If you’ve never tasted Marion Blackberries (or Marionberries), you’re in for a delicious treat, with Marion Blackberry Tartlets. I used to sell a Marionberry pie in the bakery, of course no one ever knew that’s what I used! They are sweeter than blackberries, with less seeds, and the seeds they have aren’t as hard. It’s almost impossible to find the frozen berries unless you are in the northwest part of the U.S. or you have a bakery. However, HEB Woodway has a Marionberry Fruit Spread in the jelly section. Better yet Archer Farms (Target) has Marion Blackberry preserves that are really good and less expensive than HEB, but our local Targets didn’t have it the last time I checked, Leander was the closest store. You can really use any flavor jam or preserve, but I just had to have the marionberries! 
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for rolling out and cutting
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 2 TBSP sugar
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut in small cubes, keep chilled
- 1/2 cup refrigerated lard
- 6-8 TBSP ice water
- Marionberry fruit spread or preserves, or any flavor jam or preserve
Instructions
- Place flour, salt, and sugar in food processor, and pulse to mix.
- Scatter butter on top of flour mixture and pulse 5 or 6 times.
- Put spoonfuls of the cold lard over the butter flour mixture and continue to pulse until you get a coarse meal consistency.
- Sprinkle 6 TBSP of water over mixture and pulse until a dough ball starts to form. Add more ice water only as necessary.
- Turn all the dough and dough bits onto a lightly floured counter and bring together into one ball, do not overwork. Divide into 2 parts, form into disks cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.
- When you're ready to roll out, dust counter top and dough with flour. Roll dough out and, use 2 1/2 inch biscuit / cookie cutter to cut out disks. Gently fit into greased tartlet / tassie tin. Refrigerate tin with dough for best results.
- When you get ready to fill, place 1 1/2 tsp to 1 TBSP preserves in each tartlet shell. Don't overfill because the jam gets puffy when cooking.
- Bake 375° for about 15-20 minutes or until golden and filling is bubbly.
- Cool completely. A lot of the time I have to invert the pan to remove the tartlets.
If you’re not familiar with tartlet or tassie pans, below is an example. The tablespoon measure is just so you have a size reference.