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The Perfect Blueberry Tart

Posted Mon, Jul 13, 2009, 4:43 pm PDT

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Different tastes - much like smells or songs-evoke memories of childhood. Having grown up in a family of restaurateurs - Italian ones at that - I was introduced to a variety of flavors at a very young age. Certain olive oils and herbs, or a perfectly ripe tomato can take me back to my grandmother's dinner table, but for my boyfriend, its blueberry pie. However, I'm not really a fan. Blueberry pie is gummy and sweet, and often tastes over-processed. But, I'd been promising him one for ages, and Christmas was finally time to deliver.

Adamant to not present a gummy, sugary one, I turned to Bill Corbett, the pastry chef I worked with at dona, for advice. What he gave me was a recipe for more of a tart than a pie, but either way, delicious.

After a few tries at rolling the crust, I presented a dish that was perfectly tart, thanks to the zest of two lemons, and not at all gummy, because only the crust is baked before the filling is poured and chilled to serve. It was a hit with not only my boyfriend, but i too was a fan. And for the pastry challenged, Bill agreed to share his recipe. Enjoy!

Bill Corbett's Blueberry Tart

Crust Ingredients
½ cup confectioner's sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/3 cup ground almonds
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon of rum
4, hard-boiled egg yolks, grated on small side of box grater or pass through sieve
2 ½ sticks of butter, softened

Crust Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Place the sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, almonds and baking powder in a mixer with a paddle attachment and combine on low speed.
3. With mixer running, add rum and grated, hard-boiled egg yolks.
4. Add butter a little at a time and mix, maintaining low speed until just combined.
5. Gather dough and press into a flat disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for half an hour.
6. Once dough has rested, roll out to 1/4" thick, flouring surface well so as not to stick to rolling pin.
7. Drape rolled out dough over tart pan and press into pan.
8. With a fork pierce the bottom of the dough many times so that the steam is released during baking and the dough doesn't puff up.
9. Refrigerate again for a half hour to rest the dough.
10. Bake at 325°F until crust is golden brown.

Filling Ingredients
2 lbs. fresh (if possible) blueberries
1 cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons
½ vanilla bean, scraped
¼ cup cornstarch
½ cup water

Filling Instructions
1. Combine the blueberries, sugar, lemon zest and vanilla bean in a saucepan and place over medium heat.
2. Combine cornstarch and water in a mixing bowl and whisk to dissolve.
3. When blueberry mixture is steaming, pour a little of the hot liquid into cornstarch mix, whisk to combine and return mixture to pot stirring constantly until mixture thickens and bubbles.
4. Immediately pour into shell and refrigerate until cool.

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39 Comments

1. Posted by strippeee on Thu, Jan 18, 2007, 12:24 am PST

I believe there is no better way to let someone know how special they are than by cooking for them. I used your recipe for my boyfriend as well. He fell in love all over again! Thank you.
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2. Posted by Liz on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 9:47 am PST

Sounds Yummy.. How about some Vanilla Ice Cream on the side.
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3. Posted by Jacqueline T on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 12:47 pm PST

this is a yummy recipe, but for people who want to eat fresh blueberries -- unless you live in Chile or Argentina -- is next to impossible. Great recipe fir august!
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4. Posted by mokissims on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 1:42 pm PST

Easy isn't quite the right adjective I would use for a recipe that is asking for fresh blueberries and a vanilla bean. What is the purpose of hard boiled egg yolks for the crust?
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5. Posted by Kris on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 1:52 pm PST

Um what is the purpose of the hard boiled egg yolks for a crust? and this isn't easy
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6. Posted by Marcos B on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 2:08 pm PST

I'm a bit of a cook myslef, and that does not came across as a simple no fuss recipe. Hard boiled eggs? geez...if that's easy i dread to read what they think is difficult. And sure, we do have fresh blue berries at the moment in Argentina. And we export them to the USA, so maybe u can get some
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7. Posted by Terri C on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 3:24 pm PST

Maine has awesome wild blueberries in the summer. But right now, fresh frozen blueberries would probably be ok. And really, this doesn't sound that hard...I'll have to try it!
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8. Posted by myra_adams2003 on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 3:35 pm PST

EGGS ?????!!!!!
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9. Posted by White Organic Polish Princess on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 4:07 pm PST

I don't know where the author promised "easy." Give it a try. Usually folks will be surprised at just how easy a recipe can be. Measure out all your ingredients first into bowls or plates. Have it all lined up, I know the folks on Food Network do this, but it really does help. Read through the recipe and make a mental picture of the steps, then dive right in. You can substtitute frozen for the fresh B.B.'s, you'd spend a fortune on fresh if you were to buy 2 lbs. anyway. Frozen is healthier too, flash frozen within hours of picking instead of hanging around the cold storage facility for weeks. Skip the vanilla bean if I were you unless you have an online dealer, I have found one. You'd spend at least $12-$15 on 2 beans from the grocery store, just add a teaspoon or so of a good extract. Don't have rum? Try another, brandy, whiskey, schnapps... Hope this helps... Homeschooling Mom of 4
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10. Posted by Gip on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 6:52 pm PST

looks good, but does'nt look like a quick dessert. I think I'll try it anyway.
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11. Posted by evkdmmk on Fri, Jan 19, 2007, 7:04 pm PST

niiiice
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12. Posted by jdonahue79 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 6:13 am PST

Just remember not to use stick margarine or the hydrogenated margarines, so you can keep the tart trans-fat free. Try adding some flax oil or even fish oil to the mix, so that you can add some omega 3 fatty acids to the tart.
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13. Posted by miakisha s on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 6:15 am PST

Be nice if there was a picture. It would give me more incentive to make it. It would make me think "looks good, wonder what it would take like?" But in the mean time, I'll stick with Pillsbury.
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14. Posted by Bob on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 6:19 am PST

In amine, at least where I live, there are bountiful fresh blueberries. In fact, there is a field of them just outside the back door to my office. My wife and I often pick the berries, clean them, and freeze the ones we don't plan to use right away. We enjoy blueberries year round. We'll give this recipe a try - it looks great.
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15. Posted by Jean G on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 6:22 am PST

Not as easy as blueberry pie. Too expensive to try.
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16. Posted by dance_sing_paint_every_day on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 6:41 am PST

Who said add fish oil? Pul-leeze! Why don't you try whole wheat flour, and splenda instead of sugar, and applesauce instead of the hard-boiled eggs.....etc., etc....until, wait, it isn't the same recipe anymore? I suggest if you want to take the healthy approach, just eat the fresh blueberries, take a fish oil capsule, and save yourself a lot of trouble.
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17. Posted by babs14830 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 6:50 am PST

recipe is expensive and crust takes too much time.
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18. Posted by supurman2005 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 7:06 am PST

Easy !!!!!!!!!! I don't think so............Hard boiled egg yolks,thats just yukky..........But who knows it might taste good.
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19. Posted by hippiechickjp on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 7:11 am PST

sounds yummy !
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20. Posted by slickpicker2 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 7:38 am PST

This is an easy recipe, just making a basic pastry dough. If you dont like hands on cooking buy a frozen pie. Check this link for what the pros do organize http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mise_en_place Now go get your hands dirty.....
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21. Posted by pasofino622 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 7:40 am PST

This recipe is not that hard if you follow it one step at a time. The egg yolks make the crust flakey, this is a wonderful tart instead of the vanilla bean i added a teaspoon of vanilla, and also a big scoop of fresh whipped cream on the top is good
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22. Posted by thehotttrock on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 7:46 am PST

This definitely seems like an out of season recipe.
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23. Posted by on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 7:55 am PST

I live in Michigan and we are one of the largets producers of blueberries. Even out of season though I can find fresh blueberries at my local grocery stores. I live in a suburb of Detroit. Not cheap but you can't have everything!
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24. Posted by vowens01 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 8:23 am PST

egg yolks? what the....
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25. Posted by Boo on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 8:36 am PST

Sounds great, anyone need a taste tester! Thanks to the person who took the time to create the reciepy and shared it with us. I am very new to cooking and a special thanks to Homeschooling Mom of 4..The "u can do it" attitude and substitution recommendatons turned me around and Im going of it..I agree 100% with the comment(s) about the picture. It would definately would have helped.. Can anyone tell me what kind of pan (description) I am suppose to be using ?? Thanks all..Peace..BooBoo
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26. Posted by thought1000 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 8:42 am PST

Cooked Egg yolks stirred into dough give the dough rich flavor without changing texture. Raw eggs give a dessert/baked goods structure (think typical 1-2-3-4 cake here). Cooked egg yolks will add a rich flavor without influencing the structure of the pie dough. Flakiness in a dough comes from when the pieces of butter or fat are not fully incorporated into the flour, causing layers in the dough (hence why over-working pie or biscuit dough will yield a non-flakey result...there are no layers). Hope this helps!
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27. Posted by lorslat on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 8:47 am PST

Sounds good for a restaurant....but, I'll stick to my homemade baked crust, fresh or frozen blueberries & blueberry jello for the thickening...to each his own !
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28. Posted by thought1000 on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 10:02 am PST

Wow, Thanks for the tip on the cooked egg yolks!!! Sounds like your a Pro Baker???
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29. Posted by joann3689@sbcglobal.net on Sat, Jan 20, 2007, 10:19 am PST

sounds like French Crusine. yum, yum
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30. Posted by thought1000 on Sun, Jan 21, 2007, 12:10 pm PST

Hey 10:02am 1/20, Wish I was a pro baker! Thanks ;) What about you?
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