Cherry Tart With Cocoa Nib Crust Recipes

CHERRY TARTS

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine flour and salt. Cut in shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add enough water until dough forms a ball. Refrigerate for 30 minutes., Preheat oven to 450°. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut out eight 5-in. circles. Place each over an inverted custard cup on an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan; flute edges. , Bake 10-11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes before removing tart shells from custard cups; cool completely on wire racks., For filling, in a large saucepan, combine sugar and cornstarch. Drain cherries, reserving 1 cup juice. Set cherries aside. Stir reserved juice into sugar mixture until smooth. Bring to a boil; cook and stir 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from heat; stir in cherries, butter, almond extract and food coloring if desired. Cool to room temperature. Spoon about 1/4 cup filling into each tart shell.

CHERRY TART WITH COCOA NIB CRUST

Steps:

• To prepare the crust, make the Chocolate Sugar Dough. Knead in the cocoa nibs. Press the dough into a flat disk, wrap with plastic or place in a sealable plastic freezer bag, and chill for 20 minutes or so. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper or flat surface to about 1/2 inch thick. Transfer to a tart pan (9 inches in diameter, 2 inches deep) by loosening the dough from the work surface with an offset spatula, then sliding the tart pan under it. Once you smooth the dough in the tart pan (pinching any rips or cracks together with your fingers), line the top of the dough with a layer of almonds, lightly pressing them into the dough. Cover this prepared tart shell with plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator.
• Preheat the oven to 300°F.
• To make the custard, combine the milk and cream in a small saucepan with the vanilla bean pod and seeds. Bring the mixture to a simmer.
• Meanwhile, briskly whisk together the eggs, sugar, arrowroot, almond extract, nut liqueur, and salt in a bowl. Remove the vanilla bean pod from the hot milk mixture and slowly pour one-third of the hot milk mixture into the egg mixture and continue to whisk. Repeat this process two more times and stir until the batter is smooth.
• Remove the prepared tart shell from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Put the cherries in the shell. Then pour the batter over the cherries and allow the mixture to rest for about a minute. Place a cake pan half full of water in the oven to keep the oven moist. Place the tart pan in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, or until the custard is lightly browned and solid, with no liquid jiggle in the center.
• Allow the tart to cool in the pan to room temperature before serving.