Cherry Tart (Chriesiwähe)

I bake a lot of fruit tarts, in the colder months either with apples or with frozen fruit. One thing I dearly missed when we lived in London was the large selection of frozen fruit available in Switzerland. Here you can get frozen cherries, Zwetschgen (plums), rhubarb, apricots and various kinds of berries. My fruit tart recipe is perfect for frozen fruit, straight out of the bag without defrosting. Using frozen fruit and a shop-bought dough means preparing a fruit tart takes 5 minutes maximum.

I love all fruit tart, but the sweetness of black cherries makes this one especially comforting. I use the frozen cherries from Coop or Migros, they don’t need defrosting before baking. I recommend not to defrost them before baking actually, so the tart doesn’t get soggy when baked.

Recipe for cherry tart

Tart crust

Either use a shop bought Kuchenteig (pie dough), ideally the 32cm flattened, round one, or prepare your own dough, recipe here.

Filling

• 3 tbsp semolina or grated hazelnuts or grated almonds
• 450g frozen or fresh cherries (do not defrost if frozen)
• 2dl milk
• 1dl cream
• 1 egg
• 1 tbsp cornstarch
• 3 tbsp sugar

Method

Pre-heat oven at 220 degrees Celsius.

Put a baking parchment onto a round tart tin of 32cm diameter. Put flattened dough onto the parchment. Using a fork, make holes into the dough (this helps for a beautifully crunchy crust).

Spread the semolina or grated nuts evenly onto the dough – this layer is very important as it soaks up the surplus fruit juice while baking. If you don’t put any semolina or nuts underneath the fruit, you’ll end up with a very soggy tart.

Spread the cherries onto the tart.

In a bowl, mix the milk, cream, egg, cornstarch and sugar together. Pour mixture over the fruit.

Bake for 45 minutes on the lowest rack of the oven (the right temperature and the lowest rack are very important for a crunchy tart crust).

Take out of the oven, let it cool down a little and serve it like this if it’s for a main meal, or if you’re eating it as a dessert you could also add a dollop of whipped cream to make it a bit more indulgent.