Spoon sized (mini-muffin tin) little tarts are my “go to thing” when I have leftover pie dough — and goodness knows that I often have leftover pie dough! When it is a “last minute” thing, I just spoon in spoonfuls of jam (which I also usually have a lot of), but this time, because I had so many lovely blueberries from Maine in the kitchen, I decided to make these from scratch. Perfect bite size. And totally addictive; perhaps even more so than a full sized version, because you can pop a whole little one mouth with no drip from the super juicy berries. Store bought lemon curd, mini-mint sprigs from my garden. Perfect for my afternoon “Kaffeetrinken”.
Ingredients
for the pastry
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/3 cup chilled solid vegetable shortening, diced
6 tablespoons (or more) ice water
for the filling and decoration
2 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon lemon rind, grated
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup lemon curd (store bought is fine, but here is my recipe:
36 small mint leaves
You will also need: a mini-muffin pan, a 2 1/2 inch round (or round with scalloped edges) cookie or biscuit cutter and a piping bag fitted with a small star tip
Directions
Blend flour, sugar and salt in processor. Add butter and shortening and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 6 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather into ball, divide, then flatten into two disks. Wrap in plastic; chill 2 hours.
While the dough is resting, make your filling. Combine 1 cup berries with 3/4 cup sugar in pan. Simmer on low heat until sugar is melted and mixture is very liquid; about 5 minutes. Combine cornstarch and water in bowl to make a slurry. Add to pan with blueberries. Cook over medium heat until mixture comes to full boil and is clear and thick. Pour hot mixture into large bowl. Cool until to warm but still above room temperature. Fold in remaining cup of blueberries, lemon rind, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter. Let cool before making the tarts.
Preheat oven to 400F. Spray your a mini muffin tin with cooking spray. Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Using your cookie cutter, cut out rounds and nestle them into the muffin pan. Fill with blueberry pie filling. Reduce heat to 375F when you put tartlets in oven. Bake about 18-25 minutes.
Let cool completely. Once cooled, fit a piping bag with a small star tip and fill with lemon curd. Make a small star on each tartlet and then garnish with a mini-mint sprig.
