Wild Blackberry Streusel Tarts

The dog days of summer seem to be behind us! Today it finally rained and was cool enough to turn the oven on. 

I've been dying to try out a blackberry pie recipe I've been concocting in my head while watching the blackberries ripen in the hot sun, so today was a perfect day to make them while the berries were fresh and ripe and so juicy!

I'd planned to make this into a full pie recipe, but could only find frozen tart shells in my freezer...so why not experiment, they are better for the waistline when they're small anyway!

The juice of this filling when it was all mixed together was so amazing I didn't want to waste any and over-filled them a bit, but I just couldn't resist, I wanted to drink it!

Wild Blackberry Streusel Tarts

24  Tart Shells (defrosted if frozen)

4-5 cups blackberries, fresh or frozen (thawed, rinsed, drained, dried)

3/4 cup sugar (less if you have exceptionally sweet berries)

1 tsp lemon juice

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp almond extract

3-4 Tbsp cornstarch (3 for wild berries, 4 for very ripe/frozen)

Streusel Topping

1/2 cup Brown Sugar

1/4 cup Flour

2 Tbsp Butter, softened

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

Combine blackberries, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, almond extract and cornstarch in a bowl and gently mix the ingredients. Spoon filling into uncooked (thawed if needed) tart shells (about 3/4 full to prevent overfilling like I did!). 

For the Streusel topping, combine brown sugar, flour, butter, and cinnamon in a bowl and mix together with a fork until butter is completely combined with sugar and becomes crumbly. Top each tart with a generous spoonful of Streusel topping.

Bake in a 400 F oven for 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown around the edges and the filling becomes bubbly & starts to rise and is no longer liquidy. 

Let cool before serving (or it will be really hard to get out of the tins). Perfect with ice cream or a dollop of whip cream!

Yum.

Happy Berry Picking (and watch out for those nasty thorns!)

~ Adel ~