Sour Cherry Tartlets Recipes

Steps:

• Crust: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Pour melted butter over granulated sugar; stir to dissolve. Let cool 10 minutes. Whisk together both flours and 1/2 teaspoon salt; stir into butter mixture until thoroughly combined.
• Press dough into prepared pan, making sides slightly thicker than bottom. Freeze until firm, 15 minutes. Bake on a rimmed baking sheet until slightly puffed and golden, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
• Filling: Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, cream, almond extract, and granulated sugar. In another bowl, whisk together both flours and salt, then whisk into egg mixture until smooth. Arrange cherries in cooled crust in a single layer; gently pour batter around them. Bake, rotating once, until golden brown and just set, 35 to 40 minutes. Let tart cool at least 30 minutes, dust with confectioners' sugar, and serve.

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.

Steps:

• Shake the bourbon, cherry juice, amaretto, lemon juice and simple syrup in a shaker with ice. Strain into an ice-filled glass.

Steps:

• For the pate brisee, place the flour, sugar, salt and butter pieces in owl and crush the butter into the dry ingredients with the tips of your fingers until combined somewhat but with pieces of butter still visible in the mixture. Add the ice water and stir with a fork just until the mixture holds together. Gather it up, pressing it between your hands to flatten it and make it round, and wrap it in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for one hour.
• Rub a small amount of flour into a pastry cloth and roll the dough into a very thin circle, about 12 1/2 inches in diameter. Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and gently fit it into the bottom and up the sides of an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough against the sides of the pan to fill in any holes and make it adhere to the metal. Remove any excess overhanging dough by rolling the rolling pin across the top of the pan. Refrigerate the tart shell for one hour.
• Meanwhile, in a bowl combine the cherries, tapioca, sugar and almond extract. Sprinkle the ground almond-sugar mixture in the pastry shell and arrange the cherry mixture on top. Place the tart pan on a cookie sheet and bake in a 400-degree oven for one to one-and-a-quarter hours, until the dough is nicely browned. Unmold and serve with strong coffee.

Steps:

• Make pastry:
• Mix first 4 ingredients in medium bowl. Add butter. Rub in with fingers until butter is size of small peas. Add egg; mix until dough comes together. Gather into ball. Shape into 5-inch-long log. Wrap in waxed paper; chill 1 hour.
• Make pastry cream:
• Whisk yolks and 1/4 cup sugar in heavy small saucepan. Whisk in flour, then milk. Add lemon peel. Bring to boil over medium-high heat, whisking constantly. Remove from heat. Whisk in vanilla. Transfer to bowl. Press plastic wrap onto surface. Chill until cold, about 1 hour. (Pastry and pastry cream can be made 1 day ahead. Keep chilled.)
• Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut dough into twenty 1/4-inch-thick slices. Roll out 1 dough slice between sheets of floured plastic wrap to 3 1/2-inch round. Transfer to 3-inch-diameter tartlet pan with 1/2-inch-high sides. Repeat with 9 more dough pieces and tartlet pans.
• Remove lemon peel from pastry cream. Spoon 1 tablespoon pastry cream into each crust. Top each with 2 teaspoons jam. Roll remaining 10 dough pieces out between sheets of floured plastic wrap to 3 1/2-inch rounds. Place 1 round atop each tartlet. Pinch dough edges together to seal.
• Place tartlets on baking sheet. Bake until pastry is golden on top, about 30 minutes. Using small knife, loosen tartlets from pans. Remove from pans. Transfer to rack; cool. Sift powdered sugar over.

Steps:

• Make the pastry shell. Mix the flour, sugar, salt and lemon peel in a bowl or food processor. Cut the butter into 1/2-inch slices and work them into the flour mixture with your fingers, or use the pulse motion of your processor, until the pastry is mostly cornmeal-size pieces and the mixture begins to hold together. Combine the water and vanilla and work them into the mixture just until the pastry is well blended and will hold together if you press it. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan. Wrap in foil and freeze for 30 minutes or overnight.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly press foil to line the bottom and sides of the pastry shell and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the pastry edges are golden brown. Carefully lift off the weights and foil. Bake the pastry 5 minutes longer. Cool the pan on a wire rack.
• While the pastry bakes, make the cherry filling. Combine 6 tablespoons of the sugar, the wine and the lemon juice in a medium-size saucepan and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Heat to boiling. Drop in the cherries and simmer for 5 minutes, or until they are just tender. Cool in the syrup for 30 minutes. Then drain, saving the syrup for another use. (It can be kept covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.)
• Meanwhile, make the almond custard. Whisk the egg and egg yolk in a mixing bowl until blended and gradually whisk in the sugar until the mixture is pale yellow. Whisk in the flour. Heat the milk to boiling in a small saucepan and whisk it into the egg mixture in a thin stream. Whisk until smooth. Pour into a medium-size saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking slowly, until the mixture coagulates into lumps. Whisk vigorously until the custard is smooth. Lower the heat and beat with a wooden spoon 2 to 3 minutes longer to cook the flour thoroughly. Remove from the heat; beat in the butter, Cognac and extracts. Fold in the almonds and the drained cherries.
• Preheat the broiler. Spread the cherry filling in the tart shell. Sprinkle the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar over the tart and broil 2 to 3 minutes to caramelize the sugar lightly.

Steps:

• In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add the cherries, water and lemon juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Remove from the heat; stir in food coloring if desired. Yield: 4 cups. , For a lattice-crust pie: Line a 9-in. pie plate with bottom pastry; add filling. Make a lattice crust; trim, seal and flute edges. Cover edges loosely with foil. , Bake at 400° for 15 minutes. Remove foil; bake 15-20 minutes longer or until crust is golden and filling is bubbly. Cool on a wire rack.

Steps:

• Blend together flour, salt, butter, shortening, and 2 tablespoons sugar with your fingertips or a pastry blender in a large bowl (or pulse in a food processor, then transfer to a large bowl) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 1/2 cup ice water and gently stir with a fork until incorporated.
• Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring until just incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)
• Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with scraper and divide into 2 balls, one slightly larger than the other, then flatten each into a 5- to 6-inch disk. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
• Peel, halve, and core pears. Cut pears into 1/4-inch dice, then stir together with remaining filling ingredients in a 3-quart heavy pot. Bring to a boil, stirring, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until thick, about 10 minutes. Transfer filling to a shallow dish and cool to room temperature.
• Roll out smaller disk of dough into a 13-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, lifting up dough carefully and flouring surface as necessary to keep dough from sticking.
• Cut out as many rounds as possible (about 12) with 3 1/2-inch fluted cutter, transferring as cut to a wax-paper-lined baking sheet. Chill rounds until firm, about 10 minutes, before decorating. Gather dough scraps and chill 20 to 30 minutes, then reroll, cut, and chill additional 31/2-inch rounds (reroll scraps only once) for a total of 16.
• Cut out shapes from rounds with decorative cutters or a sharp paring knife, leaving a 1/2-inch border around edge, and reserve cutout pieces if desired for additional decoration. Brush tops lightly with milk. Lightly press reserved cutouts (if using) onto decorated pastry rounds and brush lightly with milk. Sprinkle remaining tablespoon sugar evenly over tops and chill while making bottoms.
• Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F.
• Roll out larger disk of dough into a 15-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick) on floured surface with floured rolling pin, lifting up dough carefully and flouring surface as necessary to keep dough from sticking. Cut out as many rounds as possible (about 12) with 4-inch cutter. Gather dough scraps and chill 20 to 30 minutes, then reroll and cut additional 4-inch rounds (reroll scraps only once) for a total of 16. Fit each 4-inch round into a tartlet pan (don't trim). Fill each tartlet with 3 tablespoons cooled filling and brush edge of pastry lightly with milk. Place decorated tops over filling in each tartlet, then press each top lightly around edge to help seal edges and trim pastry if necessary.
• Bake tartlets on a large baking sheet until golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Transfer tartlets to a rack and cool 10 minutes. To remove tartlets from pans, cover 1 hand with a folded kitchen towel and invert tartlets 1 at a time onto towel, reinverting them onto a platter. Serve warm or at room temperature.