Mulberry Tart with Cardamom and Black Pepper

For the dough:
In a large bowl, mix together flour and sugar. Cut butter into small pieces and add it into the flour mixture. Cut butter into flour with a pastry cutter or forks until butter chunks are pea-sized. Add the egg yolks and vanilla extract and knead with your fingers until combined. If dough is dry and crumbly, add ice water a teaspoon at a time until dough holds together when gently squeezed. Form dough into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap, wax paper or freezer paper. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

For the filling:
Wash mulberries (no need to cut off the little green stems) and place in a large pot. Add sugar, butter and vanilla extract and bring to a simmer. Cook berries until most of them have dissolved and the liquid starts to thicken, about 20-25 minutes. Sift flour into mixture, stirring constantly until flour is combined and the filling thickened. Remove from heat and add cardamom, black pepper, and lime juice. Strain mixture into a bowl through a very fine mesh sieve, pressing out liquid and pulp. (This should result in about two cups of tart filling).

For the assembly:
On a clean work surface, roll out two-thirds of the dough (with plenty of flour) into a roughly even shaped rectangle and line a large tart pan with it. I used an 8.5 by 12 inch tart pan but the dough didn’t cover the entire pan. Chill for 15-30 minutes. Roll out remaining dough on a piece of wax or parchment paper and cut into half inch strips. Chill for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F.

Fill crust with filling but leave space around the edges for the top crust. Carefully criss-cross dough strips onto filling. Press dough strips into the tart crust edge. If the dough is looking soft, chill again. (if your dough gets soft before baking it will not hold its shape in the tart pan). Bake at 350°F for 30-35 minutes, or until crust is a golden brown. Remove from oven.

Cool tart for 15-20 minutes. Gently slide tart off tart pan base with a thin metal spatula or a thin metal bench scraper onto a plate. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired.

Notes:
1. Only use a pure vanilla extract that does not contain corn syrup, sugar or additives. Best case scenario, find one with with only vanilla beans and alcohol.
2. Don’t be afraid to use the freezer to speed the chilling process, but make sure to chill, not freeze the dough.
3. If bubbles form during baking, pierce the tart all the way through the bubble and continue baking.