Bakeapple Tarts aka Cloudberry Delights...

...from the story titled "How to Get from A to B" in the "So How's Your Week Been Going?" series, and from the story "What's in a Name?" from "Cindy's Cove".

Here's a recipe where you have to block from your mind any thoughts about the nutritional impact of sugar, white flour, or butter. It wouldn't hurt to have a good friend in Labrador who could send you the berries. The people in Finland grow these luscious little morsels, too, only they call the fruit cloudberries instead of bakeapples. So for anyone not in the know, a bakeapple is a berry. It grows low to the ground, and looks somewhat like a raspberry with fat little globules that are yellowish-orange in colour. The Finns make a wonderful liqueur from them.

NJR's Bakeapple Tarts:

Here's what you'll need: A friend from Labrador. Or the Great Northern Peninsula on the Island of Newfoundland. Or Finland. See above.

Thaw your container of frozen berries. If you're blessed enough to have fresh bakeapples, forget this recipe and gobble your treasure down raw. Fast.
In a saucepan, combine the thawed berries, some white sugar, and a squirt of freshly squeezed, strained lemon juice. But not too much...the berries, to begin with, are generally quite tart (yes, yes, my inspiration for this dessert wasn't hard to come by!). The lemon gives them a special sparkle.
Don't scratch your head about the ratio of sugar to berries. This is a "to taste" recipe.
Simmer the mixture in the pan. Cool. Don't taste your creation too much along the way, or you won't have enough left for the tarts. Not that this has ever happenend to moi.

Here's the part where you can cheat, unless you really have time on your hands and an adventurous spirit: Thaw out a roll of butter puff pastry.

If you can only find the yukky hydrogenated oil type of frozen puff pastry, I'd suggest you make your own. Or make a shortcrust pastry. :

Cut out, with a sharp cookie cutter, circles of puff pastry. A two-inch diameter circle works well.
Brush some beaten egg around the outside edge of the pastry, and wind another circle of pastry around it.
You can braid or twist strips of pastry here, and make a little mound of pastry.
Plop a little spoonful of the bakeapple mixture in the pastry mound.
Brush beaten egg over the pastry. Sprinkle finely with white sugar. You could also sprinkle hurriedly, harshly, or daintily, I suppose. But what I mean is to simply lightly adorn the raw pastry with a delicate shower of sugar. But that just doesn't sound like a step in a recipe, does it?
Bake on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper in a pre-heated 375 degree oven, about 35 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown.
Serve as is, or with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

PS. You don't need to add cornstarch or flour to the berry mixture...it thickens naturally on its own!

These are also good with raisins and diced apples mixed in, as shown in the photos.

Bon appétit!

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NJR Ryan

Writer & Wordsmith

Bakeapple Tarts aka Cloudberry Delights...