Tarte Aux Myrtilles (Blueberry Custard Tart) – Recipe

 This is my favourite fruit tart ever: tangy-sweet berries embedded in a smooth, creamy crème fraîche, encased in a crisp buttery pastry. So good.

For the best flavour use frozen bilberries (also known as wild blueberries) – but frozen American blueberries (the kind that's more widely found in the UK and US) will also do.

Here's my updated 2022 pic:

Need some more visuals? Check out my at-a-glance tutorial video and longer recipe video (which uses fresh blueberries) on YouTube:

Ready? Let's go.

Ingredients for Pastry:

300g plain flour
3 tbsp cornflour
3 tbsp icing sugar
180g cold unsalted butter, cubed
1/2 egg white
Pinch of salt

Ingredients for Filling:

200ml full fat crème fraîche
200g caster sugar
1 egg
2 egg yolks
2 tsp cornflour (optional, for a firm set – I didn't use any this time)
1 tsp vanilla
450g frozen bilberries (or blueberries)

Method:

1. Lightly grease an 8" tart dish. Put the flours, salt and sugar in a bowl, add the butter and rub with your fingertips: you should start getting a breadcrumb-like texture that then comes together as a crumbly dough. Add the egg white and continue kneading until smooth.

2. Roll the dough out until it's half a centimetre thick, and line your tart tin with it, pressing the dough into the corners (press rather than stretch: if you stretch or overwork the dough it may shrink when you bake it). Trim off the excess– you can either use this to fill in any cracks in the pastry, and to make tasty shortbread biscuits too.

3. Prick all over the bottom with a fork, and place some baking parchment on top, weighing it down with baking beans. Pop in the fridge for about 15 minutes to chill the pastry.

4. Preheat the oven to 180°C, and bake the pastry for 20 minutes. Take the crust out of the oven and leave to cool for about 10 minutes (keep the oven on).

5. Lightly whisk the crème fraîche, caster sugar, egg and yolks, cornflour (if using) and vanilla until smooth to create the custard. Place the frozen berries in the crust, and then pour over the custard.

6. Bake for 45–50 minutes, until the top is lightly golden brown and the middle still wobbles slightly when you jiggle the tin.

7. Leave to cool completely, and chill in the fridge for four hours or overnight before slicing and serving.

Enjoy, and have fun.