TWD | Baking Chez Moi | Cherry Crumb Tart

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking Chez Moi
by Dorie Greenspan

This tart was an all day affair to put together - but with a little advanced planning it can be made over a few days if need be.

There are several ways to pit a cherry if you don't have a cherry pitter - from using a knife to using a paperclip - just do a Google search. Here, I used a decorating tip. Worked great - took me about twelve minutes to pit a pound of cherries. Next time I would pit them inside of a bowl to capture the juices.

Pitting cherries can be quite messy - this method seemed to have minimal squirting when done slowly.

If you want a less messy and faster way to pit cherries, you can lay the cherries out on a rimmed cookie sheet or on a board, and place a piece of parchment over them, and tap them lightly with a mallet, as shown in this video. Your cherries won't stay whole (many of mine did not anyway) as Dorie prefers, but for this dessert, I really don't think it would matter all that much.

After partially baking the crust, and letting it cool to room temperature, it is filled with an almond or hazelnut filling made from butter, sugar, nut flour (I just ground up some hazelnuts), cornstarch, egg, and kirsch (or vanilla extract) - I subbed cassis. The pitted cherries are placed atop the filling and baked until the filling puckers up all around the fruit.

If cherries are unavailable, I'm sure any fruit, from blueberries to peaches would work here. 

A streusel topping made from sugar, orange zest, flour, salt, cardamon, butter, and vanilla extract, is sprinkled over the top and baked once more until lightly golden.

Dorie recommends serving this at room temperature the same day it is made. Her husband however, prefers it cold from the fridge, and I agree with him. I thought it was really good cold - so this would make a good candidate for a make ahead dessert.

We have been asked not to post the recipes here on our blogs. You can find the recipe on page 148 of Baking Chez Moi, or over at Google Books.

You can check out my fellow baker's results, by clicking here for a list of their links.

A Bowl Full of Cherries

                             Cherry Clafouti


I should not be blogging, let alone cooking a dessert from Bon Appétit magazine when I'm not even halfway through my books of which the majority is in the baking genre. But last month's article on cherries, the photo of cherry clafouti, and a storage bin full of fresh cherries from Mangini Farms beckoned me to make this. I did attempt to find another clafouti recipe out of one of my books, but this one sounded the best.

It is my understanding some clafoutis have a cakelike batter or a custard/pudding batter, which this recipe falls under the latter. I found this to be rather bland - maybe I'm just not a big custard fan, for creme brulee always sounds so good and I'm always a bit disappointed that it too does not have more flavor; then again I do love flan... must be all that tasty caramel sauce! Perhaps this would be better with a little dash of nutmeg or cardamom.

I was ready to give this recipe a 2 rating until I received a text from a friend (who was the recipient of this dessert) saying "OMG Tres YUM"

Maybe she would like to gain a few extra pounds (which would do her no harm) and be a taste-tester for me; for food always tastes better when someone else makes it.

Success meter (1-3): 3

Pastry tool turned cherry pitter!

My springform pan is leaking!!!

Back into the bowl.

Must use cake pan instead.