Dreaming about the summer with the help of a blueberry tart

New photo: June 2009

I know blueberries are not in season yet, at least not here in Scotland, but the sun was shining rather brightly the other day and I realised I was desperate for the summer to arrive already. This is a wee bit too optimistic, I guess, as even the spring hasn't reached its prime yet. However, in the hope that cooking something strongly summer-influenced might just tempt the summer to arrive earlier, I baked a blueberry tart. And yes, for a moment - eating a slice of this cake, basking in the sun shining into my room - summer did definitely feel more like an achievable reality as opposed to just a dream..

I hadn't tried this particular recipe before, but it had got a positive comment on my Estonian recipe site, plus it seemed easy to make. I was very pleased with the result - the crust was beautifully crumbly and coarse, the filling creamy and light, with intense blueberry flavour and colour. Not much sugar, and the porridge oats add some healthy fibres. I was expecting to have a layered tricolore cake - a golden brown base, blue layer of blueberries and white creamy topping. But no - as you can see from the picture, the blueberries have all burst into the cream during baking, beautifully colouring the whole tart intensely blue(berry).

I will definitely be making this one again.

An intensely blueberry coloured and flavoured blueberry tart
(Mõnus mustikapirukas)
Recipe from Valio
Serves 8-10



The crust:
100 g butter, softened
75 ml sugar
1 medium egg
200 ml plain flour
100 ml porridge rye flakes or four cereal flakes or oats*
1 tsp baking powder

Topping:
400-500 ml blueberries
(2 tsp potato or corn starch - if using frozen blueberries)
200 ml sour cream or cream fraiche
1 medium egg
75 ml sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract

Cream the butter with sugar, add the egg and the dry ingredients (mix the baking powder into the flour first). Bring the ingredients together and press into the base and sides of a buttered 25 cm loose-bottomed baking tin (this can be a bit messy, but persevere).
Spread the blueberries on top (less the few handfuls that go straight into your mouth:) If using frozen berries, mix them with some potato or cornflour first.
Whisk the sour cream with sugar, egg and vanilla and pour on top of the berries.
Bake at 200˚C for about 30 minutes, until the filling has set and the cake is slightly golden on top.
Let it cool a bit, then take out of the tin and cut into slices.

* I do NOT mean these sugar-coated cornflake type of things. I mean various flaked cereals that are used to make breakfast porridge in the Nordic countries. I used 4-cereal flakes (50% rye, 30% oats, 10% barley, 10% wheat).