Blackberry Loquat Tartlettes

Blackberries and loquats are in season and they grow abundantly around our neighborhood. Blackberry Loquat Tartlettes are beautiful, tasty and - most importantly - simple to make even for those who are like us - terrible at baking!

Ingredients
2 quarts blackberries

for the marmalade
5 lbs loquats
4 cups sugar
1 1/2 packets pectin
3/4 cup dried fruit

for the dough
2/3 cup sugar
2 sticks butter
2 cups flour (or 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup polenta)
pinch of salt
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

If you don't know where loquats and blackberries are in your neighborhood, you may find some at Neighborhood Fruit by searching for trees on public land. Just enter your zipcode and distance (ex. 94110 and 1). Take note of the tree and shrub address and get ready for your adventure!

For the marmalade, cut out the toxic seeds and the flower ends off the loquats. Cover with water, bring to a boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Filter out the loquat solids. Add 4 cups of sugar, 1.5 packets of pectin and 3/4 of a cup of chopped dried fruit. Bring to a rapid boil for five minutes. Put the resultant goo into containers and let it cool.

Here's a whole instructable we did on loquat marmalade if you need more clarity.

To make the dough, cream the sugar, butter and vanilla extract. Put aside. Combine the flour, polenta and salt together, and sift. Then, slowly add the flour mixture to the prepared creamed butter. Mix it together and chill it in the fridge. Once the dough gets stiff, roll it out on the counter. Cut it the dough into tartlette shape.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 min - don't let them brown! Once baked, put them out to cool on a counter covered in wax paper.

Take the cooled tartlette shells and smear a liberal portion of the cooled marmalade on top of them. Top with blackberries.Voila - fancy, yet simple!