Berry Port Cream Cheese Tart - Gluten Free and Vegan

This tart was inspired by a recipe for an Apple Port Cheese Pie in Mollie Katzen’s wonderful book, The New Enchanted Broccoli Forest. I remember buying this book in 2002 and being absolutely captivated by her illustrations, easy to follow instructions, and creative recipes. The aforementioned pie was one of the strangest things I had ever heard of, being an apple pie midwesterner myself. The combination of fruit simmered in port with a cool cream cheese filling, and sugar-cookie-like crust creates a very fun combination of flavors and textures. This pie is perfect for spring and summer months because it requires minimal baking and is served cold! The original recipe calls for many things I can no longer digest including almonds, wheat flour, and cream cheese. So I have adapted it generously, some may say completely butchered, but the same method is used for simmering the fruit, assembly, and the glaze. PLEASE pay attention to your preferences for sweetness. This recipe is not overly sweet and you may desire a touch more of the sweet stuff both in the crust and the berry mix. I have indicated this in the recipe below. I might even bump up the sweetness next time, myself, and it never hurts to add a dollop of dairy free whipped topping!

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Berry Port Cream Cheese Tart - Gluten Free and Vegan

Yield: 6-8

Author: Brooke McKasson

This tart requires cooling and refrigerating. It's easy to make the crust, berries, and cream cheese filling ahead, then make the glaze and assemble. I intentionally made this tart less sweet but it's super easy to adjust the sweetness to your liking by adding more sugar to the crust and the berry mixture.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 1/2 cup gluten free all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsalted vegan butter
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar (increase to 1 tbsp for sweeter crust)
• 2 tbsp dairy free unsweetened milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Berry Filling

• 1 lb strawberries, quartered
• 1 lb blackberries or raspberries, halved if on the larger side
• 1/4 cup sugar (increase to 1/2 or 1 cup if you want more sweet)
• 1 cup port
• 1/2 tsp orange zest

Dairy Free Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz dairy free cream cheese (I used Daiya)
• 5 oz vanilla dairy free yogurt (I used Oui by Yoplait, Cocoyo would also be delicious)

Glaze

• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 1 1/2 cups berry-port cooking liquid

Instructions

Prepare the Crust

1. Oven to 375
2. Using a food processor pulse the flour, sugar, salt, and butter until it resembles coarse meal. You can also grate the cold butter and then mix with the flour.
3. Mix in the milk and vanilla.
4. Press into a 9 inch tart pan, going as high as you can. I usually stop a little short of the top to try and maintain as much shape and integrity as possible.
5. Prick the crust evenly over with a fork and line with foil and pie weights or 2 cups of dry beans.
6. Bake for 15 minutes, remove the beans/weights, and bake for another 15 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside on a rack to cool.

The Berries

1. Stir the berries and sugar together in a saucepan and let sit for about 15-30 minutes.
2. Pour the port over the berries, add the orange zest, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer for about 10 minutes.
3. Strain the berries over a glass bowl and measuring cup, reserving the cooking liquid. Set aside to cool (pop in the refrigerator if assembling the next day).

Make the Cream Cheese Filling

1. Using your standing or hand mixer, combine the cream cheese and vanilla yogurt until well incorporated and creamy.
2. Spread in an even layer inside of the baked and cooled tart crust.

Glaze and Assembly

1. Arrange the cooked berries over the cream cheese mixture in the tart crust.
2. In a small saucepan, whisk the corn starch and about 1/2 cup of the port cooking liquid until well combined and no lumps appear.
3. Set over medium-high heat, pour in the rest of the port and bring to a boil, whisking frequently. Turn heat down once boiling and simmer, stirring often, for 5-8 minutes until the mixture is glossy and thick.
4. Pour the hot mixture evenly over the assembled tart and set aside to cool. Once cooled, refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes

This recipe was inspired by the wonderful book Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen - Apple Port Cheese Pie

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