Home RecipesDesserts Ultimate Lemon Blueberry Tart Delight

Ultimate Lemon Blueberry Tart Delight

by Amanda
0 comment 38 views
A+A-
Reset
lemon-blueberry-tart-shortbread-crust

Cool, creamy, and refreshing, this lemon blueberry tart comes together with just 10 ingredients. A simple lemon filling rests in a flaky shortbread crust, swirled with homemade blueberry sauce. After one bite of this sweet, tangy, and buttery tart, it’s impossible to put your fork down. Enjoy this beautiful dessert for Mother's Day, Father's Day, spring or summer celebrations, and more.

lemon-blueberry-tart-shortbread-crust

Why You'll Love This Lemon Blueberry Tart

Texture: The flaky shortbread crust provides a perfect contrast to the creamy and lush lemon filling.

Flavor: Bursting with the fresh, bright taste of lemon and complemented by a tangy blueberry swirl, this tart is a taste of pure sunshine.

Ease: Though there are three separate components, each is straightforward and simple to prepare.

Time: With only an hour of prep and bake time, plus some cooling and chilling, this tart is perfect for making a day ahead.

lemon-blueberry-tart-2

Ingredients You'll Need

  1. Buttery Shortbread Crust: I make this shortbread crust with a lot of different desserts and it always reminds me of pie crust, but it’s so much easier. There’s no food processor or pastry cutter needed—instead simply combine melted butter with sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour and press into a tart pan or pie dish. You don’t even need to chill the dough before using. You’ll notice we use the same crust for our raspberry streusel bars, apple pie bars, and we double the recipe for our lemon bars. Keep in mind that these other desserts may require different oven temperatures and that’s because the desserts take longer, overall, to bake through. We bake the crust at 350°F (177°C) for this particular tart recipe.
  2. Lemon Filling: A lot of lemon tarts are prepared with a curd filling, but this one is thick, creamy, and rich. I use a similar lemon filling for our creamy lemon pie. I halved it for this tart, then cut down on the egg yolks. The egg yolks help the filling set, but I wanted the finished tart to remain soft. I think you’ll really love it. We’ll use only 1 egg yolk.
  3. Blueberry Sauce Swirl: You’ll enjoy pure blueberries without much else in the way. We hardly add any sugar to the blueberry sauce (some is needed to help them break down), so the natural flavor can really shine. Cook it on the stovetop for a few minutes, let it cool a little bit, then swirl some into the lemon filling. Feel free to strain it if you don’t want any blueberry lumps. You can use a toothpick or knife to swirl.

How to Make the Lemon Blueberry Tart

Shortbread Crust

  1. Prepare the Crust: Combine melted butter with sugar, vanilla, salt, and flour. Press the mixture into a tart pan or pie dish.
  2. Pre-Bake: Bake the crust at 350°F (177°C) for a perfectly crumbly and flaky base.

making-shortbread-tart-crust

shortbread-tart-crust

The shortbread crust dough is thick and a little greasy—don’t be nervous if it looks a little wet. Press it tightly into your pan and pre-bake it before adding the filling.

Lemon Filling

  1. Mix the Filling: Combine sweetened condensed milk, lemon juice, lemon zest, and egg yolk until smooth.
  2. Add to Crust: Spread the lemon filling into the pre-baked crust.

Spread the filling into the pre-baked crust.

creamy-lemon-filling

Blueberry Sauce

  1. Prepare the Sauce: Cook blueberries with a bit of sugar until they break down. Cool slightly, then swirl into the lemon filling.
  2. Swirl and Bake: Use a toothpick or knife to create beautiful swirls in the filling. Bake the tart until set.

lemon-tart-with-blueberry-sauce

Tips for Success

  1. Chill Before Serving: Cool the tart completely, then chill for at least a few hours to set the flavors.
  2. Make Ahead: This tart can be made a day in advance, making it perfect for special occasions.

Mini Lemon Blueberry Tarts

To make mini tarts, divide the crust mixture between mini tart pans, pre-bake for 8 minutes, then add the filling and blueberry swirl. Bake for 9-10 minutes or until set. Cool completely before chilling and serving.

Variations

  • Lime Tart: Substitute lime juice and zest for lemon.
  • Strawberry Swirl: Use chopped strawberries instead of blueberries.
  • Raspberry or Blackberry Swirl: Replace blueberries with raspberries or blackberries and add an extra teaspoon of sugar.

Tools I Recommend

A good juicer and zester will make preparing the lemon filling much easier. For mini tarts, mini tart pans work best.


This tart is a delightful and refreshing dessert that’s sure to impress at any gathering. Whether you stick to the classic lemon blueberry combination or try one of the variations, you’ll love the bright, fresh flavors and creamy texture of this beautiful tart. Enjoy!

This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.

The above recipe draws inspiration from the renowned culinary experts, Sally and Lindsay.

lemon-blueberry-tart-shortbread-crust

Ultimate Lemon Blueberry Tart Delight

Serves: 4 pax / serves 8-10 Prep Time: Cooking Time:
Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat
Rating: 5.0/5
( 1 voted )

Ingredients

There are 3 parts to this creamy lemon blueberry tart and each are prepared separately before bringing them all together. For best success, take your time and read through the recipe before starting.

😎  Total Time: 4 hours (includes chilling)

Blueberry Sauce

  • 1 teaspoon cornstarch
  • 2 teaspoons lemon juice (or water)
  • 1 cup (140g) fresh or frozen blueberries (do not thaw)
  • 2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Shortbread Crust

  • 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113gunsalted butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup (50ggranulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (125gall-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)

Filling

  • 1 (14 ounce weight) can full-fat sweetened condensed milk
  • 6 Tablespoons (90ml) lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest (1 lemon)
  • 1 large egg yolk

Optional Garnishes

  • Lemon slices, blueberries, leftover blueberry sauce, whipped cream

Instructions

    1. Blueberry Sauce: Using a fork, mix the cornstarch and lemon juice together in a small bowl until the cornstarch has dissolved. Set aside. Warm the blueberries and sugar together in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally for 3 minutes, mashing the blueberries as best you can against the bottom and sides of the pan to help break them up. Stir in the cornstarch mixture. Cook for 2 more minutes as the sauce thickens, stirring and mashing the blueberries to break them up as desired. Remove sauce from heat and set aside at room temperature until step 6. Makes about 1/2 – 2/3 cup blueberry sauce and you’ll use about half for the swirl. (Reserve extra for garnish/serving.)
    2. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
    3. Crust: Mix the melted butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and salt together in a medium bowl. Add the flour and stir to completely combine. The dough will be a little greasy and very thick. Using a silicone spatula or your hands, press dough firmly into a 9-inch tart pan (no need to grease it), making sure the layer of crust is even on the bottom and all around the sides. It may seem like it won’t fit, but it will. You can use the bottom of a measuring cup to pack the crust in too, but sometimes it sticks.
    4. Bake for 15 minutes or until the edges are very lightly browned. Remove from the oven. Using a fork, poke a few holes all over the top of the warm crust (not all the way through the crust). This helps the filling stick.
    5. Filling: Whisk all of the filling ingredients together until combined. Pour into warm crust. Stir up the blueberry sauce because it has likely thickened. It can still be warm when you use it in this step. If it’s too thick, warm it in the microwave for 5-10 seconds. Drop spoonfuls of blueberry sauce all over the top, using about half of the sauce. Reserve the rest of the sauce for serving. Using a toothpick or knife, gently swirl the sauce and filling together. Shimmy the pan back and forth 2-3 times to let the sauce and filling settle down into the crust a bit.
    6. Bake for 17-19 minutes, just until the center of the tart no longer jiggles when you give the pan a light tap. It will still be a little sticky on top. Avoid over-baking because the tart will taste rubbery. (Tip: Err on the side of under-baking because the filling also has a chance to set up in the refrigerator. You want a creamy soft filling.)
    7. Remove tart from the oven and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely at room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator uncovered for at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. If chilling for longer than 2 hours, cover it. After chilling, remove the sides of the tart pan if your pan has removable sides.
    8. Slice and serve with optional garnishes including any leftover blueberry sauce.
    9. Cover leftovers tightly and refrigerate for up to 1 week.

Notes

  1. Make Ahead Freezing Instructions: You can bake, cool, and chill the tart 1 day in advance. See step 7. The filling must be poured on a warm crust so it will stick, so I don’t recommend pre-baking the crust ahead of time. You can prepare the filling and blueberry sauce in advance though. Cover both and refrigerate until ready to use. The blueberry filling will be quite solid after refrigerating, so warm it up on the stove or in the microwave until thinned out again. (It can be warm when you swirl it into the filling.) Baked and cooled tart freezes well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before serving.
  2. Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Whisk | Silicone Spatula | 9-inch Tart Pan | Cooling Rack
  3. Tart Pan: A 9-inch tart pan with or without removable sides (it doesn’t matter) is ideal for this recipe. If you use other size tart pans, the bake times and thickness of the tart will differ. You can also use a 9-inch pie dish, but slicing the tart isn’t quite as neat. The bake times are the same. For mini tart pans, see post above. I don’t recommend a springform pan because the crust leaks. We haven’t tested this recipe in a round cake pan or as bars.
  4. Blueberry Sauce: If you don’t want blueberry lumps in your tart, feel free to run the blueberry sauce through a fine mesh sieve.
  5. Sweetened Condensed Milk: Make sure you are using sweetened condensed milk, not evaporated milk. There are no successful replacements for sweetened condensed milk in this particular recipe– it’s really the key ingredient. (Sometimes half-and-half or heavy cream works as a substitution, but then you’ll have to test with varying amounts of sugar since both are unsweetened.) Use one 14 ounce can full-fat sweetened condensed milk. Do not use fat free because the tart will not set. Keep in mind that 14 ounces is the listed weight on the can. 1 standard 14 ounce can is a little over 1 liquid cup.
Did You Make This Recipe?
How you went with my recipes? Tag me on Instagram at @amandamixichi

You may also like

Leave a Comment

* By using this form you agree with the storage and handling of your data by this website.

About Us

Hi, I’m Amanda! I’m here to bring you sweet, simple, from-scratch dessert recipes. My life is ruled by my sweet tooth. Send help (or chocolate)!

Read more about me.

Newsletter

Subscribe to my newsletter for new posts, great baking tips, and fresh recipes. Stay updated!

@2024 | Designed by Amanda