Who you calling a Tart?

Blackberry and Apple Tart

So the first of the blackberries have ripened here in Ireland so I decided to pick some on my way home through the woods yesterday. I picked just shy of a kilo of lovely ripe wild blackberries. Firstly I rinsed them and then let them soak for a couple of hours to kill any bugs. Then I rinsed them again to wash the bugs away. I then had to decide what to make. The obvious answer would be jam but it was late and I wanted something quick. So apple and blackberry tart as requested by my parents was chosen. 

Wild Blackberries

I made a basic all butter pastry i.e. simply butter rubbed into flour. The pastry turned out surprisingly well considering the last time I'd made pastry was 6 years ago and that was only once! Once the butter was rubbed into the flour I added a drop of water and mixed it into a ball using a knife. I think I used a too much water as the dough was a bit sticky but I still managed to roll it out. The pastry was a bit too thin but it was ok. 

Making the Pastry

So next step was filling the pie dish with the pastry, lining it with baking paper, filling it with blind baking beans and blind baking it. Blind baking helps prevent soggy pastry and allows the pastry enough time to cook as sometimes as in my case the filling does not need as long in the oven. The beans are used to help keep the shape of the pastry.So while the tart was blind baking I began preparing the apples. 

Pastry before Blind Baking

I filled the tart with a layer of about 3 sliced eating apples already coated in sugar. (I didn't have any cooking apples) I then piled on about 400g of blackberries which had been mixed with some brown sugar and flour. I really should of cooked the apples in the tart for awhile before adding the blackberries because when I took it out of the oven some of the blackberries had burned and the apple could of done with more time but hardly a disaster. 

The Tart out of the Oven

While the tart was baking I placed about 50g of  blackberries, and one sliced apple in a saucepan with some sugar and apple juice and allowed it to stew.  The juice from the black berries gave the apples a lovely red colour. I poured the juice from the saucepan over the tart and then decorated the tart with the apple slices. I was very happy with the tart. The pastry was a bit scarce. I'll know to make more the next time but over all yum yum. I decided to make blackberry sauce with the remaining blackberries.

Apple and Blackberry Tart