Tate’s Bakery’s Fresh Blueberry and White Chocolate Tart

Tate's Bakeshop, Southampton's finest

         If it’s summer in the Hamptons, it’s time to head to Tate’s. This charming bake shop lights up the Village of Southampton with its incredible array of scones and muffins, cakes and cobblers. And then there are the pies!  Delicious fresh berries from farms all over the area are ladled into flaky pie crusts.  And in the case of today’s recipe, they top a white chocolate cream that’s a sweet foil for the tart taste of blueberries. Served cold, it’s also a very refreshing way to cap off a summer meal.  And to think, Tate’s got its start at a local farm stand.

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         Kathleen King started making chocolate chip cookies to sell at her Dad’s North Sea Farms stand just north of town.  The cookies are arguably the best ever made anywhere, crisp and brown sugar-y with a generous  helping of chocolate chips.  So it was no surprise that sales took off and just three years later Kathleen opened her own bake shop when she was all of 20 years old. Customers have made a bee-line to Tate’s ever since.  But if you can’t make it to Southampton, you can still enjoy this wonderful recipe.  And it’s basically very easy to make.

         Kathleen’s crust comes together with not a lot of effort.  And if you have doubts about your pastry skills, the good news here is that you don’t have to be a champion with the rolling pin.  You need a nice flat piece to cover the bottom of your tart pan.  But from then on, you can piece together bits and pieces for the sides of the tart.  The tart is then baked and cooled.  That’s the hard part.  The rest of the recipe consists of all of three ingredients!  So here it is:

Recipe for Tate’s Bakery’s Fresh Blueberry and White Chocolate Tart 

For the pastry:

1 large egg yolk

2 tbsp. cream

2 tbsp. sugar

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup salted butter, chilled and cut into ½ inch x ½ inch pieces.

Mix the egg yolk and cream and set aside.

Mix the sugar, flour and butter until they are crumbly.

Combine the egg mixture with the flour mixture, using a fork, and mix them until they are just combined. Form the dough into a dish and wrap it in clear plastic wrap.  Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Roll the dough out 1/8 inches think and place it in a 9 inch round tart pan with a removable bottom.

Prink the bottom all over with a fork.  At this point, you can place it in the refrigerator for later use, freeze it for future use or bake it right away. (Kathleen always keeps prepared tart shells and pie crust in the freezer for future use.  She says it’s a big time-saver.)

Bake the crust at 350 degrees or until it is golden brown.

For the tart:

9 inch pre-baked tart shell

½ cup white chocolate

1 cup heavy cream      

4 cups fresh blueberries

In a small saucepan, mix ½ cup of the heavy cream with the white chocolate.  Over low heat, mix until the chocolate is completely melted. Remove from heat.  Add the remaining cream and stir until combined.  Refrigerate the mixture till it’s cold.

With an electric mixer, beat the white chocolate mixture until soft peaks form, just as you would in making whipping cream.

Spoon the mixture into the prepared tart shell.  If you’d like, you can brush the bottom of the tart shell with either white or bittersweet chocolate or with jam if you’d prefer.  But it tastes just as wonderful

with just the filling itself.

Top the tart with fresh blueberries, sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar and serve.