Bake fresh cherry filling on top of this easy 5-minute pie dough and you’ve got yourself a delicious Summer dessert that any novice baker can master—Rustic Cherry Tart.
I’m in love with Summer fruit pies, especially free-form rustic tarts. You can make them with homemade or refrigerated pie dough and there’s no fuss trying to fit the crust into a pie pan or worry about making perfectly crimped edges. With this Rustic Cherry Tart, you simply roll out the dough, layer on the filling, and fold the dough over the fruit and bake. Truly, it is easy as pie!
Whoever coined that phrase must have known about my favorite 5-minute pie dough! (Minus the chilling time, of course.)
Life is just a bowl of cherries
Don’t take it serious; it’s too mysterious!
You don’t have to be a pastry chef or expert at forming perfect pie crusts because the free-form crust is what makes this tart rustic—and charming, too, right? Fresh fruit and a buttery crust—how can you beat that?
Creating a tart does take a little effort, but it’s really easy with the right kitchen tools—a food processor for prepping my favorite pie crust and this OXO Cherry pitter.
The filling for the tart is simply a bowl of cherries coated with sugar, a little cornstarch to bind the filling together, and a squeeze of lemon juice to keep the fruit from being too juicy, thus avoiding a soggy pie crust.
Like I said, you could make this tart with a store-bought refrigerated pie dough, but making it fresh is really so much better. I love that this crust is mixed in a food processor and then dumped into a large zip lock bag and chilled. By placing the dough in the bag, you can squeeze it into a disc without getting messy hands—no fuss and no mess!
After it chills, roll the dough into a large circle on parchment paper, layer with fruit, and bake. Try making this tart with other fruit, like peaches, blueberries, or apples. Enjoy!
More cherry dessert recipes!
Fresh summer cherries are the best for making delicious desserts! Here are a few I think you may enjoy:
- Cherry Cobbler
- Cherry Chocolate Chunk Bread
- Cherry Cake with Buttermilk Powdered Sugar Glaze
- Cherry Pot Pies
- Chocolate Chip Cherry Bars
- More dessert recipes!
DID YOU MAKE THIS RUSTIC CHERRY TART RECIPE?
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Rustic Cherry Tart
Bake fresh cherry filling on top of this easy 5-minute pie dough and you’ve got yourself a delicious Summer dessert that any novice baker can master.
Ingredients
Cherry Filling
- 1 pound 3 cups sweet cherries, halved and pitted
- 1/3 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
Finishing
- 1 egg white
- 1/2 teaspoon water
- 1/2 tablespoon sugar
Pie Dough
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 7 tablespoons cold butter, cut into cubes
- 5 tablespoons ice water (plus more if needed
Instructions
- Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured piece of parchment paper, into a 14 inch circle. Transfer the parchment and dough onto a baking sheet.
- Pit and slice the cherries in half. Place in a large bowl and toss with the 1/3 cup sugar, the cornstarch and lemon juice until evenly coated. Pour fruit onto the center of the dough and spread out to within 2 inches of the edge.
- Fold up the edges over the fruit. Make an egg wash by whisking together the egg white and 1/2 teaspoon water with a fork. Brush the pastry with the egg wash and sprinkle evenly with 1/2 tablespoon sugar.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 1 hour, or until filling is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Cool completely before slicing.
Pie Dough
- Place flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse a few times until blended. Sprinkle the butter over the top and pulse just until the butter is slightly broken into the flour but still in visible pieces. Sprinkle the ice water over the flour mixture and process just until the mixture starts to come together.
- Dump the dough into a gallon-size lock-top plastic bag, and press into a flat disk. Refrigerate for 30-60 minutes before rolling out the tart.
Notes
Original recipe from Warm Vanilla Sugar.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 237 Total Fat: 10g Saturated Fat: 6g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 27mg Sodium: 154mg Carbohydrates: 34g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 2g Sugar: 16g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 3g
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
So glad you liked the recipe! Annnnnnnd your tart looks even better than mine!! xx
sheilathigpen says
Oh, thank you, Katrina! I did really like it…so much so that I’ll be making another one this weekend 🙂
dina says
i love cherries. it looks so good!
sheilathigpen says
Thanks, Dina. Let me know if you try this recipe and come back here to rate it, too! Happy 4th!
Linda says
This tart looks perfect. Simple to make and wonderful. I bought cherries that I halved, pitted and froze. If I thawed my cherries do you think they would work to make this tart? I’m hoping so. Your thoughts about using thawed frozen cherries would be very much appreciated. Thanks … Linda
sheilathigpen says
Linda, I’m planning on freezing some cherries this week (while they are still on sale) and am planning on using them for tarts later as well. I haven’t tried the recipe with frozen cherries yet, but I would plan to drain the cherries after they thaw to remove any excess liquid. If you do try it, please let me know how it works for you. Enjoy and Happy 4th!
Linda says
My plans are for over the weekend too. Just love how simple and wholesome this recipe is. Just doesn’t get any better! Happy 4th and Happy Cooking!!
Virginia Stevens says
The body of the recipe says “cherry blueberry filling” but there aren’t any blueberries in the ingredient list. Was that a “typo?”
Lauren Trakhman says
We made this yesterday with fresh yellow and red cherries that we picked the same day. It was incredible!!! We used Dufour Pastry Dough instead of making from scratch – but followed your filling recipe. My husband said its the best thing I’ve ever cooked. It was also so easy to make and so simple that the cherries were highlighted when eating. Thanks for the recipe – we will be making this again!
sheilathigpen says
Lauren, soooo very glad you enjoyed the recipe! Cherry pie with fresh cherries really is the best!
Rose says
One has to be quite careful assembling the crust because if there’s any break in the rim, all the juice will flow out (as happened in my first attempt). What I did to resolve this was to take the juice that had run out, quickly put it in a bowl in the microwave and heated at on high for 30 second bursts to thicken it up then poured it back over the cherries.
Carol says
The juice from cherries flowed out of the pastry….I did use the 1 tablespoon of cornstarch ,lemon and sugar as specified……maybe cherries were too juicy? Tasted good but pretty messy……
Sheila Thigpen says
Carol, this recipe would probably work best with “just ripe” cherries — glad you still enjoyed the taste!
tashi Wilson says
Can the dough be made by hand or do you need a food processor?
tashi Wilson says
Also- can flour be used as a replacement for the cornstarch?
Sheila Thigpen says
Yes, you can use flour instead of cornstarch.
Sheila Thigpen says
Tashi, using a food processor is the EASIEST way to make this pie dough, however, you can also cut the butter into the flour with a pastry blender or a fork.