Blueberries are delicious. Even more so when they’re in season and fresh from the fields. The berries I used were not. They were on sale at the grocery store and that’s enough of a reason for me to try and do something fabulous with them. Farm ones just would have been even better.
This started because I felt like cheesecake, and shortbread cookies. I didn’t feel like making a cheesecake though, and I had blueberries. I also love making tarts, mainly because I love how pretty a tart shell looks (I have a lot of idiosyncrasies).
This is a picture heavy post because there are three parts to this. The shortbread crust (keep this baby in your back pocket, you can always find a reason to make a shortbread tart crust if you look for it), the cheesecake inspired filling, and the blueberry topping.
Before we get started though, this is the chaos that I have to deal with on a daily basis while I’m trying to cook and bake. I love it. I don’t love that this room was spotless 5 minutes before the picture was taken. I swear it was 
First off, we’ve got to make the crust. Cut your cold butter up into small chunks. I like to do this ahead of time and put it back in the fridge to get nice and cold. Cold butter is important in these types of things (even more so when you’re making a pie crust), because it’s what makes the finished product flaky.
Put your flour, salt, and icing sugar into a food processor and pulse it for a second to mix it up.
Beautiful!
Toss in all the butter, and pulse it until it looks like course meal, with a few small pea sized pieces of butter left.
It’ll look really floury, but it’ll hold together if you press it into a ball.
This is gorgeous to someone who quite enjoys a shortbread crust.
Alright, get your tart shell out (how I love the scalloped edge of a tart shell).
Press the crust into the shell so that you have at least ¼” thickness everywhere, sides and bottom.
Perfect! Well, except for that spot bottom right that isn’t, but perfection is in the imperfection, ya know.
Cover it loosely with foil.
Grab some of these babies. Pie weights are great, but not necessary. You can use dried beans, just don’t use them to actually cook with and eat after. Keep a bunch set aside for blind baking crusts. I’ve heard of people using pennies too…
Crust is ready to hit the oven now.
In 15 to 20 minutes you’ll have this golden beauty! Now let it completely cool.
The chaos had started climbing at this point in the morning. Oh joy. How neither of these two have ended up with a broken bone yet is a miracle.
Time to make the filling. Put the softened cream cheese and icing sugar into your mixer and whip it up.
Nice.
Add the vanilla and whip that in. It’ll be nice and soft.
Perfect. Now set it aside for a second.
Put some heavy cream in a bowl and whip it up.
Now add the cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream.
Use a spatula to fold it in until it’s uniform.
Spread it into the cooled tart shell. It doesn’t have to be perfect because we’re covering it with blueberries. You can throw it in the fridge now to help it firm up.
On to the blueberry filling. Zest and juice 1 lemon (make sure you get ¼ cup of juice from it).
Put the sugar, water, lemon juice, lemon zest, vanilla, and cornstarch into a large pot.
Stir until smooth over medium heat.
Get your blueberries ready.
Toss your blueberries into the pot.
Bring to a boil and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes. Half of the blueberries will have broken down, and it’ll be nice and thick. Now remove from the heat and let it cool completely.
Get the tart out of the fridge.
Pour on that delicious blueberry topping.
Yep, this is awesome. Now just chill it until ready to serve.
A moment to stare at the tart.
Now a moment to stare at my new cake stand. I really fell in love with this cake stand. So, like any good parent I showed it to Anna in the store, and she obligingly chirped at it. This meant I could tell Daddy that I had to get it because Anna liked it. That’s my girl.
Ok, back to the tart. It is so delicious, perfect for a late summer dessert. The problem with these things in our house is that Bo doesn’t have a sweet tooth, so only the kids and I got to enjoy it. Crazy Bo.
Stop staring at my beautiful tart and go make your own
Here’s your printable:
Blueberry Cheesecake Tart with a Shortbread Crust
Ingredients
Crust
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ½ cup icing sugar
- ¾ cold butter, cut into small chunks
Cream Cheese Filling
- 8oz cream cheese, softened (1 package)
- ½ cup icing sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
Blueberry Topping
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3 tbsp cornstarch
- ½ cup water
- ¼ cup fresh squeezed lemon juice
- 1 tbsp lemon zest
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 3 cups blueberries, fresh or frozen
Instructions
Crust
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF with a rack in the middle position.
- Put the flour, salt, and icing sugar into the bowl of a food processor and mix to blend. Add the butter chunks and pulse until a coarse meal forms with a few pieces of pea sized butter left.
- Press the mixture into the bottoms and sizes of a tart shell so that it is at least ¼" thick everywhere.
- Lightly cover the tart with foil and add pie weights (or dried beans) to ensure that the tart shell doesn't bubble up. Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool completely.
Cream Cheese Filling
- Beat the cream cheese and icing sugar together until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla. Fold the cream cheese mixture into the whipped cream until completely uniform. Spread into the cooled tart shell and refrigerate until firm.
Blueberry Topping
- Put the sugar, water, cornstarch, lemon juice, lemon zest, and vanilla into a large sauce pan and whisk until smooth over medium heat.
- Stir in the blueberries and bring to a boil, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes until at least half of the blueberries have broken down and it has thickened up significantly.
- Let cool, then pour onto the top of the tart. Keep the finished tart refrigerated.
Gigi