Sour Cherry Tart
- Total Time
- 1 hour 30 minutes, plus 2 hours' refrigeration
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:One 11-inch tart
- About ¾ cup flour (4 ounces)
- ½teaspoon sugar
- ⅛teaspoon salt
- ¾stick (3 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces
- 3tablespoons ice-cold water
- 1¼pounds sour cherries, pitted
- 2tablespoons minute tapioca
- ¾cup sugar
- ¼teaspoon almond extract
- ¼cup almonds ground in a food processor with 1 tablespoon sugar
The Pate Brisee (enough for 1 11-inch Tart)
The Filling
Preparation
- Step 1
For the pate brisee, place the flour, sugar, salt and butter pieces in owl and crush the butter into the dry ingredients with the tips of your fingers until combined somewhat but with pieces of butter still visible in the mixture. Add the ice water and stir with a fork just until the mixture holds together. Gather it up, pressing it between your hands to flatten it and make it round, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Step 2
Rub a small amount of flour into a pastry cloth and roll the dough into a very thin circle, about 12½ inches in diameter. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and gently fit it into the bottom and up the sides of an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough against the sides of the pan to fill in any holes and make it adhere to the metal. Remove any excess overhanging dough by rolling the rolling pin across the top of the pan. Refrigerate the tart shell for one hour.
- Step 3
Meanwhile, in a bowl combine the cherries, tapioca, sugar and almond extract. Sprinkle the ground almond-sugar mixture in the pastry shell and arrange the cherry mixture on top. Place the tart pan on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven for one to one-and-a-quarter hours, until the dough is nicely browned. Unmold and serve with strong coffee.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Maudie
Forgot to add that I baked it at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.
I used two cans of cherries packed in water for a 9 inch tart.
esther
I don't have an owl for step one. And I'm not sure how I would put the pieces in one if I had one. Does anyone have any tips. I'm going to try this recipe and use a bowl instead.
Maudie
I made this with canned sour cherries, a 9 inch tart shell, and no ground almonds. It was very good served warm with bourbon vanilla bean ice cream. I sprinkled some sliced almonds on top instead.
Barry
This astounding recipe is almost pre-historic in its simplicity - the only machine needed is to grind the almonds. And it will draw cheers and awed appreciation from your severest critics. I scant the sugar, as I do with most dessert recipes. I look forward to experimenting with other fruits.
Lisa
I too made this with canned sour cherries. No problems, tasted great. Drain the cherries well first.
Virginia
I made this recipe with frozen sour cherries, except that I didn’t have enough. Therefore I made up the difference with store-bought frozen blueberries. I made sure to thaw and drain both thoroughly. I didn’t have almonds so used hazelnuts. Didn’t have almond extract so used vanilla. Result was a beautiful two-toned tart that was heavenly.
maria
I used sweet cherries but cut the sugar added at that point to 1/3 cup. My family inhaled the result, which was pleasantly sweet-tart. Will definitely make again but may try a few tweaks. I might add a squinch more salt to the crust dough and make in a smaller tart pan so the crust is a little thicker. My crust was browned well before the 75 minutes were up - and my oven is accurate. Also might chop half the cherries - so some are whole and some are more cooked into jamminess.
EH
Made this with in-season farmer's market sour cherries according to recipe with only one deviation, using a food processor for the crust (which worked fine). Cooked it for an hour and five minutes, so that cherries were dark, with a nice sticky jelly forming in places. Completely delicious. I didn't mean to have that second slice, but I don't regret it.
Laurel
This is a stunningly good recipe. Works as is. The dough rolls out really thin but there's enough. And then you get these bits of crust that caramelize with the cherry...Heaven! And definitely serve with strong coffee. Great advice!
sonoma
I picked more than 12 lbs from my montmorency cherry tree this summer, washed and pitted them, and froze them in sealed bags by oz/lbs needed for specific recipes. This sour cherry tart is brilliant and pastry chef worthy, no changes needed. Everyone raved even without ice cream.
Donna
Excellent! Used Door County sour cherries. Only modification was using the instant clearjell from King Arthur flour( highly recommend) clear jell does not cloud the beautiful cherry jell when thickened. I used approx 2.5 tsp mixed with sugar in recipe and then cooked on stove top until dissolved about 4 min. Let cool slightly before adding to crust to bake
carly
This was perfect! Didn’t have a tart pan, so made it in a 9” aluminum pie plate. Turned out fine! Don’t skip the ground almonds.
joan
An outstanding recipe. Made this with sour cherries from the farmers market. I could not find tapioca but potato starch worked fine as a substitute. I used a smaller springform pan, rolling the crust out on parchment paper. I then transferred the crust, paper and all to the pan, which was very easy. The tart took the full 75 minutes and was delicious with dollop of vanilla ice cream.
Mike B
Crust is very thin - mine leaked.
esther
I don't have an owl for step one. And I'm not sure how I would put the pieces in one if I had one. Does anyone have any tips. I'm going to try this recipe and use a bowl instead.
esther
I notice this recipe is decades old, probably from before every store had almond flour. I think that would make this even easier
Dave
I made it as written and I think it's worth it to blitz the almonds in the food processor. It makes an uneven texture that is nice to eat. Great recipe!
Genie
This was phenomenal. A pasty-chef level outcome, incredible, and I hacked a tart pan out of a springform cake pan. The fruit was sour cherries from the farmer's market. I used vanilla extract and skipped the almonds due to allergies; I sprinkled the bottom of the crust with a scant amount of dark brown sugar. I didn't think a thin crust would need an hour plus to bake, but it did take about the full hour and a quarter in my oven. I'll be making this again soon with other fruit!
Bonnie
Great recipe but try to unmold while it is still warm as my tart was stuck to the side, and I almost took off 1/4 of it. It baked in 50 minutes, so make sure to check it every 15 minutes or so, and I also used 1 cup of flour and entire stick of butter to make the crust. A big hit at our dinner party!
Martha L.
Oh. This was fantastic. I agree with Barry about the astounding simplicity of this recipe. I had frozen sour cherries on hand, drained them well and then made the recipe as directed. I was afraid I'd overworked my dough since I had to add more water, but it was totally fine. A great recipe!
Mark
This recipe did not work well for me. Took tart out of the 400 degree oven ahead of the prescribed 75 minutes as the cherries began burning early on. Using a friend’s new oven; maybe needs calibrating?
jordy
For an 11-inch tart pan, I found this needed a full cup of flour and 4 oz. butter. This crust held 1.5 lbs. frozen, pitted cherries. Use finely ground tapioca instead of the larger granules. I ground 1/4 c. of almonds with 3 T. almond paste (no additional sugar) for the crust topping.
jordy
Had a problem with undissolved tapioca, a mild textural nuisance. Next time I will macerate the cherries in sugar and then cook the tapioca in the expressed juice and add back into the cherries before baking. Also, my tart was done after an hour.
maria
I used sweet cherries but cut the sugar added at that point to 1/3 cup. My family inhaled the result, which was pleasantly sweet-tart. Will definitely make again but may try a few tweaks. I might add a squinch more salt to the crust dough and make in a smaller tart pan so the crust is a little thicker. My crust was browned well before the 75 minutes were up - and my oven is accurate. Also might chop half the cherries - so some are whole and some are more cooked into jamminess.
Genie
I agree the crust needs a pinch more salt.
Virginia
I made this recipe with frozen sour cherries, except that I didn’t have enough. Therefore I made up the difference with store-bought frozen blueberries. I made sure to thaw and drain both thoroughly. I didn’t have almonds so used hazelnuts. Didn’t have almond extract so used vanilla. Result was a beautiful two-toned tart that was heavenly.
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