Sick of Plums? I thought I would interrupt my posts on plums to bring you blueberries……they can often be very expensive to buy but if you shop carefully at the moment you may get then cheaper than usual. Blueberries are known as superfoods…they have the highest antioxidant properties of any fruit. They are thought to improve memory, are high in vitamin C, fibre and a source of manganese- which helps in the development of bones and in the metabolism of protein, carbohydrates and fat.My children love blueberries so when I saw this recipe in the Sainsbury magazine I thought I’d give it a go. It takes some getting used to, eating the purple custard but it tastes good….and the chocolate pastry is divine!
Ingredients
the pastry-
- 100g plain flour
- 25g cocoa
- 25g icing sugar
- 100g unsalted butter
- 1 large egg yolk
the filling-
- 125ml milk
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 tbsp each of cornflour and plain flour
- 3 tbsp caster sugar
- 175g creme fraiche
- 300g blueberries
the meringue-
- 3 large egg whites
- 125g caster sugar
- 1 tbsp cornflour
- cocoa powder for dusting
- Sieve the flour, cocoa, a pinch of salt and the icing sugar into a bowl. Rub the mixture with the butter then add the egg yolk and 2 teaspoons of cold water and bring together to make a smooth dough. You may need to use a spoon to do this as it’s quite sticky. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 190•C/fan 170•C/gas mark 5
- Roll out the pastry, on a dusted surface and line a 20cm, 4 cm deep,tart tin. I didn’t have one, so used a cake tin with a loose bottom. The pastry seems very scant as though it will never fit but it’s worth it as it leaves a very thin melt in your mouth pastry. Line the pastry with baking paper and using baking beans cook in the oven for 20 minutes. Remove the beans and the paper and then cook for another 5 minutes until cooked. Leave to cool.
- Turn the oven down to 180•C/fan 160 •C/gas mark 4
- Whisk the milk, egg yolks, both flours, sugar and creme fraiche in a pan until smooth. Bring to the boil and add half of the blueberries, cook and squash the berries to turn the custard purple. Add the remainder of the berries and stir. Put the pastry case onto a baking tray and pour in the custard.
- In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites to a thick froth then gradually beat in the sugar until thick and glossy. Sieve in the cornflour and fold gently into the meringue. Spoon over the custard and make into peaks. Dust the meringue lightly with cocoa powder.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes until set. Leave until cold.
Credits
Blueberry Council
Sainsbury Magazine
It’s always nice when you can not only be informed, but also entertained! I’m sure you had fun writing this article.Excellent entry! I’m been looking for topics as interesting as this. Looking forward to your next post.
I am trying to view this in Netscape but the images are not loading properly. Is it my broadband speed?
Nice information, valuable and excellent design, as share good stuff with good ideas and concepts, lots of great information and inspiration, both of which we all need, thanks for all the enthusiasm to offer such helpful information here.
Oh my gosh – that looks gorgeous! Will be linking back to this, definitely! I’m off to share on Facebook. It’s making my mouth water! x
Thank you for the comment and link…..it’s worth the time to make it. 🙂
Oh this is unusual, love the sound of it though!
It is and once you ignored the colour it was very tasty. 🙂
Ruddy hell! That looks scrummy! Mmmm
Thanks. 😀
So yummy looking!
Thank you, it was good. 🙂