cream 

1 ½ cups fresh blackberries

1 cup fresh raspberries

1 cup fresh blueberries

½ cup plus 2 tbsp. red currant jelly

Method: 

Wash and pick over the berries, discarding any stems or leaves. Set them on paper towels and allow them to dry. 

Melt the red currant jelly in a small saucepan, stirring as it dissolves. 

Using a pastry brush, brush a thin layer of the melted jelly on the bottom the baked, cooled tart crust. 

Set the crust aside to allow the jelly to cool and solidify, about 5 minutes. 

Spoon a layer of pastry cream into the tart crust.  The layer should be thin – about 3/8 to ½ inch thick – just enough to anchor the fruit in the crust. 

Arrange the blackberries and the raspberries stem side down on the pastry cream, distributing them evenly across the surface of the cream. Leave a little open space between berries. Press them into the cream gently with your hands. 

Scatter the blueberries over the blackberries and raspberries, allowing them to fill in the open spaces between the bigger berries.

Gently brush the berries with the melted currant jelly using a pastry brush. 

Refrigerate 1 hour or until cold. 

Cook’s notes: 

• Try other summer fruits such as blanched fresh apricot halves, peeled sliced peaches, fresh pineapple, chocolate-dipped strawberries, plain strawberries and peeled sliced kiwi fruit.  
• I used a 1-inch bristle paintbrush from a home improvement store instead of a pastry brush. It was a good buy and has been through the dishwasher countless times. 
• A quick substitute for making your own pastry cream is a box of vanilla pudding. It’s not nearly as good as homemade pastry cream, but competing priorities sometimes demand shortcuts. 
• Find the pastry cream recipe here. 
• Find the sweet cookie crust recipe here.  

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