This cherry tart is an amalgamation of two very good recipes. The pastry comes from Bill Granger’s book ‘Holiday’, and the filling comes from Sophie Hansen’s book ‘Local is Lovely.’ The pastry is easy to make as it doesn’t involve using a food processor, doesn’t need chilling or rolling out. It also has a lovely shortbread-like quality, so is quite crisp and buttery once cooked.
Many different fruits or berries could be used for this kind of tart. I chose white cherries, as I saw them in a green grocer and had never tried them or heard of them before. A couple of days later I picked up some more at a local produce market. Cherries are also quite a staple for the Australian Christmas, so I think this tart would make a nice addition to any Christmas Day. It’s also a good way to use up any leftover cherries after Christmas.
Most tarts I have made before contained a fair few eggs and some cream, so this frangipane version made quite a welcome change. It also meant that apart from the cherries, I already had everything I needed for the tart at home already.
My only problem with using white cherries for this tart, is that once they are cooked, they do look a bit like tomatoes! Which wasn’t exactly the look I was going for, but it does taste good!
Ingredients for the Pastry:
125 g unsalted butter, melted & cooled
90 g caster sugar
175 g plain flour
1 tbsp almond meal
Ingredients for the Filling:
120 g unsalted butter, softened
115g caster sugar
80g almond meal
1 tbsp plain flour
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
165 g white cherries (approx. 18 cherries), rinsed, halved & pitted
Method:
Pre-heat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. To make the pastry, combine the melted butter and sugar, in a large bowl. Add the flour and stir until combined. Press the dough evenly into a 24 cm loose bottomed tart tin, ensuring you cover the base and sides of the tin. Place in the oven for 12-15 minutes, or until the pastry has puffed up a little.
Remove from the oven and sprinkle over the almond meal. Set aside.
To make the frangipane filling, cream the butter and sugar in an electric mixer until they are pale and fluffy. Add the almond meal, vanilla, egg and flour and mix until combined.
Place the frangipane mix into the prepared pastry case, and smooth it out. Place the cherries into the frangipane mix, pressing them down slightly.
Return the tart to the oven for a further 25-30 minutes or until the frangipane filling is golden.
Recipe for pastry originally found in ‘Holiday’ by Bill Granger (2007), p. 34.
Recipe for frangipane filling originally found in ‘Local is Lovely’ by Sophie Hansen (2014), p.79.
My next piece of exciting news, is the cookbook I have helped put together has been published this past week.
This project has been in progress for about 18 months, and I have been assisting with it for just over a year now. I helped compile the recipes, and write short introductions for each recipe or person.
All recipes were donated by clients of The Maxx Hair Salon in St Ives, Sydney. All profits are being donated to Barnardos Australia.
Click here to purchase the book, or contact me on kulinaryadventuresofkath@gmail.com and I can sort something out for you.
All baking, styling & photography for this post by Kathryn Vincent of Kulinary Adventures of Kath.