It’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a recipe here on the blog! And over a month since I’ve posted at all! The last couple months have been a whirlwind of work, a new business venture by my mother, and lots of pre-wedding events for two of my closest friends.
Fresh Cherry Custard Tart
But here I’d like to check in briefly, and share a recipe that may make the rounds into your summer brunch rotation. I searched out a breakfast tart recipe in order to utilize a few ingredients I had on hand that I wanted to use up – my first batch of fresh summer cherries, ground almond meal that has been living in my fridge for the past 2 months, and leftover ricotta cheese.
Sweet fresh cherries
I made a huge batch of almond “flour” in April in the attempts of baking homemade French macarons. After two failed attempts (wop wop), I decided to leave it to the professionals. But I still had a good amount of almond meal left over. (Almond meal is simple to make at home, if you have a food processor. You can also buy it at most grocery stores these days – Bob’s Red Mill is a good brand to try. But making your own is cheaper!)
I made this tart to bring for a Father’s Day brunch at my parents’ house on Sunday. I wanted to be sure it wasn’t too sweet (since this was a breakfast dish), I wanted it to be gluten-free and nearly sugar-free to appease my mom, but still taste great for my dad. This would also be completely suitable as a dessert dish for a fresh summer meal. You can certainly make this the night before, for a breakfast or brunch.
Cherry Custard Breakfast Tart
adapted from Cannelle et Vanille
Total time ~about 2 hours
Almond Crust:
2/3 cup brown rice flour (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1/2 cup almond flour
3 Tb cornstarch
1 Tb sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
6 Tb butter – diced into 1/2″ cubes, reserve in freezer until needed
1 egg yolk
2-4 Tb ice water
In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients, pulse to 3-4 times to mix. Add the butter, pulse about 10 times, until butter is incorporated to about pea-sized (do not over-process). In a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolk and 2 Tb of ice water. Add to the flour mixture, pulse several times to incorporate. Add up to 2 additional Tb of ice water, pulsing until dough begins to hold together. Turn out dough onto plastic wrap, briefly knead into a ball. Flatten into a 1″-thick disk or rectangle (depending on the pan you’ll be using), wrap up and refrigerate for 1 hour.
When ready to roll out the dough, roll between two sheets of plastic wrap, lifting up & replacing the wrap after each roll to give the dough the freedom to move. (Using plastic wrap lets you see the dough, but makes clean-up easy and lets you pick up the fragile dough without it sticking to your work surface or tearing it with your fingers.)
Place your dough in your tart pan & trim excess. Refrigerate until filling is ready.
Cherry/Custard Filling:
1 pound fresh cherries, pitted & quartered
3 Tb unsalted butter
1 vanilla bean, split & seeds scraped
1/4 cup almond flour
2 Tb cornstarch
2 eggs
1/4 cup agave syrup
1/4 cup ricotta cheese
Preheat oven to 400F (200C).
In a small saucepan, brown your butter (for a great how-to on browning butter, click here). To the browned butter, add your vanilla bean and seeds. Let the vanilla steep for about 10 minutes. Remove bean.
In a small bowl, whisk together almond flour and cornstarch. In medium bowl, whisk together eggs, agave, ricotta cheese, and butter mixture.
Layer cherries on tart dough
Arrange your cut-up cherries on your tart dough (give the pan a few gentle shakes to get them evenly distributed). Pour the custard mixture over your cherries – tap the pan a few times to evenly distribute the custard.
Look at those gorgeous vanilla seeds!
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until beginning to brown on top. Let the tart cool completely before serving. Enjoy!
Let tart cool completely before serving
jadeflower 