French Cherry Tart / Tarte aux griottes

I'm hooked. Hooked on the taste of sour cherries. I've always adored them. I remember how, as a kid, I would fish the cherries out of the jar of compote and eat them one after another. I could really put away a lot of them. This tart reminded me of that taste, even though I made it with cherries picked from the tree just a few minutes earlier.

This tart won me over not only with its flavor, but also with its simplicity. All you do is knead the dough, arrange the cherries on top, sprinkle with nuts and bake. In the end, all that's left is to eat it, preferably while it's still warm.

It's even quicker if you use cherries from a jar of compote or frozen ones, although even the pitting didn't put me off. And there's no need to worry or make a sour face thinking it will be too tart. It won't be. It will be intensely cherry-flavored, with a nutty note. I think that, like me, you'll make it more than once or twice. Maybe three times? 🙂

The recipe comes from the magazine "Lust auf Genuss" – French Cuisine, but I added a bit more sugar, cinnamon and nuts.

French cherry tart

Ingredients:

(for a 28 cm tart pan, about 8 servings)

• 200 g cold butter + butter for greasing the pan
• 130 g sugar
• 1 egg (size M)
• about ½ tsp salt
• 300 g all-purpose flour + flour for the pan and for rolling out the dough
• 800 g sour cherries (best fresh or frozen, or from a jar of compote if needed)
• 2 tbsp breadcrumbs
• 4 tbsp chopped hazelnuts
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Cut the butter into small cubes and mix it with 100 g of the sugar, the egg and the salt. Add the flour and quickly knead the dough. Wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Wash and pit the cherries. If they come from a jar, drain them well. Frozen cherries don't need to be thawed.

Preheat the oven to 200°C (390°F), or 180°C (355°F) with convection. Grease the tart pan with butter and dust it with flour. Roll out the chilled dough, dusting it with flour as you go, then line the pan with it. Trim off the excess dough, press down the edges and prick the dough with a fork. Next, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs, cover the dough with the cherries, then sprinkle with the remaining sugar and the nuts. Any leftover dough can be crumbled over the top of the tart.

Bake on the middle rack for about 30-40 minutes. It tastes best when still slightly warm.

Enjoy, and have a lovely weekend!

Additional notes:

Other seasonal fruit, such as pears, plums or apples, can be used for this tart.

One serving contains 460 kcal, 54 g carbohydrates, 6 g protein and 24 g fat.

I also recommend these other tarts:

• with currants and almonds

• strawberry tart with a heavenly lemon cream

• pumpkin-chocolate

• with zucchini and goat cheese

• with asparagus and wild garlic pesto

• Swiss chard tart with raisin vinaigrette

• with pears, gorgonzola and walnuts

• with beets, gorgonzola and walnuts