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cherry tart
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5 from 2 votes

Cherry tart with chocolate

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time45 minutes
resting the dough1 hour
Total Time1 hour 5 minutes
Servings: 8 servings
Author: Aleksandra

Ingredients

pastry crust:

  • 1 ½ cups (7oz/200g) flour
  • 1 cup (3.5oz/100g) ground almonds
  • 1½ sticks (6.3oz/180g) cold butter 82% fat, unsalted
  • ⅔ cup (2.8oz/80g) powdered sugar
  • a large pinch of salt
  • 1 tablespoon very cold water

filling:

  • 4 cups (21oz/600g) sweet cherries weighted with pits
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • a big pinch of nutmeg
  • 2 tablespoons cornstarch 22g
  • ¼ cup light brown sugar 50g
  • 2 oz (60g) dark chocolate

egg-wash:

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon milk

Instructions

pastry crust:

  • Mix the flour with almonds, powdered sugar and salt together.
  • Add diced (about 1-inch/2cm pieces), cold butter.
  • Rub the butter with the flour mixture, using your fingers or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, until the butter pieces are about pea-sized.
  • Add a tablespoon of very cold water and quickly knead the dough until a smooth ball forms.
  • Flatten the dough into a disc, wrap it in plastic foil and put in the fridge for 1 hour.

filling:

  • Pit the cherries (it‘s best to use a small handheld cherry pitter). Mix in a large bowl with cinnamon, nutmeg, potato starch and sugar together. Put the bowl in the fridge.

baking:

  • Prepare a 9-inch/23cm tart pan.
  • Preheat the oven to 190 °C / 375 °F / Gas Mark 5.
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide it into 2 parts (one part should be slightly larger than the other).
  • Place the bigger part of the dough in the tart pan (put the smaller part back in the fridge). Press the dough with your hands into an even layer on the bottom and the sides of the pan (you can use the bottom of a measuring cup to help flatten the dough).
  • Arrange the cherries on the dough (they should lay tightly next to each other).
  • Break the chocolate into smaller pieces, stick it between the cherries.
  • Make a lattice from the other part of the dough. As there are a lot of ground almonds inside the dough, it‘s not as easy to handle and less flexible than an all-flour dough. It‘s important that the dough is very well chilled. Roll it out on a piece of baking paper and sprinkle with a lot of flour. Roll out the dough to a thickness of approx. 1/4-inch (5mm), cut strips of dough and arrange on the filling. I found it helpful to slide a large offset spatula under the strip and transfer it this way. Don't worry if the strips are tearing, just transfer them carefully onto the tart and pinch them together, the egg wash will 'glue' the torn parts. Alternatively, if you have less time, you can simply divide the dough roughly into pieces, flatten them, and spread on the filling.
  • Egg wash: beat the egg and with milk, brush the top of the tart.
  • Bake the tart for 45-50 minutes, until the dough is baked through and browned, and the filling bubbling. After about 30 minutes, check the dough - if it's already nicely golden cover it loosely with a piece of aluminum foil.
  • Wait about 10-15 minutes before slicing the tart, so that the filling can thicken up a bit.
  • Enjoy!

Notes

  • Ingredient notes:
    • Cherries – I used my favorite sweet cherries for this tart, so adding a lot of sugar is not necessary. You could also use tart cherries but you would need to add more sugar (without testing the recipe I can not say exactly how much).
    • Spices – The cherries are seasoned lightly with cinnamon and nutmeg. You can omit the spices or add even more if you wish. Instead of spices, you can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
    • Pastry crust – this pastry crust is made with lots of ground almonds, is has a wonderful nutty flavor. You can also use any other pastry crust recipe that you like, but I think that the almond flavor of the crust pairs with the cherries perfectly. You can ground the almonds yourself if you like in a food processor. Make sure to pulse with intervals, if you will mix it for too long you’ll get almond butter. You can use peeled or skin-on almonds (I used skin-on).
    • Chocolate – since I used sweet cherries, dark chocolate pair with them perfectly but you could also use bittersweet or milk chocolate or omit the chocolate.
  • Storage: You can store the tart for up to 3 days. The tart tastes also very good the next day but it’s a little more softer. It can also be frozen but it will be much softer than freshly baked.
  • Calories count = 1 serving (1/8 of the recipe).

Nutrition

Calories: 490kcal