Here I am, back from holiday (all tanned, yes yes!). 2 incredible weeks in Portugal, between Porto and Lisbon, I can tell you that getting back to the daily grind and the Parisian greyness is hard. More than 2000 photos taken, tons of memories, dozens of monuments visited, 3 days at the beach (not bad!), dozens of pasteis de nata devoured and more than 150 kilometres walked (my S Health says 173 km, MonChéri’s says 190 km, and yet we were together :D). Nothing less was needed to burn off all those calories!!! By the way, I’ll be telling you very soon about my pastry raid across Lisbon to find THE best pastel de nata (one pastel, several pasteis).
In the meantime, I’m offering you a brand new recipe, full of freshness (and cherries!). The kind of recipe MonChéri likes, as he keeps on saying “what if you made your own recipes?” (and yes, my thing, for the moment at least, is to recreate a recipe I liked, and I have plenty to keep me busy!). In any case, this time, I wanted an indulgent dessert with Burlat bigarreau cherries (my favourites) while giving it a “Fantastik” look (no no, I’m not getting a big head, it’s just a “Michalak-style” dessert). I reused the La Mère Poulard shortbread biscuits (go and read the article on my getaway to Mont-Saint-Michel to find out more), made a little almond cream lightly flavoured with pistachio and, as I’m not a huge fan of pistachio, I preferred to make a vanilla and orange blossom cream. All these flavours go together perfectly!
In the end, it’s a balanced dessert that isn’t too sweet. We devoured it with friends and it was a big hit! It really isn’t complicated to make (promise!) So now is the time to make the most of cherries before they’re gone!
Ingredients & Method
4 components · Full recipe
Shortbread Base
Ingredients
- 175 g (6.2 oz) shortbread biscuits
- 50 g (1.8 oz) melted butter
Method
1
Melt the butter in the microwave.
2
In a food processor, blitz the biscuits into crumbs. Add the melted butter and pulse briefly to combine. You can also do this by hand.
3
Press into an 18 cm (7.1 in) diameter ring, using the back of a spoon. You should get a thickness of around 5 mm. Refrigerate to firm up the base.
Pistachio Almond Cream
Ingredients
- 60 g (2.1 oz) soft butter
- 60 g (2.1 oz) eggs
- 20 g (0.7 oz) pistachio paste
- 60 g (2.1 oz) ground almonds
- 60 g (2.1 oz) sugar
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp kirsch (optional)
- 150 g (5.3 oz) cherries
- a little kirsch for soaking (optional)
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 180°C / 350°F.
2
Beat the butter with a paddle attachment (or a wooden spoon or spatula) until creamy.
3
Add the sugar and mix.
4
Add half the beaten eggs and whisk to combine, then fold in half the ground almonds. Mix again.
5
Add the remaining eggs and mix, then add the remaining ground almonds, cornstarch, pistachio paste and kirsch (optional). Mix until smooth and homogeneous.
6
Remove the biscuit base from the fridge and pipe the almond cream into the ring. Evenly press halved cherries into the cream.
7
Bake for approximately 25 minutes.
8
Once out of the oven, brush the base with a little kirsch (optional).
9
Leave to cool completely.
Orange Blossom Vanilla Chantilly
Ingredients
- 200 g (7.1 oz) heavy cream
- 40 g (1.4 oz) mascarpone
- 15 g (0.5 oz) orange blossom water
- 1 vanilla pod
- 12 g (0.4 oz) brown sugar
Method
1
Place the bowl and beaters in the freezer for at least 15 minutes (I use my KitchenAid stand mixer and run the stainless-steel bowl and whisk attachment under very cold water).
2
Pour the cream, mascarpone, sugar, vanilla seeds and orange blossom water into the bowl and begin whipping at medium speed. Once the cream starts to firm up slightly, increase the speed. Gradually the cream will mount and stiffen.
3
Check the consistency occasionally by stopping the mixer. The cream is ready when it holds completely — if you turn the bowl upside down it should not fall. Be careful not to over-whip, or you will end up with butter. Know when to stop.
4
Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a plain 13 mm nozzle and refrigerate until assembly.
Assembly
Ingredients
- 350 g (12.3 oz) cherries
- a little blackcurrant jelly (or other red fruit jelly)
- crushed pistachios (optional)
- icing sugar
Method
1
Take the biscuit and almond cream base and spread a thin layer of blackcurrant jelly over the surface, leaving about 1 cm (0.4 in) around the edge. You can substitute another jelly (cherry or other red fruit).
2
Pipe large, even mounds of chantilly cream over the tart.
3
Pit most of the cherries (keep a few whole for decoration). Gently arrange both pitted and whole cherries over the chantilly.
4
Halve a few pitted cherries and scatter them across the tart as well.
5
Dust lightly with icing sugar.
6
I didn’t have any pistachios left, but you can easily crush a few and sprinkle them over the tart for a touch of green.
7
For this recipe, I used La Mère Poulard shortbread biscuits, a souvenir from my trip to Mont-Saint-Michel. I came back with armfuls of biscuits — they’re easy to snack on, but also wonderful in pastry recipes like this one.
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