Delicious Recipes for Desserts!

Fresh cherries means Summer has arrived. While some fruits can now be found in grocery stores year round, cherries are still seasonal. For this very reason we must use them to their full potential whenever we have access to this symbol of perfection. Of course, when talking about sweet Bing cherries, we have to first get our fill of eating them raw. For then, and only then, can we begin to even think about using them in our baking. There are several sweet cherry recipes that I return to every summer, Cherry Clafoutis, Cherry Cake, and this European-style Cherry Tart. This tart has a lovely fluted pastry shell made with a buttery crisp short crust pastry, that is filled with a delicious almond flavored cream (Frangipane) and sweet Bing Cherries. And what makes this tart especially pretty is its shiny glaze of red currant jelly that make the cherries glisten.

The short crust pastry I have used for this tart is Pate Brisee, a combination of butter, flour, sugar and salt with water added to bind all these ingredients together. It is easily made in your food processor and after chilling the dough, it is rolled into a round and placed in a fluted tart pan. The pastry shell does not need to be prebaked, so just cover and refrigerate the pastry while you make the almond cream and pit the cherries. The almond cream, also known as frangipane, is a combination of sugar, butter, eggs, and almond meal that has a wonderful sweet almond flavor that pairs well with cherries. (You can buy almond meal (flour) which is blanched almonds that are finely ground. But if you cannot find it simply take blanched almonds and process them in your food processor, with the 1 tablespoon of flour, until finely ground.) Once the cream is spread onto the unbaked pastry shell, the next step is to pit the cherries.

First, when buying Bing cherries look for plump and shiny fruit with a deep red, almost black, color. They should be firm to the touch with no soft spots, and their stems should still be attached. Pitting of cherries is always a tedious job and the task is made easier if you have a cherry pitter. However, if you do not own such a tool, than you need to do it by hand. The easiest way I have found to do this, is to make a small slit in the cherry, with a small sharp knife, from the stem end to the bottom of the cherry. Then, using the tip of the knife or your thumbnail, remove the pit. This process is best done over a bowl so any dripping juice will fall into the bowl and not stain your countertop. The pitted cherries are evenly placed on top of the frangipane and the tart is baked in a hot oven until the crust is golden brown and the cream is puffed and light brown in color. Cool the baked tart and then brush the red currant glaze on the cherries. Glazing the fruit is done for a couple of reasons, to keep the fruit from drying out and to make is wonderfully shiny. This Cherry Tart is excellent served warm or at room temperature, although leftovers can be covered and refrigerated.

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