It is spring - when fresh, ripe, tart cherries are abundant. Just the thing for a cool, fresh cherry tart. The tart is typically made in a tart tin, or ring. First it is layered with a raw pastry dough shell, on which is then spread a layer of almond cream, which provides a bed for a layer of cherries. After baking the top surface of the cherries is covered with a glaze.
Closely related to plums and other stone fruit of the genus ‘Prunus’, cherries have been known since ancient times. In fact, cherry pits have been found in Stone Age caves. The ancestors of today’s domestic cherries probably originated in the Caucasus Mountains and were carried to Rome in ancient times. Pliny the Elder stated that there were no cherry trees in Italy until 74 B.C. Theophrastus, an early botanist and protégé of Aristotle, mentions them in his “History of Plants” in the 3rd Century B.C., going so far as to mention that they had already been known to the Greeks for centuries. The English word ‘cherry’ derives from the Norman word, cherise, which itself came from the Latin word cerasum, referring to an ancient Greek region, Kerasous (Κερασοῦς) near Giresun, Turkey. It is from there that cherries were first thought to have been exported to Europe. Domestic cherries didn’t become widespread throughout Europe and Britain until the 15th Century. In England, cherries were introduced by order of Henry VIII, who had tasted them in Flanders. By the 17th Century, cherries were so popular that when the Founding Fathers crossed the North Atlantic to America, they took cherries with them.
The term 'tart' occurs in the 14th Century cookbook, Forme of Cury, which was a compilation of recipes, although the relevant recipes were for savoury items containing meat. However, note that a mixture of savoury and sweet items was quite common in medieval dishes. There was, however, a perceptible trend towards making and eating purely sweet tarts. In 1651, La Varenne's Cuisiner Francaise contained several savoury and sweet tarts. And, 18th Century cookbooks often contained recipes for puddings that today would be classed as tarts.
Overall, this recipe is guided by a Gluten recipe for Fruit Tartes Baked in the Shell, General Recipe, and for Tarte aux Cerises, as given in Bruce Healy, and Paul Bugat’s book, Mastering the Art of French Pastry, (New York, Barron’s, 1984).
The recipe for the Almond cream is guided by the recipe in Pfeiffer J, with Shulman M R’s book, The Art of French Pastry, (New York, Alfred E Knopf, 2015).
Components:
Pastry shell
Cherries
Almond cream
Confectioners’ Cane sugar
Redcurrant jelly glaze
Redcurrant jelly glaze
Method:
Place 5 Tablespoons of Redcurrant jelly in a small saucepan (6), and heat gently over low heat until the jelly has just melted, and becomes loose. Stir only occasionally (to keep air bubbles to a minimum, and thus produce a clear glaze).
Then, using a metal spoon, press the warmed Redcurrant jelly through a sieve into a small, clean jar. If necessary, and depending on the brand of Redcurrant jelly, it may be necessary to add a small amount of warm water (1/2 teaspoons to each Tablespoon of jelly, or a total of 1tsp of Kirsch (as was the case here)) and then heating the diluted jelly. What is required is a glaze that coats a pastry brush evenly and has the consistency of runny honey. Beware that if too much warm water is used to thin the jelly, it will not adhere to the cherries properly. So, go carefully.
To apply the glaze, use a pastry brush to dab the glaze on the cherries, rather than brushing. Done this way it will produce a much more even finish. Keep checking the consistency of the glaze as it is applied (as it thickens as it cools), if necessary, add more warm water to thin.
Using a thin, metal pizza paddle or two very broad spatulas, slide the finished Cherry tart off the wire cooling rack onto a serving plate.
Now, it is time to eat a slice of the fresh cherry tart dessert. Enjoy it on its own, or with left-over redcurrant jelly glaze, or with cream, or custard, or even, ice cream!!!
Enjoy!!!
Closely related to plums and other stone fruit of the genus ‘Prunus’, cherries have been known since ancient times. In fact, cherry pits have been found in Stone Age caves. The ancestors of today’s domestic cherries probably originated in the Caucasus Mountains and were carried to Rome in ancient times. Pliny the Elder stated that there were no cherry trees in Italy until 74 B.C. Theophrastus, an early botanist and protégé of Aristotle, mentions them in his “History of Plants” in the 3rd Century B.C., going so far as to mention that they had already been known to the Greeks for centuries. The English word ‘cherry’ derives from the Norman word, cherise, which itself came from the Latin word cerasum, referring to an ancient Greek region, Kerasous (Κερασοῦς) near Giresun, Turkey. It is from there that cherries were first thought to have been exported to Europe. Domestic cherries didn’t become widespread throughout Europe and Britain until the 15th Century. In England, cherries were introduced by order of Henry VIII, who had tasted them in Flanders. By the 17th Century, cherries were so popular that when the Founding Fathers crossed the North Atlantic to America, they took cherries with them.
The term 'tart' occurs in the 14th Century cookbook, Forme of Cury, which was a compilation of recipes, although the relevant recipes were for savoury items containing meat. However, note that a mixture of savoury and sweet items was quite common in medieval dishes. There was, however, a perceptible trend towards making and eating purely sweet tarts. In 1651, La Varenne's Cuisiner Francaise contained several savoury and sweet tarts. And, 18th Century cookbooks often contained recipes for puddings that today would be classed as tarts.
Overall, this recipe is guided by a Gluten recipe for Fruit Tartes Baked in the Shell, General Recipe, and for Tarte aux Cerises, as given in Bruce Healy, and Paul Bugat’s book, Mastering the Art of French Pastry, (New York, Barron’s, 1984).
The recipe for the Almond cream is guided by the recipe in Pfeiffer J, with Shulman M R’s book, The Art of French Pastry, (New York, Alfred E Knopf, 2015).
Components:
Pastry shell
Cherries
Almond cream
Confectioners’ Cane sugar
Redcurrant jelly glaze
Redcurrant jelly glaze
Method:
Place 5 Tablespoons of Redcurrant jelly in a small saucepan (6), and heat gently over low heat until the jelly has just melted, and becomes loose. Stir only occasionally (to keep air bubbles to a minimum, and thus produce a clear glaze).
Then, using a metal spoon, press the warmed Redcurrant jelly through a sieve into a small, clean jar. If necessary, and depending on the brand of Redcurrant jelly, it may be necessary to add a small amount of warm water (1/2 teaspoons to each Tablespoon of jelly, or a total of 1tsp of Kirsch (as was the case here)) and then heating the diluted jelly. What is required is a glaze that coats a pastry brush evenly and has the consistency of runny honey. Beware that if too much warm water is used to thin the jelly, it will not adhere to the cherries properly. So, go carefully.
To apply the glaze, use a pastry brush to dab the glaze on the cherries, rather than brushing. Done this way it will produce a much more even finish. Keep checking the consistency of the glaze as it is applied (as it thickens as it cools), if necessary, add more warm water to thin.
Using a thin, metal pizza paddle or two very broad spatulas, slide the finished Cherry tart off the wire cooling rack onto a serving plate.
Now, it is time to eat a slice of the fresh cherry tart dessert. Enjoy it on its own, or with left-over redcurrant jelly glaze, or with cream, or custard, or even, ice cream!!!
Enjoy!!!
