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Sour Cherry Tarts with Marzipan

Sour Cherry Tart



These Marzipan Sour Cherry Tarts are a French Tart using the small individual rings with marzipan filling, fresh cherries glazed with sour cherry gelee.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Canadian
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 8
Author Valerie Lugonja

Ingredients

Ingredients for cookie crust pastry:

  • 175 grams butter
  • 100 grams berry sugar
  • 25 grams egg
  • lemon zest from 1/2 a lemon
  • 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 250 grams flour

Ingredients for Marzipan Filling:

  • find the recipe here , or buy it

Ingredients for the Gelee:

  • 1 cup tart or sour cherry juice (recipe here)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 gelatin leaves (one is supposed to be enough for one cup liquid, but it is not)

Putting it Together:

  • 88 fresh pitted blemishless sour cherries: 11 per one small 4 inch tart ring size
  • Fresh mint for garnish (optional)

Instructions

Instructions for pastry

  1. Cream butter and sugar until sugar dissolves and mixture is voluminous
  2. Add lemon zest and vanilla to egg; add half egg mixture very slowly to butter mixture on low speed
  3. Add remaining egg mixture to butter mixture very slowly on low speed
  4. Sift flour; add to butter-egg mixture slowly, until pastry comes together in a ball: do not over mix
  5. Divide dough into 2; wrap each well in plastic wrap
  6. Rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes or until the next day
  7. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees
  8. Take pastry dough out of refrigerator; if overnight, warm to pliable, but still very cool before rolling
  9. Roll dough to 1/6 inch thick on pastry sheet or between two pieces of parchment paper; keep lightly floured to avoid sticking
  10. Place parchment paper on cookie sheet; place pastry rings on top of paper for baking after covering with pastry
  11. Place one ring over pastry; cut a circle around it much wider than its circumference to accommodate for sides of tart with overhang (cut eight circles)
  12. Using plastic wrap on top of pastry, turn rolled pastry disc over (plastic wrap on top) and gently place over pastry ring (plastic wrap still on top) with sides folded slightly to insert somewhat vertically
  13. With plastic wrap adhered to pastry, gently rest middle of pastry into pastry ring on parchment paper; relax pastry from center of ring toward outside edges to enable pastry room to curve into the right angled edge around inner circumference of ring without tearing (however, should pastry tear, simply press together with fingers)
  14. Once sides and bottom of tart are evenly distributed with pastry and excess pastry hung over rim, roll rolling pin over top of tart ring to cut off extra pastry, leaving a smooth and aesthetically pleasing edge
  15. Cut 8 ample squares of plastic wrap; place each in center of ring over pastry dough
  16. Fill with rice to top edge of ring; fold excess wrap over rice to secure (it will melt into "a package" when baked)
  17. Bake in middle rack of oven for 13-15 minutes, until sides are light golden
  18. Remove from oven; remove each sac of rice from each tart ring (be careful, they will be hot; save for reuse)
  19. Dock bottom of each shell with fork; bake for 10-12 more minutes until light golden brown
  20. Cool on rack; remove rings

Instructions for gelee:

  1. Soften gelatin sheets in 1/2 cup room temperature or slightly cool water for 2-3 minutes (until sheets transform into a soft mass)
  2. Gently heat 1 cup fresh sour cherry juice to warm; ring water out of gelatin mass, or strain with a sieve
  3. Add gelatin to warm juice; stir until completely dissolved: about 1 minute
  4. Cool to room temperature

Assembling the Tart:

  1. Roll marzipan on slightly powdered surface (use icing sugar) to 1/3 inch depth; using a circular cookie cutter a little smaller than diameter of inside of tart shell, cut one disc of marzipan for each tart
  2. Place each disc in centre of each shell; decoratively arrange 11 fresh pitted cherries on thick cushion of marzipan
  3. Gently spoon a portion of sour cherry gelee, still in liquid form at room temperature, over each cherry in each tart
  4. Set tarts in refrigerator for 30 minutes to cool; gently spoon remaining portion of sour cherry gelee over cold cherries to glaze each one
  5. Refrigerate until service; garnish with a sprig of fresh mint and a big smile

Recipe Notes

The pastry will take about an hour to make from start to finish.
The gelee can be made while the pastry is cooling.

If making your own marzipan, do it a day in advance and have it ready to go.
Cherries are best picked, pitted and placed on these tarts the same day
After the tarts have been glazed, they will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator.