Chilled Blueberry Tart and 28 weeks!

Thank you everyone for your comments and support on my last post. Being pregnant has been an interesting transition and very different than I imagined but I have no regrets. I am enjoying it more now that I am not going through morning sickness too!

I am finally in my 3rd trimester and I am feeling very pregnant all of a sudden. I mean, I know I started getting a belly, but now it seems like it is THERE. It sounds funny even as I reread that sentence but it is how I feel. I noticed today after I came back from church that I started waddling more. I could feel myself waddling last Wednesday after 45 minutes of Zumba so I kind of understood that. I guess it comes with this 3rd trimester, eh?

I have been feeling hotter lately too! Not only is the heat unbearable at times, but I am hot all the time. We only have one A/C window unit in our bedroom so that will be the coolest room in our duplex. We have to have 2-3 fans set up in the rest of the place to TRY to cool the duplex. Some days it just does not do enough. I find myself being the only one uncovered in the mornings after having the A/C running the whole night and Ryan is all wrapped up. Hello body temp!

This too shall pass. That is all I have to say about that! :-)

Ryan and I were able to take some photos after church just because we were all dressed up and it was not too hot to pose. I wanted to document a picture in my 3rd trimester and in my new dress. Do you like it? It is probably one of the lightest dresses I have worn and it was perfect for this hot day.

You know what else is perfect for hot summer days? Fresh blueberry tarts. I finally used up the last half of the picked blueberries I had NOT frozen to make this dessert. I found the recipe through Pinterest and I knew it was calling my name. Anyone else on there? Let's follow each other!

We are on day 3 of eating this tart and I have to say that the longer it is in the fridge the BETTER it tastes so I am going to command you to make this recipe and WAIT a full day before cutting into it. You will not regret it at all. Ryan keeps on raving about how this is probably his favorite fresh fruit tart, despite the fact he continues calling it a pie.

I made several changes to the recipe to make it more a tart than a pie just because it seemed as though the filling would be too dense for a pie. I also substituted the water for So Delicious coconut milk to give more body to the filling. The citrus was changed from lemon to orange and I used arrowroot powder for the thickening agent. The tart crust is thicker and vegan and by FAR my favorite crust. Ryan told me I must stick to that recipe for all pies and tarts from now on. I agree.

Chilled Blueberry Tart

adapted from Shockingly Delicious

makes an 11-inch tart / serves 8

Crust

( from Vegan YumYum's cookbook)

1 1/2 cups whole wheat white pastry flour

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup Earth Balance margarine

1/4 cup Spectrum vegetable shortening

3 to 4 Tablespoon cold water

Blueberry Filling

2/3 cup sugar

3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder (a better substitute for cornstarch)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2/3 cup So Delicious coconut milk

2 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons Earth Balance margarine

2 teaspoons freshly squeezed orange juice

1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

Topping

1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries

powdered sugar for sprinkling

Prepare the crust:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a food processor, add the flour, sugar and salt and process for a few seconds until combined. Add the margarine and the shortening until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the water until the dough comes together. Remove from the processor and pat dough into an 11-inch tart pan. Bake the crust for 20 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely.

Prepare the filling:

In a medium pot, combine sugar, arrowroot powder, salt and cinnamon. Blend in coconut milk and 1 1/2 cups blueberries. Bring to a boil, stirring and smashing half the berries deliberately (use a potato masher a few swipes if you like). Boil, stirring constantly, until mixture is very thick, a minute or so. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract, margarine, orange juice and orange zest. Cool. (I added the author's original note on how to cool the filling at a quicker rate)

Note on cooling the filling:

A quick way to cool the filling before adding the rest of the blueberries is to fill a large salad-type bowl with ice and water. Partially submerge the pan with the cooked blueberries in this cold bath, stirring every once in awhile, and in 5 or so minutes it will be sufficiently cooled to continue with your recipe. You can also just set the pan on an unused burner while it cools off, but the cold water bath is much faster and lets you get your pie in the refrigerator more quickly if time is important.

Once the filling has cooled, fold in another 1 cup of fresh blueberries into the filling.

Assembly

Pour filling into the cooled tart and top with the rest of the blueberries (1 1/2 cups). Refrigerate a whole day to ensure the tart is thoroughly cooled or overnight if you are tempted to dig into this dessert. (Note:We did, but we found that the dessert tasted the BEST after a WHOLE day of being refrigerated)

Before serving, sprinkle with powdered sugar for a better looking tart presentation.

Labels: blueberries, cinnamon, dessert, earth balance, fruit, orange zest, oranges, SO Delicious, sweets, tart, tart filling, vegan