Rustic Raspbery Tart {Recipe}

Many months ago, I found myself with some Meyer Lemons, and no idea how to use them all up. I had been eyeing up a lemon honey jam, so I decided that was the way to go. I was wrong! I'm not going to give you the recipe, because I was just not happy with the jam. It was too bitter, even with extra honey, and the honey didn't come through in the flavor the way I was hoping. So, I ended up with a jar of Meyer Lemon Jam that just wasn't ever going to get used as jam (I teared up thinking of all the naked pieces of toast and naked biscuits in my future).

Fast forward a month or two, and I knew I needed to figure out some recipe for the jam because I wasn't going to just throw it away. What a disappointing waste that would be!

I had an idea in my mind for a tart of sorts. Combining some lovely sweet raspberries with the lemon jam, creating a dessert that had a nice play of sweet and tart (I had other recipes in mind, but I'll tell you about them later).

I used puffed pastry for the crust because I love it so much more then most regular pie crusts, and because its so very easy to work with.

I apologize for not having step-by-step pictures here, but its very much a bit of this, bit of that, make it your own recipe.

Rustic Raspberry Tart

1. Pre-heat your oven to 400*.  Pull one puffed pastry from freezer to thaw (takes about a half hour). The rest will take you 10 minutes, so relax for a few minutes.

2. While your puffed pasty finishes thawing, smash about a pint and a half of raspberries in a bowl, until broken up. Add (approx) a tsp of vanilla, a Tbsp of coconut sugar, and 2 Tbsp flour, and stir to combine. Add a heaping cup of Lemon Jam/Marmalade, and stir until well incorporated.

3. Roll out your puffed pastry and then transfer to a baking sheet. Make a circle of the raspberry mixture in the middle of the pastry, then fold up the sides, crimping to keep them folded (fold more then you think... it opens a bit in the oven!). Sprinkle the pastry with cardamom and cinnamon.

4. Pop in the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, until the crust is nicely browned. Remove from oven, use a fork to puncture any bubbles rising in the middle section of your tart, then cover with foil and bake for another ~5 minutes, until the filling is starting to thicken.

5. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Top with the other 1/2 pint of raspberries, then carefully transfer to a serving plate.

6. Let cool completely before cutting, so the filling has a chance to thicken and set. Slice and enjoy, alone or with a scoop of ice cream (cardamom would be amazing).

This is a lovely combination of sweet and tart, flaky and soft. A good use of some disappointing jam!