Raspberry Tart

Just picked the last of the raspberries that I feel inclined to harvest.

There are only gleanings left. I decided to make a tart to show them

off. This would work with a wide variety of fruits -- blueberries are on now -- but it premiered with raspberries.

First layer:

1 c flour,

1/4 c powdered sugar

1 stick butter cut up into a bunch of pieces and almost room temp but with a slight chill left

Mix dry ingredients and rub butter in by fingers until you have a rich dough. Don't overwork it. Press into a pie pan or roll out into a circle about 10" in diameter and transfer to a baking sheet. Turn the edges back in to make a rustic border. Bake at 350F 20 minutes.

2nd layer:

1 cup milk

1/4 c. sugar

2 egg yolks

1-2 tablespoons corn starch

Blend well and bring to boiling over medium heat until thickened. Add 1 t vanilla flavoring.

Spread on the cooled crust. Refrigerate the whole thing and then add the third layer.

3rd layer:

2-3 oz current jelly, melted

2-3 c raspberries

Using a pastry brush, paint the top of the custard gently with some of the melted jelly, spread

prime raspberries on top, and brush the whole thing with more current jelly.

I used 2 T cornstarch in the second layer, and that made a very thick pastry cream. Reducing it to 1 would make it more creamy. I could also imagine substituting a sweetened sour cream/cream cheese mixture for the second layer, too, but the vanilla custard enhanced the berries without really asserting its own presence. Current jelly made a quick and easy glaze, but you could substitute apple jelly, or thicken some sweetened raspberry juice with cornstarch and use that.

If I make this again I will probably take the time to roll out the shortbread crust. Pressing it into a pan made it stick and it was hard to serve without breaking it. I figure you should be able to cut small pieces off with a knife, snitch them with the fingers and eat them casually (surreptitiously) by hand. They taste extra good that way.