Cherry and Almond Tart
This is divine, passed on to me by a good neighbour and fantastic home pastry cook. The pastry is crisp and biscuit like, while the almond filling light, moist and scrumptious, with the morello cherry,s topping it off to perfection. Save the juice from the cherry’s, boil and thicken with a little arrowroot or cornflower and sweetened to make an accompanying sauce.
Preparation time: 30-40 minutes plus resting Quantity: Serves 8 Cooking time: 1 hour
Ingredients
Pastry -
200g/ 8 oz plain flour
120g/ 4 oz butter
2 egg yolks medium
2-3 teaspoons water
Filling -
150g/ 5 oz butter
120g/ 4 oz caster sugar
2 whole medium eggs
150g/ 5 oz ground almonds
2 tablespoons apricot or cherry jam
1 jar/600-700g morello cherries
2 teaspoons light brown sugar
Method
- Make the pastry by rubbing the sofend butter in to the sieved flour
- Add the egg yolks and enough water to form a dough
- Rest in the fridge covered in cling film while you make the filling -
- Beat the softened butter and sugar together
- Add the beaten eggs gradually beating all the time
- Fold in the almonds -leave aside
- Roll our the pastry, thinly, lining a tin approx.8-9 inch
- Prick all over and cover with a layer of tin foil
- Fill with baking beans (or dried beans / chickpeas or rice)
- Bake in a preheated oven gas 4/180*c/350*f for 15 minutes, remove tinfoil and beans
- Bake again for 5-10 minutes, till the middle is cooked (beware the edges don’t burn)
- Spread with the apricot or cherry jam
- Spoon over the almond sponge
- Sprinkle on the cherry’s, pushing them in a little, sprinkle on the light brown sugar (optional)
Bake for 35-40 minutes till firm, risen and golden