blueberry minis

Classic blueberry pie is the quintessential summer dessert, and the perfect addition to any barbecue or backyard picnic that you may have planned this summer. This past weekend was the unofficial kickoff to barbecue season. Many of us celebrated the Memorial holiday weekend grilling out with friends and family, while others brought the RV out of storage or dusted off, and aired out their tents. I have beautiful memories of big family picnics packed up and hauled out to the Holland State Park. We would pick the perfect spot for everyone and set up camp. My grandmother always made her famous potato salad and perfectly cooked pasta salad with huge chunks of cheddar cheese. Aluminum foil would be brought out to line the community grills, and burgers and hotdogs would be cooked to perfection. There was never a lack of desserts -- homemade cookies and pies would magically appear from the picnic basket towards the end of the meal. Completely stuffed and happy to relax on our blankets in the sun, we would watch the boats slowly sail through the channel on their way out to bigger bodies of water. I feel very blessed to have such wonderful Michigan summer memories of my childhood. What is your favorite summer holiday memory?

No pie or dessert is complete without the addition of vanilla. Our Madagascar Vanilla Beans are superior, with flavor and aromatic qualities that make these beans the most popular and sought after vanilla variety. The flavor is a rich, dark and creamy with an overwhelming sweet, buttery aroma. These are well-suited for many baking recipes, drinks and desserts. We know you will agree that our Madagascar Beans are the best vanilla beans in the world!

Mini Blueberry Tarts

Yields 4 Mini Tarts

Ingredients:

Filling:

  • 12 ounces frozen blueberries
  • 1 Madagascar vanilla bean (split and scraped)
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • ¼ tsp. almond extract
  • 2 tbsp. flour
  • 1 tsp. orange zest

Directions:

Combine frozen blueberries, Madagascar vanilla bean scrapings, sugar, almond extract, flour and orange zest in a bowl. Toss to combine. Set aside and prepare the tart pans and dough.

Dough:

Adapted from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:

  • 2 ½ cups pastry flour
  • 8 ounces cold butter cubed
  • 1 tsp. sugar
  • 8 Tbsp. ice water

Directions:

Place flour, cold butter and sugar into the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until it resembles fine crumbs. With the food processor running, slowly add the ice water. Run the food processor until the dough comes together. Dump out the dough onto a lightly flour surface and form into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Remove dough from the fridge and cut into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each section into a round. Spray the bottom of the mini tart pan with pan spray. Gently place the dough into the bottom of the tart pan and push into the sides. Place 3 ounces of the blueberry filling onto the dough. Put the second piece of dough on top, push two pieces of dough together and pressed down the dough onto the fluted edge to remove the excess dough and seal the two pieces of dough together. Repeat process for the remaining three tarts. Sprinkle tops with sugar and pierce three times on top with a small knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes until the filling begins to bubble out of the dough.