High Tea – or just High?

This month my #letslunch pals on twitter (and there is getting to be a lot of us!) decided on High Tea as our virtual lunch theme.  Now what the heck would I know about High Tea?  I am an American, living in Canada and have absolutely no class so I was really out of luck on this one.  Plus, this weekend is Thanksgiving here in Canada so I had no time to research.  I decided it was like a normal tea – scones, pastries & small sweet bites (boy was I out to lunch) and made Saskatoon Berry tarlets, figuring that I could make them and then use them as a dessert choice for Sunday’s big Thanksgiving meal.  Hey, I am NOT lazy, just…er…creative.

Basically it’s a puff pastry shell, filled with mascarpone filling & topped with saskatoon berries, cooked in cassis.

I actually thought about making my own puff pastry from scratch but frankly unless you are making croissants (where it really matters), puff pastry from scratch is just a huge pain in the ass.  Trust me, as a survivor of radiation treatment for anal cancer, I am an expert on pains in the derriere.  So I purchased puff pastry shells and, completely free of guilt, popped them into a 400 degree oven until they were puffed and not quite golden brown, since I was going to bake them again.

(makes 6 tartlets)

Ingredients:

purchased pkg of puff pastry shells (OK, OK – yes I do feel guilty)

8 oz mascarpone cheese

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups Saskatoon berry filling (recipe to follow)

Mix the mascarpone, egg and vanilla (I just used a wire whip) until smooth and fill the partially baked shells (make sure that you remove the inside of the shells!)

Pop them back into the 400 degree oven for about 10 minutes and then remove them immediately to a cooling rack to set.

Gently warm the berries and spoon over the cooled pastries & serve!

You could also add a nice big dollop of cream whipped with a hint of vanilla – which I will do on Sunday.  Honestly, I would have done it for you but hey, it’s thanksgiving and there was no room in my fridge to store whipped cream for two days!

For the saskatoon berries:

4 cups saskatoon berries (serviceberries)

1/2 c sugar

1/2 c cassis

2 TBS cornstarch mixed with 1/4 c water to make a slurry

Mix all ingredients in a heavy saucepan and simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add cornstarch slurry to thicken and continue to cook for about 10 minutes.  Cool completely.

Check out the other great #letslunch posts here:

http://paper.li/geokaren/1318019351