Picking fresh berries is such a wonderful summer activity! The other week, my best friend, Liz, and I had the occasion to pick fresh blackberries and raspberries when we spent the day in the Catskills. (Fun fact: I didn’t know that the word ‘raspberry’ had a ‘p’ in it until last year)! In the real world of berries being grown sans pesticides, blackberries are actually quite tiny.

Inspired by the sweet and refreshing wild blackberries, I decided to make a blackberry custard tart. I am a huge fan of custard tarts (I could actually just eat the custard all day long). We hadn’t brought any of the berries home with us, so I had to go with the old-fashioned store-bought larger-than-life blackberries. Since they were quite sour, I washed them and tossed them with granulated white sugar. You might want to try tossing them with brown sugar, cinnamon, or whatever you feel might make them sweeter! I made the crust using a recipe that called for pastry flour, but I used all-purpose and it came out just fine. It was actually a particularly tasty crust! The tart was super simple to assemble, and even more fun to eat! (Three of my friends and I ate more than half of it, and my dad covered the other half).

 (My amazing friend, Melissa, was the photographer-mastermind behind these photos).

Blackberry Custard Tart

What you will need:

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (I used all-purpose)

3/4 cup all purpose flour (In addition to the above)

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/2 tsp. salt

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2 cups blackberries

1/2 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

Making the tart dough:

1. Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2. Add the egg and beat to combine.

3. In a separate bowl, combine the flours and salt.

4. With mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture until everything comes together.

5. Gather the dough into a ball and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Making the filling:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°.

2. Remove the dough from the fridge.

3. Flour your work surface and roll out the dough so that it’s 1/4-inch thick.

4. Place the dough in a 9 or 10-inch tart pan, patching any tears.

5. Trim the excess dough and place the crust in the fridge.

6. Combine everything except the blackberries in a bowl and whisk until smooth.

7. Remove the tart crust from the fridge and arrange the berries in a single layer across the bottom.

8. Pour the custard around the berries, but don’t submerge them.

9. Bake tart until golden and set in the center, about 35-40 minutes.

10. Let cool for 1 hour or chill for several hours before serving.

11. You may want to top this tart with whipped cream! Enjoy!

 There is no better end-of-summer treat than a fresh berry tart. This custard tart can be made with raspberries and blueberries as well, or you can be ambitious and try a blackberry, raspberry, and blueberry custard tart!

I’ll leave you with this picture I took today of a most beautiful butterfly! Happy end-of-summer!

 *Recipe for blackberry tart can be found at: http://tarttoheart.com/2011/09/19/blackberry-custard-tart/