I love the deep purple colour of this Scottish blackberry, apple and bilberry tart its so beautiful and the flavour certainly doesn’t dissapoint either. It’s such a delicious warming tart to eat when the seasons change to Autumn and can be enjoyed with freshly made warm custard, whipped double cream or vanilla ice cream. My kids really enjoy this tart after a delicious hearty Scottish stew and it also works really well the next day for leftovers.

I like to use freshly foraged blackberries, hand picked apples from the garden and foraged bilberries. I missed the bilberry season when I was making this tart and didn’t have enough in the freezer so I used fresh blueberries instead. I do love foraged blackberries and bilberries as they are my favourite foods to forage for and are both super nutritious in their own special way. The full recipe is available to watch in my video below or you can read the rest of the recipe in this post.

The Best Bits about this recipe…

1. The pastry dough is based on a really old Scottish recipe and is really nice to work with. It’s really stretchy and can be moulded into various shapes and designs for the top of your tart. Get creative!
2. Blackberries and bilberries (when in season) can be found growing in the wild and therefore cost nothing to gather. FREE food! We love a bit of free food in our kitchen! Be sure when out foraging though to have correctly identified your berry and don’t take more than you need.
3. This tart lasted us for a good few days and it was suited to dessert, a side for a cup of tea or coffee or even for breakfast if your feeling like it. It works for many meals and snacks.

This tart would also work well with the following recipes for the perfect Scottish Inspired meal – Scottish Smoked Salmon Pate for a starter and the Scottish Beef Stew for a main course. Give them a try by clicking the videos below.

Equipment you will need…

1. You will need a pastry tin preferably with a bottom you can pop out after use. I find these work really well and this particular tin cooks the pastry really evenly due to the tiny holes around the tin.
2. Get yourself a wee pastry brush, its handy to use for brushing the milk onto the pastry before baking in this recipe and also a million other things!

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Blackberry, Apple & Bilberry Tart Recipe

Serves – 10-12 people or 2-3 nights of dessert for a family

Ingredients

350g of self raising flour

1/2 tsp of baking powder

175g of lard

pinch of salt

150g of blackberries

150g of chopped apples

50g of bilberries or blueberries

100g of soft brown sugar

1tsp of vanilla extract

milk for pastry brushing

caster sugar for sprinkling

Recipe Instructions

All the instructions are available in the video above or you can click here to watch!

1. Add the flour, baking powder and salt to a mixing bowl and mix through.
2. Add in the lard (which should be at room temperature) and mix gently in the mixer.
3. Add in a couple of tablespoons of water and bring the mixing speed up to high speed to create the dough.
4. Remove the dough from the mixer hook and knead gently to form a soft ball.
5. Split the ball of dough into two pieces, one for the base and one for the top of the tart.
6. Roll out the base of the tart on a floured surface so that it is big enough to fit into the tart tin and up the sides.
7. Place the dough inside the tart tin and mould up the sides of the tin. If you have excess dough fold it over the top of the tin and cut off after baking.
8. Add a large sheet of baking paper to the top of the pastry inside the tin and fill the tart with baking beans. I use some old black beans but you can use professional baking beans instead. Check out the images above for more detail or the video is even easier to follow.
9. Bake at 180 for 20 minutes.
10. Add the blackberries, apples, bilberries or blueberries, sugar and vanilla to a small pan to start on the filling for the tart.
11. Bring up to a high heat and back to a medium simmer for 15 minutes or until all the fruit is completely soft, especially the apples.
12. You should have a runny jammy consistency once ready. Leave to cool slightly.
13. Remove the pastry from the oven once the cooking time is finished and remove the baking beans for further use again. I store mine in a large glass jar.
14. Add your jammy fruit mix into the centre of the tart and set aside to work on the pastry for the topping.
15. Roll out the pastry to a similiar thickness as the base and slice into thin strips.
16. Place the strips across the tart in a criss cross pattern and finish off with a braided piece if you like for a bit of extra decoration. You can make other shapes should you wish or cover the entire top of the tart with solid pastry and a few holes. The designs are endless.
17. Brush the pastry with the milk and sprinkle some caster sugar over the pastry to complete the tart.
18. Bake in the oven for a futher 15-20minutes.
19. Leave to cool slightly before serving to solidify the pastry and filling.
20. Serve with custard, ice cream, whipping cream or other side of choice. Enjoy!

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