This tart is not too sweet and the combination of buttery crust, creamy fluffy mascarpone and jammy cherries is just phenominal. Each componant is easy to make and can be made in advance and assembled last minute for a dinner party. It also keeps well in the fridge if you want to just have a little piece every day for a while.

I had an extra farmshare for two weeks. I swapped with someone who as out of town in July. They’ll pick up my share when I’m out of town later. The person I swapped with had a double fruit share and both weeks the farmer sent Sour cherries. All of this is to say that I had 6 pints of sour cherries to process and consume in a two week period. Some people love a Sour Cherry, raw as a snack, but really sour cherries shine in baking. Sour cherries are smaller and much brighter red than the sweet cherries. Their flavor is more concentrated and they are less juicy (which is a good quality for fruit to have in baking).

Sadly, this sour cherry glut coincided with a monumnetal deadline for my work, so I did not figure out how to make a gluten-free lattice top cherry pie. Maybe next year? Two pints of of the cherries became sour cherry crumble. I used this recipe for sour cherry and rhubarb crumble and just replaced the rhubarb with more cherries. This is a specatacularly easy thing to bake with sour cherries and I really recommend it, if you end up with sour cherries and no time to deal with them. I decorated my crumble with red currants and gooseberries because suddenly I can buy red currants and gooseberries in my neighborhood (?!?)

The other four pints of cherries got made into four sour cherry and mascarpone tarts, and as I finish the last one I find myself a bit sad that this cherry glut is over…even though I think I may actually he a mild allergy to cherries when I eat too many of them… so it’s probably for the best.

This tart recipe was based on the adaptable stone fruit tart recipe that I like to make in the summer (it’s good with fresh strawberries too). That recipe is a bit loosy goosey and I’m feeling more particular about the details for the cherry version. Most importantly, I’m feeling picky about the kind of mascarpone that should be used. I made this tart 4 times with 3 different brands of mascarpone and wow there is a big variety out there. The one I liked best is BelGioioso, which I beleive is widely available and affordably priced. It is creamy and clean tasting and wonderfully thick.

Sour Cherry and Mascarpone Tart

Gluten Free Pie Crust

This pie crust recipe from from Gluten-Free Baking Classics by Annalise Roberts, which was the first gluten-free baking book that made me feel like it was all going to be ok. This remains my go to pie crust, and after so many years of trying so, so, so many pie crust recipes. If you do not need a gluten free crust consider trying this recipe for a not gluten free rich and tender pie crust (just half it), or use a ready made Pie Crust.

• 1 cup, plus 2 Tablespoons gluten-free pie mix (see below)
• 2 Tablespoons sweet rice flour (also known as mochi or glutinous rice flour)
• 2 Tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 Tablespoons cold butter
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a pie dish or tart tin.
2. Mix the dry ingredients together.
3. Cut the butter in to the dry ingredients and use your fingers to combine until it has the consistency of course cornmeal.
4. In a small bowl, whisk the eggs and lemon juice together. Add the egg and lemon mixture to the flour and butter, and combine into a ball.
5. Measure out two 12 inch sheets of wax paper.  Roll the dough out between them.
6. Remove one of the sheets of wax paper and flip the dough into the tart tin. Remove the second sheet of wax paper and press the dough in to the tart tin using your fingers to repair any cracks. Pinch the edges into a fluted shape.  If your kitchen is hot, put the crust in the fridge for 10 minutes to cool the dough before baking.
7. Bake the crust for 18 minutes. Let it cool completely before assembly. You can make this up to a day in advance.

Gluten Free Flour Mix for pie crusts

• 2 cups brown rice flour
• 2/3 cups potato starch (NOT POTATO FLOUR)
• 1/3 cup tapioca flour

This will make enough for two of these crusts (or one of these crusts and a quiche crust, or almost any other single crust pie or tart on this blog).  Just keep the extra for next time!

Sour Cherry Jam

• 1 pint of sour cherries
• 1 cup of sugar(maybe a bit more)
• The juice of 1 lemon, seeds and pulp strained out

1. Pit the cherries. I use a sharp paring knife and ask my husband to help, becasue it’s honestly a bit tedious.
2. Put a small plate in the freezer.
3. Combine all of the ingredients in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium heat and cook stirring occasionally until you get jam. First the sugar will dissolve. Then the fruit will break down and it will look like soup. Then it will start to thicken but still look a bit cloudy. Finally the jusice and sugar will reduce, the color will darken and it will become clear and glossy. Sometimes I become impatient and add a little more sugar to help reach this glossy point.
4. When you think it might be done, put a little glob of it on the cold plate from the freezer to see if it sets up. If it speads out it needs more time. If it holds it’s shape, it’s ready!
5. Let the jam cool to room temperature before proceeding. You can make this days in advance and store in a sealed container in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the tart.

Mascarpone Filling & Assembly

• 3/4 cup mascarpone (I like BelGioioso brand. Just make sure it is THICK not runny)
• 1/3 cup fresh whole milk ricotta
• the seeds scraped from 1/2 of a vanilla bean (drop the scraped bean pod into your sugar bowl to make vanilla sugar!)
• 3 Tablespoons confectioners sugar

1. An hour or two before serving, combine all of the ingredients and whip them until they are fluffy. I use a standing mixer, but a large bowl and a whisk would do the trick as well.
2. Spread the filling into the prebaked and cooled pie crust and put it in the fridge to firm up, or the freezer if you are pressed for time. Take the jam out of the fridge, if needed, to bring it to room temperature. This makes it easier to spread.
3. Once the mascarpone filling is firmed up a bit, spread the cherry jam on top and return the tart to the fridge so that the jam layer can set up.
4. Slice and serve cold.