How to Prepare Blackberry Tartlets

• I quickly rinsed the blackberries without soaking them.
  I placed the blackberries in a small pot, added the sugar, and turned on the heat. I stirred the blackberries with a spoon, and when the sugar started to dissolve, I turned off the heat and covered with a lid.
  I let it sit for a few hours.

  😊 I admit that this way of treating blackberries is my experiment; I don’t know if it’s how it’s really done. My goal was not to make blackberry jam, especially since there were too few to obtain a reasonable amount, I simply wanted to extract some ‘juice’ to add to the ricotta without destroying the blackberries, meaning I wanted them to remain whole. And I succeeded.

  While the blackberries were resting, I prepared the pastry. Remembering a cookie dough from a long time ago, I decided to try replacing some of the flour with semolina. If you prefer classic shortcrust pastry, I refer you to my classic recipe (this one) which will undoubtedly not disappoint you and with which you can achieve perfect tartlets.

  When the blackberries had cooled, I placed them in a colander to drain the sugary liquid that had formed. I added it to the ricotta and stirred.

  Since the ricotta, of course, became very soft, I decided that some cornstarch would help make the filling more compact, so I added 3 teaspoons and mixed well to dissolve the cornstarch in the ricotta cream, now pink in color.

  At this point, I doubted that this ricotta filling was sweet enough. I tasted it with the tip of a teaspoon and decided that, yes, a bit more sugar could be added, so I opted for a few teaspoons of powdered sugar, more suitable at this stage because it dissolves immediately. The sweetness of the tartlets when eating them was perfect for our taste. I leave it to you to decide whether these four or five extra teaspoons are indispensable for you or not.

  Final phase.
  After the necessary rest in the fridge, I rolled out the shortcrust pastry into discs of the appropriate size for my molds. If you don’t have tartlet molds, you can make a regular tart. In both cases, I recommend making sure the pastry has no cracks because the filling is quite liquid. For the same reason, I suggest leaving the edge higher than you would normally do for jam tarts.

  I lined the molds with parchment paper and placed the shortcrust pastry disc in each.
  I poured in the filling up to about halfway (relative to the pastry edge) and decorated the surface with blackberries. I feared they would sink, but they didn’t. 😉

  I baked at 356°F (180°C) for 15-20 minutes. To be completely honest, I anxiously checked through the oven glass during baking because I feared that the filling wouldn’t set properly, which is the reason I might have left them a few minutes too long, causing some tartlets to brown a bit more than necessary, but they were perfectly cooked. I recommend adjusting based on your oven (as always).

  I also recommend letting the tartlets cool to allow the filling to firm up, and then finally… they can be eaten! 😋

  

• In the end, I gave in to aesthetics, and after a generous dusting of powdered sugar on our blackberry tartlets, I presented my husband and kids with an elegant-looking breakfast, as well as tasty. What more could you want? 😀

  

• If you’re like me and love experimenting, I suggest trying this shortcrust pastry with added semolina that we liked a lot, and I feel I should share the testimony of my son (ten years old) who showered it with compliments, saying things like ‘how good is this pastry,’ which is almost unbelievable knowing him. 😄
  The procedure for preparing the pastry, excluding the flour variation, is identical to my classic recipe (always this one), so I’ll spare you further instructions on this page already rich with information. The only thing I feel I should point out is that this dough is a bit more crumbly and tends to break apart. But it is really good, and I think I’ll use it again soon to make some cookies.

• It’s the last Sunday of July 2025. Today it’s sunny, but we’ve had some rainy days and it seems it will rain again tomorrow, so Flavia arranged a blackberry picking walk with her friend Agnese for this afternoon.

  For several days she was telling me that she wanted to go pick blackberries, specifically to make the blackberry tartlets ‘from that day at Gianluca’s’ that became almost a symbol for us, of a beautiful day that became a family memory, and for Flavia a childhood memory.

  Here are the photos. Flavia did a great job, her tartlets turned out perfectly, both in shape and taste. So delicious that I restrained myself from grabbing seconds from the kids to avoid looking like a greedy mom! 😅

  Additionally, thanks to Flavia, I now have a photo of the internal view; this recipe needed it!

  Look at that marvelous filling! Yum! 😃

  
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