Monday, March 13, 2017

Puff Pastry Blueberry Tart

Oops! Got a little happy with the powdered sugar!
It's that time of year again. The freezer is about to burst and some items need to be used before they expire. I happen to have a lot of frozen blueberries.

We have made just about every conceivable blueberry recipe here at Mystery Lovers' Kitchen. Cakes, pies, sauces, scones—you name it! So I went searching for a recipe without much hope. I landed at the Blueberry Council. Who knew there was one?

Much to my delight, I spied a freeform Blueberry tart. But, shhh, you don't have to make the pastry. And guess what else I had in my freezer! Puff pastry dough running up to its expiration date a lot faster than I realized. So this recipe hit it on all counts for me.

Only one problem—they used fresh blueberries, which I did not have. So I substituted frozen blueberries and held my breath. It's really a very simple recipe which could easily be made at the (almost) last minute. You do need to allow the pastry dough to thaw for 30 minutes. And it needs to bake for 30 minutes. So it might not be perfect as a last minute dessert, but it doesn't take a lot of time.

I did make one other big change. They brushed the dough with milk. I used a whisked egg, which probably gives it a prettier color and a shinier look. The real reason I went that way was to use the egg as glue. I didn't think milk would help the pastry stick together and stay where I wanted it to go.

For some reason, I'm always seeing these free form tarts in circles. I have no idea where they find puff pastry in a circle. I always seem to buy a square one. No problem, I thought. Mine will simply be square. As you can see from the photos, it sort of landed in between. When I folded over the edges, I pressed together the corners so the dough would stay up where it belonged. But the corners looked odd and didn't really cooperate so I used the egg wash to glue them and folded them to one side, which worked out perfectly.

Note that there's some cornstarch on top of the blueberries in the pictures. Try not to do that! Most of it was absorbed but it did leave a little dusting.

Puff Pastry Blueberry Tart
based on a recipe from the Blueberry Council

1 frozen puff pastry
2 cups (about 1 10-ounce bag) frozen blueberries
3 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 small egg
Sprinkle of cinnamon
Powdered sugar

Thaw the puff pastry for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 400. Prepare a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Pour the frozen blueberries into a bowl. Add the sugar and cornstarch and toss well.

Whisk the egg. Unfold the puff pastry and pour the blueberries into the middle, leaving a 1 1/2 -inch margin to fold up. Be sure none of the cornstarch is globbed on top. Fold each side up over the blueberries. Using a pastry brush, brush the inside corners and press together. Fold each corner to the side (making sure they all go in the same direction). Brush the top of the dough with the egg wash.

Sprinkle the top of the blueberries with cinnamon. Bake 30 minutes.

Dust with powdered sugar if you like. Serve hot or cold with ice cream or whipped cream.

Mix blueberries with cornstarch and sugar.

Pour into puff pastry.

Fold up and brush with an egg wash.


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10 comments:

  1. How pretty is that! And I bless any use of frozen puff pastry (I know my daughter knows how to make it, but she couldn't show me the last time she was here because she would have had to roll it out on the porch--too warm in the kitchen>)

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  2. What a fun experiment, using things from the freezer! I have blueberries in the freezer. I've been buying way too many "at discount" - you know the big containers for $2.99. Sheesh. I can't eat them all. But I was advised to freeze them and they're great for smoothies and pastries like this. Love it. ~ Daryl

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  3. I love puff pastry -- and I always laugh, because the first thing many recipes say is to roll the square into a circle! This looks wonderfully easy and yummy.

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  4. Your tart looks amazing -- I love blueberries!

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  5. Cleverly done!
    If you hadn't told us, we would have thought it was XXX sugar on the top.

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  6. So pretty and so easy, wonderful!

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  7. Looks yummy and easy. I can't wait to try! Thanks for sharing!

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  8. this blueberry recipe looks great, thanks

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  9. The chicken recipe looks delicious! I love the Coffeehouse Series, my favorite! Looking forward to more!

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