This Fresh Cherry Tart Recipe is beautiful and delicious and is a recipe you have to try for your next party or special occasion. You won’t regret making this impressive and tasty treat!

So by now, you have probably heard me talk about the copious amounts of cherries we purchased this summer. I was determined to make a bunch of cherry treats but to be honest, I had no idea what to make. I spent some time browsing social media and the internet for some inspiration. I’ve seen a lot of pictures of impressive desserts including cherry tarts. I had never made a tart, but decided to give it a try! That’s how I roll.

I adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart (of course), watched a few videos on YouTube and went for it. The result was pretty impressive if I do say so myself, and absolutely delicious. There are several steps in this cherry tart recipe, and you will not be whipping this up quickly, but the steps flow pretty easily.

If you need more cherry recipe ideas, check out my Cherry Crumble Bar recipe HERE!

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Fresh Cherry Tart

An impressive and delicious Fresh Cherry Tart that tastes as good as it looks!

Course Dessert

Keyword cherry dessert receip, cherry recipe, cherry tart, tart recipe

Ingredients

Cherry Syrup

• 1 cup water
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups cherries, pitted

Crust

• 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
• ¼ cup ice-cold water
• 3 large egg yolks, beaten

Pastry Cream and Cherry Topping

• ½ cup sugar
• ¼ cup cornstarch
• 1 pinch salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ cup heavy whipping cream, whipped
• 3 cups cherries, pitted and cut in half

Instructions

Cherry Syrup

• Add all of the syrup ingredients to a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring and smashing cherries until boiling. Boil for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.
• Smash the cherries a little more to release the juices and then allow the mixture to cool completely. Once cooled, strain the cherries from the syrup and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Crust

• Place the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl and stir to combine. Add butter pieces and incorporate them with a pastry cutter until the mixture becomes crumbly.
• Add the ice water a little at a time, mixing in each time until all the water is incorporated.
• Add the egg yolks last, and mix in until you have a wet, sticky dough.
• Place the dough on a floured surface and roll into a ball. Divide the dough in half and pat each half into round discs. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.
  
• Turn out the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll out to about a 12-inch round, about ¼ inch thick (it doesn't have to be perfect because you will cut off the excess).
• Gently place the rolled out dough onto your tart pan and pat it into place using your fingers. Form around the edges and use your fingers to push the excess dough off using the sharp edges. Place the tart pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.
• While the crust is in the freezer, preheat oven to 375°. Remove the crust from the freezer and pierce all over with a fork to ensure the crust doesn't bubble while cooking
  
• Place a piece of parchment paper on top (about 2-3 inches overhang). Fill with pie weights or something heavy. I do not have pie weights so I used some beans that have been in my pantry forever (do not eat after using as weights 😁).
  
• Bake for 20 minutes. Remove parchment and weights and bake for another 10 to 12 minutes more. Place on a wire rack to cool.
  

Pastry Cream

• Place the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan and whisk together. Add the milk and the egg yolks to another bowl and whisk together and then add to the saucepan. Lastly, add the butter to the saucepan and cook over medium heat until the mixture comes to a boil. This happened VERY quickly for me and instantly turned into a thick cream. **
  
• Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Place the cream in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly onto the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a skin from forming. Refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.
  
• Right before you remove the cooled pastry cream from the refrigerator, add the whipping cream to a bowl and beat with a hand mixer to make whipped cream.
• Once the cream has cooled, whisk one more time to get the mixture creamy and fold in the whipped cream. Add pastry cream to the tart shell.
  
• Next, take sliced cherries and place them on top of pastry cream until the entire surface is covered.
  
• Spoon maraschino cherry syrup on top of cherries slowly until covered being careful not to overfill and spillover edge.
  
• Place the tart in the refrigerator for 30 -60 minutes so everything is fully chilled and set. Enjoy!
  

If you don’t have cherries, you could always use blueberries or raspberries or whatever fruit you like. That’s what’s great about fruit recipes, they are usually pretty versatile. I also used a little maraschino liqueur syrup from my recipe HERE for an extra pizzazz but the regular cherry syrup from the recipe above works perfectly, especially if you are serving to kids!

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