White Chocolate Blackberry Tart
Today’s post is in honour of all mothers celebrating Mother’s Day On Sunday, March 10th in The United Kingdom. Mothers are very special beings and we don’t realise what we have until they are gone. I lost my mother on March 10th, 1998. How appropriate that Mother’s Day falls on her 15 year anniversary.
I miss my mother immensely. She was a very sociable person and enjoyed talking and entertaining. She was a great cook and excellent at improvising. I wish I had paid more attention when she cooked and had her wisdom and experience to guide me now. So, here’s to my mother and to all mothers celebrating today.
I would like to send special wishes to my friends who are in the UK and who are mothers. When we were in school together, we were just children ourselves. Nowadays, these ladies are excellent mothers in their own right and I am in awe of each and every one of them. It seems like yesterday we were all playing in the playground at school, pretending to be Charlie’s Angels or reenacting Grease (at a convent no less).
So, this White Chocolate Blackberry Tart is for my friends, all mothers in the UK and my blogger friends who are such special mothers also and I see how special every time I visit their websites.
Now, since I am a Brit, I feel that I should also be celebrated 
Unfortunately, my family isn’t falling for two Mother’s Days! I think mothers should be celebrated everyday so asking for two days isn’t so bad, is it? I’ll lay on the guilt trip tomorrow.
This tart is a cinch to make and if you haven’t made your mum a cake or pudding yet, this is elegant and perfect. You probably have all the ingredients on hand and even if you don’t, you can substitute many of the ingredients. You can use regular chocolate instead of white and use any fruit that you have. Of course, if you have the time, energy, patience to go and get these ingredients, this tart is amazing with the sweet white chocolate pastry cream, the dark chocolate cookie crust and blackberries.
Chocolate Tart Pastry adapted from Rose Levy Beranbaum.
Ingredients
1 large whole egg
1 large egg yolk
1/4 cup+2 tablespoons/85g sugar
1 cup/236mL milk
3 tablespoons/29g cornstarch/cornflour
4oz/119g white chocolate
2 tablespoons/28g butter
11/4 cups/185g all purpose/plain flour
1/4 cup/23g unsweetened cocoa
salt a pinch
8 tablespoons/113g butter, cold, cut into 1" cubes
3/4 cup/86g powdered sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
6oz/170g fresh blackberries (or choice of berries)
Instructions
Beat the egg, egg yolk and 1/4 cup of sugar together in a mixer until pale yellow and thick, about 4 minutes.
Turn off the mixer and sift in the cornstarch.
Mix again on medium low till well blended, scraping down the sides.
Meanwhile, heat up the milk with the 2 tablespoons of the remaining sugar.
Bring the milk to a boil.
Pour about half of the milk slowly into the egg mixture whisking constantly.
Then pour the mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk and on low bring up to boil to thicken.
Whisk continuously to make sure it doesn't catch at the bottom and burn about 2 minutes.
Once the pastry cream is thickened add the white chocolate and whisk thoroughly to ensure the chocolate is melted and incorporated.
Put a piece of cling wrap right on the surface of the cream and refrigerate.
Let chill for about an hour or two before using.
In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and salt
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the butter and sugar until the sugar disappears.
Add the flour/cocoa mixture and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
Add the egg and pulse until incorporated.
Dump out into a board or counter and knead gently till the dough holds together.
Wrap with plastic and chill for 30 minutes before rolling out.
If baking the tart shells that day, preheat the oven to 400℉/200℃ (for a rectangular or round pan)
The dough is pretty easy to roll out on a counter top with a good dusting of flour.
You can also choose to roll it out between parchment or plastic.
Roll out the dough to 18" by 8" for a rectangular pan or 12" for a 9" round pan.
Lay the pastry gently into the pan and trim excess.
At this point, the tart shell can be frozen for use later.
If making that day, let the tart shell chill for at least 10 minutes (I put it in the freezer to chill quickly)
After 10 minutes, pull out the tart and line with parchment paper.
Fill the shell with pie weights or beans and bake blind
Place the tart in the oven and bake for 5 minutes at 400℉/200℃ **
Lower the heat to 375℉/190℃ and bake for 15/20 minutes or until set.
If the dough is not set, it will stick to the parchment more.
Remove the beans or pie weights, prick lightly and bake for another 10/15 minutes.
Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack before filling.
When the tart shell is cool, fill with the pastry cream and decorate with blackberries.
Notes
* If you are making tartlets: bake at 375 for about 10 minutes and then remove pie weights and bake for another 2 or 3 minutes. If tart shells are frozen for more than 6 hours, you don't need pie weights. The pastry makes 8 standard tartlets or a 91/2" round tart. I had enough pastry to make 3 tartlets after my rectangular tart.
Since this tart is French in all it’s components, I am going to enter it in March’s Tea Time Treats Challenge that is hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage and Kate from What Kate Baked. The theme this month is French pastries, cakes and bakes. I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else bakes up and if you want to check it out also and maybe even enter, Karen is hosting it this month at her site.
Wishing all mums a very happy Mother’s Day! You are all awesome! Hope you all have a great day with your families.
