Cherry Tart

 

This a delicious dessert with an Almond cream filling ( Farangipane) filling . 
Ingredients :
All purpose flour - 1 and 1/2 cup or 200 gms( sieved ),
Butter - 1/2 cup or 113 gms ( room temperature ),
Granulated sugar - 1/4 cup or 50 gms ( I have powdered it ,if sugar crystal are small you dont need to grind it ).
Egg - 1 ( lightly beaten).

 Ingredients for Almond cream ( Farangipane ) 
Granulated sugar - 50 gms or 1/2 cup,
Butter - 42 gms or 3 tbsp ( room temperature ),
Egg - 1 ( lightly beaten),
Almond meal ( flour )- 1/2 cup or 45 gms ( blanched,dried,slivered and grinded  and made into a dry flour - be  careful not to make it into a paste .
You can just  grind the almonds with the skin on with 1 tbsp of flour from the ingredient. Flour will not allow the almonds to be sticky.
All purpose flour - 1 tbsp .
Topping :
Fresh cherries - 250 gms ( pitted )-  350 gms with the seeds .

Glazing :
Red currant jelly - 60 ml or 1/4 cup .
If  jelly is not available ,
Use  2 tsp of any jam or jelly .

Method :
First we have to make sweet pastry crust .

In a bowl sieve the flour and keep aside .
Place the butter in a bowl of your mixer and beat until softened .

Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy .

Gradually add the beaten egg and beat until just incorporated .

Don`t over mix otherwise the butter will separate and lighten in colour.

Add the flour all at once and mix until it forms a ball. 

If you are using an electric mixer it will not form a ball .You will have to use your hands to form a ball.

Flatten the dough into a disk and wrap it with a cling film ( more than 12 inch long ) and keep in the fridge for 30 minutes .

Have ready your 8 or  9 inch tart pan .
Grease or spray the tart pan and put it on a wax or parchment lined tray. If you keep the tart pan on the tray it will be easy to put it in the oven as well as easy to take out from the hot oven .
Take  out the dough from the fridge .

Since the temperature is hot it will be very difficult to roll the dough on the counter .
Spread the wrapped cling film of the dough and spread another cling film on top making sure the cling film is more than 12 inches long .

With a rolling pin lightly roll the dough from the center to out wards to 12 inch circle  with 1/4 inch ( 3mm thickness ).
To make sure it is the right size take your tart pan and flip it over and place it over the rolled pastry.

 The pastry should be 1 inch larger than the tart pan.
When the pastry is rolled to the desired size lightly roll the pastry onto the rolling pin.

Lightly lift the rolling pin and lay it on the tart pan .
There might be some breakage , but you can fix it by just joining it together. 
Pat lightly  with the tip of your finger .
Lightly press the bottom and upsides making sure it is even all round .

Discard the extras by rolling your rolling pin.

Make few light pricks with a fork so that it does not puff up while baking .
Cover again and put in the fridge to firm up for 20 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 205 C 


After 20 minutes take out the tart pan from the fridge and cover bottom with a foil .
Put any heavy stuff like  beans or rice on the bottom of the  tart pan, making sure that the weight  is evenly distributed. 

Weight is used as not to make the pastry puff up .
Bake the crust for 20 to 25 minutes.

Remove weight and leave it to cool crust  with the tray on wire rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 177 C for baking the tart with filling of almond cream and cherry topping.


Make the filling - Almond cream ( Farngipane )
Take a bowl and beat sugar and butter till creamy .

Beat in the egg and vanilla essence until smooth ( 30 seconds  on high ),

Add in the almond flour and beat for 1 minute on high till it forms a smooth paste.

When the pastry crust is at room temperature pour in the almond cream and spread it evenly.

Place the pitted cherries  evenly over the almond cream or farngipane.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or till the almond cream is light brown colour .

Remove from oven and place it on the rack to cool .

Once the cherry tart is cool ,heat 2 tsp of red currant jelly or any jam in the microwave for 20 seconds. It will give a sparkling consistency.

Remove the outer circle of the tart pan  by just lifting up the pan and transfer to a big serving plate.
You don`t need to remove the bottom plate of the tart pan as it give a base for the tart  and it is easy to slice too.
With a brush, lightly brush each cherry with glaze .

Glaze keeps the cherries from drying up and gives a sparkling look .

Cherry tarts can be had  warm or cold .
 Leftovers  can be covered and kept in the fridge.

 Enjoy this cherry tart !