Sour Cherry Tart

Think cherry pie but in a tart form, this sour cherry tart is sweet and tart with a brown sugar crust, it’s perfect for summer. I love it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a vanilla custard sauce.

Sour Cherries vs Sweet Cherries

Sweet Cherries are the traditional darker cherries you can find at most grocery stores that you probably grew snacking on. On the other hand sour cherries tend to have a shorter season, are very tart, and are usually available at the farmers market. They can be found in a jar or can at the grocery store just be sure you don’t buy cherry pie filling as it already has a lot of added ingredients.

Can I use sweet cherries instead of sour cherries?

Yes! The flavor will be different and I would leave out the brown sugar from the filling but you can use sweet cherries or even half sweet and half sour cherries.

How do I prevent a soggy bottom on my tart?

There are a few ways to prevent a soggy bottom including cooking out a bit of the liquid out of the cherries, thickening them with cornstarch and overall baking the tart for long enough that the bottom has a chance to brown and dry out.

Tart Pan alternatives?

Ideally for this recipe, you want to use a removable base tart pan. A standard tart pan is about 9″ or 10″ and this will give you the best looking tart. That being said, I believe you could also use a parchment lined springform pan – the edges will just be a bit more informal.

What’s the best way to pit cherries?

I recently got this OXO cherry pitter and I’m obsessed with it. But before I had a cherry pitter, I used a pairing knife to cut around the cherry, through the crease, so that you have two halves you can twist apart and then remove the pit. You can also use the straw method which is kind of dangerous and messy but will also work. For the straw method, press the bottom end through the center of a cherry from top to bottom with the cherry sitting on a cutting board. The straw will press the pit right out.

Additional Recipes to try:

• Chocolate Hazelnut Tart
• Apple Blackberry Tart
• Cherry Coffee Cake

Tips for making a Sour Cherry Tart

• I recommend cooking the cherries first so they have time to thicken and cool before adding them to the tart crust.
• If using frozen cherries they will release more liquid than fresh so be sure to use a pan or pot with high enough sides so they don’t boil over.
• The butter for the crust should ideally be softer than room temperature, even slightly melted, but not fully melted. If it’s too melted the crust will be sticky and hard to press into the form. If this is the case, put it in the fridge for 5-10 minutes and then keep going.
• When pressing the tart crust into the pan, be sure to really press into the corners where the sides meet the bottom of the pan. Otherwise it can be easy to end up with really thick pastry in the corners which may not bake fully or just isn’t that pleasant to try and break through with a fork.
• Don’t stress if your pan is 8″ instead of 9″ or 10″ all it means is that you’ll have a little extra streusel for the top!

Ingredients

Crust & Crumble

• Butter: Unsalted butter is used for the crust. It can be cold or room temperature because it will be microwaved, or heated briefly anyway.
• Fine Sea Salt: I use fine sea salt when baking. You really want the salt in this recipe to enhance all of the flavors so I recommend measuring it out.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste is essential for the overall flavor of the crust. I’ve been obsessed with vanilla bean paste lately but it is on the pricier side.
• Brown Sugar: Brown sugar is used to sweeten the crust you can use dark or light brown sugar.
• Whole Wheat Flour: I used only whole wheat flour for this crust but you could do a combination of whole wheat and all purpose flour or just entirely all purpose flour.

Sour Cherry Filling

• Sour Cherries: As mentioned in the tips sour or sweet cherries will work but I love the taste of sour cherries in this recipe just be sure to drain off any liquid if using canned cherries and don’t buy cherry pie filling.
• Brown Sugar: I like to add brown sugar to the cherry filling for a little extra warmth but it doesn’t really matter if you sue dark or light brown sugar.
• Granulated Sugar: The reason for granulated sugar is that it mixes well with the corn starch which thickens the cherry mixture and keeps the corn starch from clumping.
• Corn Starch: I use standard corn starch to thicken the cherry filling but any powdered starch should work!

How to make a Sour Cherry Tart

Cherry Filling

• Rinse and pit the cherries and add them to a pan along with two tablespoons of packed brown sugar. Make sure to pick a large pan with relatively tall sides unlike me so that the cherry filling doesn’t boil over.
• Place the pan over medium heat and cook the cherries until the juices release and start to bubble. Once bubbling, cook, stirring frequently until the liquid has reduced slightly – about 5 minutes with the liquid actively bubbling.
• In a small bowl, stir together the corn starch and granulated sugar.
• Sprinkle the mixture over the cherries once they have reduced slightly and stir immediately.
• The liquid that was released from the cherries will immediately begin to thicken. Cook for another 5 minutes and then remove from the heat.
• Pour the cherry filling into a large shallow dish or spread it onto a baking sheet to allow it to cool faster.

Make the crust

• Cut the butter into 1″ cubes and add to a heat and medium microwave safe mixing bowl. Heat briefly in 15 second intervals until the butter has just started to melt but isn’t fully melted.
• Add the brown sugar, vanilla, and salt into the bowl with the butter and stir to combine.
• Pour in the whole wheat flour and use a fork to cut the butter into the flour. Mix until just combined. If the mixture is too warm and squishy, simply put it in the fridge for a few minutes to allow the butter to firm up.
• Pour 80 grams of the crust into a separate bowl and add in 50 more grams of brown sugar. Stir together with a fork and set aside.
• Pour the rest of the crust into the tart pan. Press the crust into the sides of the pan and across the bottom with your fingers. Use your thumb or your pointer finger to really press it into the bottom corner so that you don’t get a super thick pastry corner.
• Place the tart in the fridge to chill for 45 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350º F and place a rack in the center of the oven.

Assemble & bake

• Carefully pour the cooled cherry filling into the crust.
• Sprinkle the top with the brown sugar crumble.
• Place the assembled tart on a baking sheet.
• Then place the baking sheet with the tart into the preheated oven.
• Bake for 30 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees. Bake for another 20-30 minutes until the streusel is golden brown and the fruit filling is bubbling.
• Once baked, remove the pan from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool until it is room temperature. Then, move it to the fridge and allow it to set for at least an hour.
• To remove it from the tart pan, place the pan on top of a small bowl or jar. Wiggle the pan edge away from the crust to carefully pop it off and let it come down from the tart.
• You may need to loosen the pan edge from the bottom with a dinner knife if there was any butter that leaked and hardened. Do this by running the knife in between the bottom of the pan and the edge piece (this is underneath the tart).
• Once the edge is removed, slice the tart as desired and top with vanilla ice cream or Vanille soße.

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