♦ rustic blueberry and ricotta tarts with icewine glaze

i’m a lazy baker.
i really don’t like to measure. nor do i like to weigh, roll or pipe.
the precision of baking never really appealed to me. the unknown has always been daunting.  i liken it to walking blind-folded down an un-lit pathway with the voice of a stranger to guide you.
i like to taste as i go, adjust in the moment, or have the freedom to skip down a different path if the desire so overcomes me.
suffice it to say, i’ve never been a great baker.

so……i had a few extra blueberries in the crisper and for some unknown reason, i decided to make blueberry tarts.

i’ve never been an expert on making pastry dough. i suppose if i made it more often i’d get the hang of it. surprisingly, for a lover of all things ‘pie’, i’ve only actually made pie & pastry dough a small number of times.

i had planned on making blueberry mascarpone tarts, but my local grocery store only had 1 small container of the unctuous, triple-cream cheese. (and for whatever reason i thought i needed so much more) so the recipe evolved into blueberry ricotta tarts.

i used a pate brisee (french shortcut pastry) recipe from the Joy of Baking which came together fairly easily in the food processor. i didn’t bother to blind-bake the pastry….as i said, i’m a lazy baker. i just docked the bottoms of pastry to prevent it from bubbling.

the resulting pastry shells were not perfect as you can see, a little uneven &  blistered  but edible nonetheless!…. this is why i am now calling them rustic blueberry ricotta tarts.

the finishing touch: a glaze from some icewine jelly i happened to have in my pantry.

maybe i won’t be such a lazy baker from now on….

Rustic Blueberry Ricotta Tarts with Icewine Glaze

Pate Brisee from the Joy of Baking or your favourite pastry dough recipe.
(this dough yields two 8 or 9 inch tart shells – i used oversized straight-sided silicone muffin pans & was able to get 16 3-inch tarts)

• 2 1/2 c ricotta cheese
• 2 T honey (or more if you prefer the filling sweeter) – I used Manuka honey
• 1 1/2 t vanilla (extract, paste, bean)

• 1/4 c ice wine jelly, melted
• 1 1/2 to 2 c blueberries

pre-bake 1 8-inch tart shell or smaller tarts of your desired size. let cool before filling with ricotta mixture.

in the bowl of a food processor, combine ricotta cheese, honey & vanilla. process until well combined. (i suppose you could just mix this by hand…but i wanted to ensure a very smooth filling)

in a small saucepan over medium heat, melt ice wine jelly. using a pastry brush, lightly coat the bottom of tart(s) with melted jelly. spoon ricotta mixture into each tart and top with blueberries. glaze tops of blueberries with more melted jelly & enjoy!

until next time…
jazmine