Around here the blackberries seem to have ripened earlier than they have in previous years. I’ve been picking on-and-off for the past couple of weeks while hubby and I go on our evening walks so I already have quite a lot of blackberries ready to use up in my autumn cooking. The theme for this week’s GBBO and The Great Blogger Bake Off if pastries so I decided that a blackberry tart would be a fun recipe to try out. 
Rather than making a pie filling with the blackberries and loading it into a rough puff pastry case, I thought I would make a jam, which would then be spread onto the pastry like a big jam tart. Blackberries can release a lot of juice while cooking so I thought that this extra process was better than ending up with a soggy bottom! So here’s the recipe for the jam which I found on the BBC Good Food website:
Ingredients: 900g blackberries, 900g sugar, 1 and a half tablespoons of lemon juice, 50ml water
Bring the washed blackberries , lemon juice and water to the boil in a large pan and then simmer for 15 minutes. Add the sugar and stir until dissolved then bring back to the boil for around 10 minutes. Test with a jam thermometer that 105C has been reached, or to check whether your jam is done without a thermometer, drop a blog of jam onto a chilled saucer and wait for a minute before pushing your finger through it (be careful not to rush into this, it’s soooo hot!) . If the jam wrinkles, it’s ready! Allow to cool for 15 minutes before pouring into sterilised jars and sealing. It should make about 4 jam jars.
I used this jam to spread onto the rough puff pastry and here’s the recipe that I followed from Bero:
Ingredients: 225g plain flour, 150g lard and margarine diced and mixed, pinch of salt
Mix the flour and salt and stir in diced fat with a knife before mixing into a stiff dough with water. Roll out into a thin strip then fold into three. Turn it one quarter of the way round and roll out again before repeating the folding and rolling three times. Chill for 15 minutes then use to line a pastry case, like this tin that I got from Wholeport with a loose base to make it easier to get the pastry out. Spread I the jam onto the base and use leftover pastry to make a lattice over the top. Brush with egg yolk and bake in the oven at 180 degrees for around 20 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and crisp.
Serve with fresh blackberries and vanilla ice cream!
Loads more lovely bloggers are taking part in #TheGreatBloggerBakeOff so check out the hashtag via twitter and instagram to find more delicious recipes!
