Sadly fresh mulberries won’t survive a trip to school. Which is a pity, because they’re right in season and hugely healthy – a real super food. Most foods with that deep colour are rich sources of anti-oxidants, which are protective against lots of diseases including cancer, inflammation, diabetes, and infections. Mulberries are also an excellent source of iron which guards against anemia and helps the blood carry enough oxygen for active kids. They also have lots of minerals and plenty of vitamins.
These little tarts use a strong egg custard to encase the mulberries and give them enough lunch box stamina. The eggs are also a superfood, high in protein and choline, which is brain food.
So they meet the Muesli Bar Challenge criteria for healthy and ethical and robust enough to survive a school lunch box. This is the first in the series for Term 4. I’m away from home for a few days, so these were tested in grown-ups lunch boxes. (Sorry kids – home in time for next week!)
The Recipe:
Makes 12 tartlets.
The Pastry:
In the food processor, put
- 1½ cups of wholemeal plain flour,
- 3 dessertspoons of butter
- 2 dessertspoons of brown sugar
Blend for a minute until it resembles breadcrumbs. (Or you can just mix the flour and sugar and rub the butter in with your finger tips). Add just enough cold water to make a soft dough. Add it carefully, spoonful at a time.
Sprinkle flour on your benchtop and roll it out quite thin. I use a saucer to cut 10 cm circles and put each in a cup of a greased 12 cup muffin tray.
Fill each case with fresh mulberries, stems trimmed. You will fit about 4 or 5 mulberries in each, depending on size. You can fill them very full – the mulberries sink as they cook.
The Custard:
You can re-use your food processor, or just beat together:
- 1 cup of milk
- 2 eggs
- 2 dessertspoons of brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla esssence
- 4 teaspoons of cornflour (cornstarch to US cooks)
Pour the custard over the mulberries in the tart shells. You can fill them quite full.
Bake in a medium oven for half an hour or so until the pastry is browned and the custard set.
yum. Mulberry season is a bit off here yet so I am drooling too early…
Ooh, yum, thanks Linda. The girls have gone off to school the last two days staring longingly at the bowls of mulberries I’ve just picked on their way out – I have a couple of nice muffin recipes it’s nice to have a change. I imagine these are terrific with blueberries when they come into season too?
Oh, YUMMO! I wants to have one for dessert, just a small one!
low fat and healthy – you can have a large one!
they were great. better than my mothers mulberry and custard. well maybe not better but as good and better for me.
Yum! I’m not sure they would make it in to lunch boxes here, straight from the oven.
I was eyeing off some mulberries in someone elses backyard the other day, thinking how I could wrangle a bucket of them.
I have been a little lax in my duty as an official reviewer for this one. These have to go down as one of my favorite of Mum’s cooking, which is saying quite a lot. Beautiful textures and full of flavour, loved them.
Yummo, we made these tonight, using mulberries we picked from a tree overhanging the path from someone’s front yard (we did knock on their door first!). They are great. Can’t wait to try the mulberry black forest cakes tomorrow night.
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That sounds good, but what temperature do you set the oven on to bake? You left that out. I’m going to make them for my Summer Berry Festival on Monday.
Hi Hope, I have an ancient gas stove, and a wood stove, so I only cook things that can cope with inexactness in temperature. These want an oven that is not too hot, or the pastry cooks before the custard sets. I’d go for gas mark 4, 350°F, 180°C. Something like that. But they are pretty forgiving.