Blueberry bakewell tart

Mr CC is a curious chap in that he prefers pastry to cake.  I love both, but cake will always be my main love (after Mr CC, of course).  I’ve been dabbling more in pastry recently and find blueberries and pastry to be a lovely combination, probably textural – the juicy blueberries offsetting the crumbly pastry.  Yum.

The bakewell/frangipane filling is extra rich as it contains no flour at all; usually the recipe contains both ground almonds and flour, but this one uses only the almonds.  The taste is noticeably richer than a normal bakewell and has a good, firm texture.

I often find that anything with almonds is always better to eat the day after baking.  The almonds need time to settle and release their nutty oils and scent.  It is horrible having to ignore such a tempting treat but – if you can wait – it’s worth it!  It’s why I often store my baking in metal tins rather than transparent plastic...out of sight, out of mind!

The pastry for this tart is crumbly, light and buttery.  It is best to roll it out straight from the fridge while it is at its firmest.  If you let it get too soft it will fall apart, but it does patch well so it’s not all lost.

Mr CC has asked that I highlight the crumbly pastry and the pleasing contrast of the tart berries (they weren’t tart – he’s just trying to be like a Masterchef judge!) with the rich almond.  He has departed the room with the words, ‘and you can quote me on that’.  So I have.

Ingredients

For the pastry:

225g unsalted butter – straight from the fridge
1 tablespoon golden caster sugar
275g plain flour
2 egg yolks

For the filling:

200g unsalted butter – at room temperature
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
200g ground almonds
1 teaspoon almond extract
250g blueberries
two handfuls of flaked almonds

To serve: thick cream, dusting of icing sugar

Method

Start by making the pastry: place the butter, sugar and flour into a food processor and blitz until you have buttery crumbs.  It won’t be as crumbly as some pastries at this stage. (You can use the rubbing in method if you don’t have a food processor, but as it’s so buttery you might find it tricky).

Add the egg yolks and pulse until the ball of dough is starting to come together.

Tip out onto a piece of clingfilm and work (touching as little as possible) into a fat disc of pastry.

Wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or an hour if you can.

Preheat the oven to 190°C/170°C/375°F/gas mark 5.

Roll out the pastry between two sheets of clingfilm until it can line a 25cm loose bottomed flan tin.

Leave the overhanging pastry in place.

Line the pastry case with a sheet of baking paper or foil and weigh down with baking beans.

Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the foil and beans and bake – uncovered – for a further 6 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

Cut off any excess pastry; most will have fallen off during baking.

Lower the oven temperature to 180°C/160°C/350°F/gas mark 4.

Now make the filling: beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.  Don’t worry if the mixture starts to curdle.

Beat in the ground almonds and almond extract.

Spread the filling over the pastry case and level the surface.

Sprinkle the blueberries over the top and press down lightly.

Scatter over the flaked almonds.

Bake for approximately 35-45 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the filling comes out clean.  Don’t worry if it takes longer.

Leave to cool, in the tin, on a wire rack.

Serve either warm, or at room temperature, with thick cream.  Dust with a little icing sugar before serving.

Bask in the glory of the wonderful thing you have created.

Eat.