# Mascarpone & Wild blackberry tart ..

Simple things…

Helloooo I hope you’re having a great hollidays !

Personally, this summer I’m spending time in my home town with Peter.. We ’re enjoying the beach and the beautiful city of Bordeaux (France), spending time with family & friends, cooking, strolling, shopping.. and these small pleasures are doing us a world of good. 😉

Speaking of simple pleasures, we picked 2 kilos of blackberries this week on the way back from the beach and I couldn’t help but to make a delicious tart with these yummy, sun-blushed blackberries. Everyone agreed it was a triumph… so obviously I’m sharing the recipe on the blog. 😉 The recipe is quite easy, and even though making shortcrust pastry can seem a bit daunting sometimes, this one is actually really easy, fast and, above all, delicious. It also happens to be a million times better than shop bought pastry! We all loved it. I hope you’ll enjoy it too. Looking forward to getting your opinions – I always love reading your feedback! <3

Des bisous (and lots of luck for those of you who are already back at work… or those who haven’t taken holidays yet.

1/ Ingredients for the shortcrust pastry:

200 g flour
50 g cornflower
90 g icing sugar
30 g ground almonds
2 g salt
130 g soft butter (I take it out of the fridge an hour in advance)
1 sachet vanilla sugar
1 egg

2/ Ingredients for the mascarpone cream & the filling:

20 cl cold, double cream
150 g cold mascarpone (if you want to make the cream without mascarpone, just leave it out and double up on the double cream instead)
4 tablespoons icing sugar
blackberry jam – homemade if possible
500/600 g fresh blackberries or other fruits, strawberries, raspberries, peaches or blueberries.

3/ Utensils:

1 pastry dish (I used a round one and a 26cm cake ring)
1 rolling pin
1 mixer, Tupperware Speedy Chef or whisk
2 sheets greaseproof paper

I/ Prepare the shortcrust pastry (pâte sablée in french ):

Mix the flour, icing sugar, ground almonds, vanilla sugar and salt in a mixing bowl.
Add the soft butter, piece by piece.It’s really important that it’s soft as this makes it much easier to knead (whatever you do, don’t melt it – it should remain in pieces!).
Knead the mixtureuntil you reach a fine, sandy texture.
Add the egg and mix withyour hands until you have a smooth consistency, then create a round ball. Don’t overwork or overknead the dough or it will be hard to spread and too flaky – basically a nightmare! Once you’ve got your smooth texture and formed a “ball”, put it in the fridge under cellophane and leave for 1 to 2 hours… The dough stays fresh for 24 hours, and can easily be frozen in a Tupperware.

II/ Roll the dough :

Remove the dough from the fridge and leave for fifteen minutes so it reaches room temperature (this makes it much easier to spread than when it’s cold).
Preheat the oven to180 degrees.
Place one sheet of greaseproof paper on the surface and another on top of the Spreading the dough between two sheets of greaseproof paper really makes things easier – really recommend it 😉
Place the dough onto the cake dish (it’s as simple as sliding the two sheets of greaseproof paper (with the dough in between) into the dish. Just remember to remove the paper sheet from the top – of course!
Poke holes with a forkand leave in the oven for 21/22 minutes at 180 degrees (give or take one or two minutes. It depends on your oven. Mine cooked in 21 minutes exactly. You’ll know when it’s ready by the pastry. It’s time to take it out when it’s golden).
Leave it to cool before adding the filling.

III/ Prepare the mascarpone cream:

You can use a whisk, an electric mixer or the Tupperware Speedy Chef to prepare the cream but my preference goes to the Speedy chef which is really great for making whipped cream with no fuss – as I discovered at my mom’s place ! This thing is awesome !!

Mix the mascarpone and double cream in a mixing bowl .
When the cream starts to thicken, sprinkle the icing sugar in,while continuing to mix at the same time.
Continue mixing until your cream is firm.

IV/ Assemble..

Line the bottom of the the baked tart with blackberry jam (I was lucky as I was at my mom’s place – she makes her own jams. If you don’t have any, there are some really good ones in organic stores… those without added sugars are the best!)
Cover with the mascarpone cream mix.
Place the blackberries on top and sprinkle a little icing sugar on top.…