Chocolate Cherry Tart

Make this chocolate cherry tart for your next dessert - it's like a chocolate covered cherry in a slice of pie. 

The combined flavors of chocolate and cherries is a match made in heaven. The dark chocolate and the tart cherry flavors come together to create a slightly sophisticated dessert that everyone will adore. 

While it's still dessert, you can also feel good about enjoying this tart in moderation because it features dark chocolate, cherries, and cherry juice, which are all high in anti-oxidents. 

Plus, it looks so festive!

My taste testers, including teens, loved the combination of cherries and chocolate and ate every bite for dessert after a holiday dinner. 

Ingredient Notes:

For the crust, you will need butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla, flour, plus 1/4 cup of Dutch-process cocoa. I used King Arthur Baking's Double Dark Cocoa Blend, but any Dutch (European-style) cocoa will work. Hershey's Special Dark will also work in this recipe. 

For the filling, you will need dried cherries, a bit of brandy, pure cherry juice, unflavored gelatin, sugar, and heavy cream. I used a tart cherry juice, which I boiled to concentrate the flavor. For a milder cherry flavor, skip this step. 

For the ganache, you will need chopped bittersweet chocolate plus some heavy cream. Drizzle the ganache over the chilled tart. 

You can also save the ganache to reheat in a pastry bag for drizzling over individual slices of the tart right before serving. 

Tips for Making this Tart:

This tart is pretty easy to make. Just be sure to allow the gelatin to soften for the full amount of time called for in the recipe. 

To chop the dried cherries, I put them and the 2 tablespoons of brandy in the bowl of a mini food processor, which made it pretty easy. Of course, you can chop them with a good chef's knife. 

In addition, you will need to chill the mixture of the cherries, brandy, gelatin, and cherry juice after heating it, for about 1 1/2 hours, stirring the mixture every 15 minutes. 

After that, you stir it into whipping cream that has been beaten into soft peaks. Finally, you pour it into the chocolate crust and chill the tart for at least 12 hours before drizzling it with the ganache. 

Be sure to allow the tart to spend the full 12 hours in the refrigerator so that everything gels. 

When cutting the tart, us a large chef's knife or Chinese cleaver and press down on it to cut through the crust, which may be harder to slice when it's cold. 

If you don't want to feel any presentation pressure before cutting serving this tart, cut it in advance and save the slices in the refrigerator before serving. 

Store any leftovers in the the refrigerator for up to five days. 

Welcome to #ChristmasSweetsWeek!! We have 12 bloggers sharing over 30 recipes to satisfy your sweet tooth cravings this holiday season. There are some giftable recipes, breakfast recipes, and delicious dessert recipes. Make sure to follow #ChristmasSweetsWeek on social media to see all of our delicious sweets.

Wednesday’s Recipes

• Chocolate Cherry Tart from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Classic Spritz Cookies from A Little Fish in the Kitchen
• Eggnog Pumpkin Pie from Shockingly Delicious
• Gingerbread Melonpan from Magical Ingredients
• Gingerbread Waffles from A Kitchen Hoor's Adventures
• Gumdrop Nougat from Palatable Pastime
• Mini Oreo Cheesecake Bites from Art of Natural Living
• Peppermint Cheesecake Dip from Cheese Curd In Paradise
• Reindeer Bait from Sweet Beginnings
• Sweet and Spicy Roasted Pecans from A Day in the Life on the Farm

We will be pinning all recipes to the #ChristmasSweetsWeek Pinterest board. Follow it to see all the delicious recipes!

Chocolate Cherry Tart

Yield: 10 servings

Author: Karen's Kitchen Stories

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 15 MinInactive time: 12 HourTotal time: 13 H & 15 M

Make this chocolate cherry tart for your next dessert - it's like a chocolate covered cherry in a slice of pie.

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 85 grams (3 ounces/6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 135 grams (2/3 cup) granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 21 grams (3/4 ounce / 1/4 cup) Dutch process cocoa
• 134 grams (4 3/4 ounces/1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) unbleached all purpose flour

For the Filling

• 142 grams (5 ounces/1 cup) dried cherries, chopped
• 2 tablespoons brandy
• 1 cup cherry juice OR, for a stronger tart cherry flavor, 2 cups cherry juice, boiled to reduce to 1 cup (total of 1 cup of liquid)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
• 149 grams (5 1/4 ounces / 3/4 cup) granulated sugar
• 227 grams (1 cup) heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

For the Ganache

• 43 grams (1 1/2 ounces/ 1/4 cup) chopped bittersweet chocolate
• 57 grams (1/4 cup) heavy cream

Instructions

To Make the Crust

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugar, salt, and vanilla until fully combined.
2. Add the cocoa powder and flour and beat until blended. It will seem a bit crumbly.
3. Spray a 9 or 10 inch tart pan with spray oil. Press the crust mixture evenly into the pan and freeze for 30 minutes.
4. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F and bake the crust with the pan on a baking sheet for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

For the Filling

1. Place the chopped cherries and brandy into a 2 cup measuring cup or glass bowl. Cover and microwave for 45 seconds. Stir and set aside.
2. Pour the cherry juice into another 2 cup measuring cup and and sprinkle the gelatin over it. Let sit for five minutes to soften. Add the sugar and stir. Cover and microwave for 90 seconds. Stir until the gelatin is fully dissolved.
3. Pour the juice and gelatin mixture into a metal bowl and add the cherry mixture.
4. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for about 90 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes, until the mixture is thickened, but not fully gelled. The mixture should be at about 60 degrees F.
5. Fold the whipped cream into the cherry mixture, 1/3 at a time, until everything is combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared crust and chill for 12 hours. I placed it in a larger cake pan and covered the cake pan with plastic wrap over the cake pan so that the plastic wrap didn't touch the top of the filling.

To Make the Ganache

1. Melt the chopped chocolate and the heavy cream in a small glass bowl in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring until the ganache is smooth.
2. Drizzle over the tart, and serve, or, alternatively, chill, and serve.

Nutrition Facts

Calories

327

Fat (grams)

19

Sat. Fat (grams)

12

Carbs (grams)

39

Fiber (grams)

3

Net carbs

54

Sugar (grams)

37

Protein (grams)

3

Sodium (milligrams)

75

Cholesterol (grams)

51

https://www.karenskitchenstories.com/2022/11/chocolate-cherry-tart.html

Karen's Kitchen Stories

tart, cherries, chocolate

dessert

American

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This recipe was adapted from SIFT Magazine (currently out of print), Holiday, 2018