eclaire (what’s in a) name?

last weekend, we were invited to a bbq at a friend’s parent’s house and when we asked if we could bring something, dessert was requested. it was a very fortuitous request, because my dad had just sent me the recipe for a blueberry tart from the new york times (thanks, dad!), and i was waiting to make it for a group so mike and i wouldn’t consume the whole dessert ourselves.

on the morning of the bbq, we awoke early to the sound of mike’s cell phone alerting him to a technical issue with his company’s servers. mike rarely drives these days (he commutes to work on a bike), so we had lent his car out to his sister while hers was in the shop earlier in the week, and thus he headed over the hill in my car to fix the issue. i could have called her and asked for a ride to the store to obtain the ingredients for the tart, or for that matter, i could have called any of my other family members and friends dotted across the west side of santa cruz. but since the day was sunny and i needed some exercise, i decided to strap on my tennies and walk to the store. before leaving, i took one last thorough read-through of the recipe and realized that the dough needed to chill for 30 mins before baking. i had all the ingredients for the crust on hand, so i set to work making the dough, then stuck it in the freezer, grabbed my list and headed out listening to this american life on my ipod.

the most essential thing on my grocery list was fresh blueberries. the recipe specifically stated: “NOTE: Do not use frozen blueberries. Domestic blueberries may be substituted for wild.” when i arrived at the store, there was nary a fresh blueberry to be found. ordinarily, i would have hopped into my car and headed to another store, but the day was hot, i was sweaty, and i wasn’t prepared to walk further (and to the non-health food store!) for fresh blueberries. so i did what a baker under pressure does: grabbed the best option available – frozen organic wild blueberries, checked out, and made my way home.

i’m not sure if i’m the only person out there who gets ideas while exercising, but while walking back up western drive, i was trying to figure out what would make frozen blueberries ruin the recipe, and why there was the specific note not to use them. i decided that the extra moisture frozen berries contain would probably make the tart difficult to slice and serve, so i decided to increase the cornstarch and add a little tapioca to thicken things up. and then i thought….what about making the tart into a bunch of tartlets? i could use my mini muffin tin, press the crust right into each muffin cup, and the frozen berries with their extra moisture would have nowhere to run to if the tartlet held it all together in a one (or two) bite morsel. voila! i was so excited that i picked up the pace (at least this is how i attribute my increased pace on my nike plus for the second part of my walk), and began thawing the berries and pushing the crust into the mini muffin pan. i found the latter to be quite challenging due to the dough being frozen (i will omit this in my version of the recipe – i don’t think it’s necessary), but succeeded and threw the first batch into the oven.

i pulled them out after a few minutes and used a shot glass to smoosh down the expanding crust to leave as much room as possible for the filling – if you look closely (or click to be redirected to flickr, where you can select a bigger image), you can see how the lower left tartlets have not been shot glass smooshed and thus are quite puffy.

after the thorough smooshing, i filled the cups and popped the tartlets back in the oven. the tartlets turned out amazingly delicious – salty and crunchy and a little sweet (but not too sweet), with a nice twang of lemon in the background. while most of the tartlets made it to the bbq, several only made it as far as our stomachs for two reasons: 1) we had to make sure that they were ok despite the changes to the recipe precipitated by the perfect storm of events (mike’s unexpected work, no car, no fresh blueberries at the store in walking distance); and 2) because once we tried one, we could not resist reaching for another!

mike and i agreed that changing the recipe to tartlets not only made it easier and quicker – eliminating over an hour of freezer time – but also were more fun to eat…and harder to stop eating. so make a batch and share it with some friends – or you may end up eating them all in one sitting!

blueberry tartlets

adapted from the new york times article by nancy harmon jenkins
yields 24 tartlets

• crust
• 1/2c butter
• 1/3c sugar
• 1/4t vanilla
• dash of salt
• dash of cinnamon
• 3/4c flour
• 9T rolled oats
• 1/4c finely chopped almonds

• filling
• 3½c frozen blueberries
• 2T sugar
• 2½T cornstarch
• 2t tapioca
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 2t lemon juice
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1. cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the vanilla, salt and cinnamon
2. stir in the flour, rolled oats and almonds
3. press the dough into 24 mini muffin cups and bake (empty) for 5 minutes in a 400º oven
4. rinse the blueberries in a colander under running water until thawed, then towel dry
5. combine sugar, cornstarch, tapioca, lemon zest, and lemon juice in a medium bowl and whisk until lumps dissolve, then add the blueberries
6. after pulling the tartlet crusts out of the oven, use a spoon or a shot glass to press down the crust
7. fill each tartlet with blueberry mixture and place back into oven for 10-15 minutes, or until crusts are golden and filling bubbles
8. allow tartlets to cool completely in pan, then remove carefully and enjoy!