Blueberry & Cherry Browned Butter Tart

I recently made this tart for a Christmas party my friends and I had while I was back home in Oregon for the holidays. I'd never made anything with brown butter before, nor had I ever tried my hand at "browning" butter, but it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be and after I browned the butter the whole kitchen smelled amazing. Seriously, they should make a browned butter air freshener of some kind. The rest of the tart making was very straightforward and came together pretty easily. I used blueberries and cherries because they were the only berries available at the local supermarket, and they ended up working very well together. I will say though, I used dark sweet cherries for the tart, the kind that are such a dark purplish red hue that they seem almost black in coloring, so don't try to use maraschino cherries or something like that instead, because it won't turn out the same. I also used some cookie cutters that my mom had to cut out a few leaves to put on the corners of the tart as decoration. It tasted great and looked absolutely lovely, I hope you guys give it a try sometime!

Ingredients:

Crust

2 and 1/2 Cups Flour

1 Cup Unsalted Butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes

1/4 Cup Crushed Pecans

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Sugar

4 to 8 Tablespoons Ice Water

Filling

3/4 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, diced

1/4 Cup Flour

3 Eggs

1 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract

1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1/4 Teaspoon Nutmeg

1/4 Teaspoon Salt

6 Ounces Fresh Blueberries

6 Ounces Fresh Dark Sweet Cherries, pitted

For the crust, combine the flour, sugar, ground pecans and salt in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse 8 times. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time until it just begins to clump together. If you pinch it and it holds together, it's ready, if not it needs more water. Knead the dough and shape it into a disc. Cover it with plastic and refrigerate it for 30 minutes. Then roll it out until it is about 1 cm thick and place it in a well-greased tart pan, about 8 x 8 inches in size. If you want, you can cut out decorative shapes from the remaining dough and place it around the tart's edges.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, salt and two of the eggs until well blended. Add the flour and blend until the mixture is even in consistency. Set the bowl aside.

Meanwhile, cook the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it turns a soft, nutty brown. This should take about 6 minutes. Then immediately remove the pan from the heat and gradually blend it into the flour-egg mixture.

Pour the batter into the tart crust and then arrange the blueberries and cherries in the batter. Whisk the single remaining egg and lightly brush the exposed crust with the egg mixture. Place the tart in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the batter has baked into cake form and is golden brown.