On Monday, we wear stripes. Specifically, blackberry and lemon basil stripes! # 294: Blackberry Basil Tart

I get the same joy looking at this tart that I do from wearing a twirly summer dress. Which if you’ve ever seen my closet is a lot of joy!

Maybe a little too cutesy, but don’t the basil leaves look like little bows? I’m literally giddy after the first warm sunny day we’ve had in weeks! I’m ready for after-work paddleboarding and vitamin D.

The leftover pâté sucrée from the florentines in the freezer was calling my name. It defrosted like a champ in the fridge overnight and then enjoyed some counter time for an hour or so before rolling out. I’m definitely always going to make a double batch and freeze half for my future cravings.

Blackberry was a forsure, but I debated on which way to go flavor-wise from there. Chocolate, blackberry and mascarpone have already proved to be an amazing combo (looking at you, fudge cake) but I had also seen the combo of blackberry and basil in a jam recipe recently and couldn’t get it out of my brain. I almost put a ganache layer underneath instead of blackberry jam, but with the lemon and the basil it seemed like too much (even to my chocolate-obsessed brain.) *Tangent alert!* I got to tour the Theo Chocolate factory in Seattle last weekend (so cool!) and I’m kicking myself for not getting a bag of their cacao nibs for sprinkling on bakes. If I had brought some home, this tart would have definitely swung to the chocolate end of the spectrum.

Label your frozen baking leftovers! Do it now! There is nothing worse than pulling a disc of mysterious beige dough out of the freezer and wondering if it’s sweet or savory. I accidentally used straight pureed pumpkin as a pasta sauce last month thinking it was that yummy Trader Joe’s squash tomato sauce. Don’t be me.

All those beautiful scraps will be reborn as mini tartlets next weekend for a neighbor get-together. Still debating on the filling, though the current front runner is lemon curd with mini meringues on top.

Blackberry crown jewels. (Pay no attention to my frozen lemon juice ice cube. It’s about to hop into a boiling pot of jam and life’s too short to let it melt for a picture.)

What jam looks like if you forget the last ingredient (heat).

Getting steamy in here.

Mascarpone whipped cream coming right up!

I minced half of the basil and lightly chopped the other half, but next time it’ll be mincing all the way. It helps release the basil flavor better and no one wants a large piece of a leaf in their dessert. Unless you are a koala.

Most of the jam is for the bottom layer of the tart but can you tell where the rest of the jam went? It’s hard to hide when you’re bright pink.

A literal red carpet, waiting for the divas.

They have arrived! The paparazzi (read: me) goes wild.

Oo la la.

After I took this photo, I piped a second layer of filling. It just didn’t look lush enough, and there’s truly no such thing as too much mascarpone cream.

A lil messy, but worth it!

I might use this as my phone background, not gonna lie. Baking nerd things.

Happy munching!