Author Notes: The crust of this pie is more like a shortbread than a typical pie pastry, which means no rolling and no fuss. It’s adapted from Alice Medrich’s recipe for a mocha tart (aka the kind of pie I typically like: chocolate), and it takes well to this fruit filling. —Cara Eisenpress
Food52 Review: We have a soft spot for press-in pastry dough, which is a great feature of this blueberry tart. SmallKitchCara has you simply mix the pastry ingredients with a wooden spoon and pat the wet dough into a tart pan – a boon to anyone afraid of rolling pins (ahem, Merrill). But it was the crumble-like topping on this tart that really appealed to us. The crumble sinks down into the blueberries and peaches as they soften, and crisps on top, creating layers of texture. The filling and juices are pure and loose, and timidly sweetened, which we thought complemented the fruit’s acidity. Two notes: we lifted the fruit from its juices before adding it to the tart, as we didn’t want to make the crust too soggy, and we found that our filled tart needed a little extra cooking time — about 35 minutes in total. – A&M —The Editors
Serves: 1 pie
Ingredients
For the Crust and the Filling
-
1
stick (1/2 cup) butter, melted
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1/4
cup sugar
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1/8
teaspoon salt
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3/4
teaspoon pure vanilla extract
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1
cup flour
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2
cups blueberries, picked over and washed
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2
peaches, diced
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juice from 1 lemon
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1
tablespoon sugar
For the Crisp Topping
-
1/4
cup flour
-
1/4
cup rolled oats
-
1/4
cup sugar
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pinch of cinnamon
-
pinch of salt
-
2
tablespoons softened butter
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix together all the ingredients for the crust and press the dough into a fluted pie pan with a removable bottom. Use your fingers to spread the dough evenly, and be sure to press it up the sides. Bake the crust for 8-10 minutes, until is is just beginning to firm up.
- Toss the fruit with the lemon and sugar and set aside.
- To make the crisp topping, combine the flour, oats, sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Work in the butter, using your fingers, until you have a very dry dough that clumps together when you press it.
- When the crust is done baking, spread the fruit evenly in it. Sprinkle the crisp topping over everything, then return to the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes more, just until the crust is brown, the blueberries are slightly melted, and the topping is crisp. Cool slightly before serving with vanilla ice cream.
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This tart dough avoids all that is scary about tart doughs — no rolling! No cold butter!
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The warm butter is just barely mixed into the sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and flour…
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…and pressed into the tart pan.
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Start by working the dough out from the middle, and then slowly up the sides. You'll want to have the dough hang over the top of the pan's edges a touch, as it'll contract during baking…
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After it comes out of the fridge, we weighed it down with pie weights (or dal, as the case may be) and blind baked it for 8-10 minutes. This wasn't specified, but is a good way to ensure…
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As the crust bakes, we chop the fruit. Or rather, Merrill chops fruit, and Amanda tastes it.
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We decided to play it risky and juice the lemon straight over the fruit.
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Stupid. Those seeds are awfully slippery.
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To make the crisp topping, you simply throw all the ingredients together, and work it into a crumbly texture with your fingertips.
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When filling the tart, be sure to lift the fruit out of the accumulated liquid, otherwise your lovingly blind-baked crust will become a soggy mass.
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The tart baked for about 35 minutes, until the center was bubbly and the crust and the topping were golden brown.
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