by everythingevil33 in Baking Tags: berry tart, blackberries, blackberry tart, mini tart, tart

Tiny deserts alway look more elegant. Especially pastries, or tarts. I thought these were so pretty when I saw them over at Pham Fatale. And they were surprisingly easier to make then they appeared.

I love tarts, but I love mini tarts more! They are so dainty and cute. And you don’t have to bust your whole diet with dessert. When I walked into Williams-Sonoma last Tuesday afternoon, I knew I’d be making these for dinner that night.

Because that is when I found this

How awesome is this?? I was in love, and for under $30!

So on to the tarts! The shell is made from a sweet polenta dough, then filled with blackberry preserves, and baked, then immediately topped with a blackberry (or two!) Finally, painted with a lime ginger glaze and a sprinkle of lime zest.

To get started, whisk the egg and 2 Tablespoons of sugar with a mixer until they turn pale, and foamy. Add vanilla.

Then paint the inside of your food processor with some oil using a pastry brush. Add flour, sugar, polenta, baking powder and salt.

Add cold butter chunks

Pulse mixture until it forms course crumbs, add the egg mixture and pulse a few more times until the dough forms, but do not over mix.

Now knead the dough a bit and roll out to about 1/4 inch thick and fill tart pan. If you are making a large sized tart, I would suggest rolling the dough out a little bit thicker. No more than a 1/2 inch thick. Press dough into greased tart pans.

Now fill shells with preserves. I used about 1 tablespoon per shell. You can use any flavor combination that you like. This would work well with raspberries or strawberries as well.

Place in oven for about 15 minutes, or until dough starts to turn golden on the edges.

Once the tarts are out of the oven, immediately place berries on top of each tart. Then paint with glaze using a pastry brush. Allow to cool completely before serving, to give the jelly time to set. For the glaze I used a quarter cup of lime marmalade, and grated about 1/4 teaspoon of ginger. Cook in a saucepan until the marmalade liquifies, then gaze the tarts. Grate some lime zest over the top of each tart. Allow to cool.

These came out so delicious, I will DEFINITELY be making them again!