This is a yummy pastry for dessert made with homemade dough and cherries. These cherry tarts are delicious and super yummy with coffee, for Valentine’s Day, or Easter after dinner. Add this attractive star-shaped cookie to your dessert table. I love this recipe; it’s so delicious and flaky. My Finnish grandma handed this recipe down to me through my mom. She used to make prune tarts for Christmas, now I use her pastry dough cookie recipe but I add other fillings than prune to make apple tarts or these cherry tarts. Keep reading to find out how to make these beautiful treats.
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This is one of those feel-good comfort food recipes for me because my mom and grandma always used to make these tarts when I was a child. I loved watching them make these around the holidays. As a child, the shape always mystified me, but it’s really not that hard to do. Scroll down to find out how:)
Cherry Tarts Recipe
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This recipe uses only five ingredients for the dough, then add in your cherry pie filling and sprinkles, as desired. The sprinkles are just for fun, so they aren’t essential. I just like to use red sprinkles to make them more festive, but they are good without sprinkles too. In my home of all boys with all their blues and greens and black clothes and rooms, I love me some red!
Here are the ingredients you will need:
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream (heavy cream)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 1/2 c. white flour
- 1 c. melted butter
- 1 can of cherry pie filling, a large one
- red sprinkles, optional
Directions:
The heavy whipping cream needs to be whipped until it’s stiff, and it makes some stiff peaks. If you whip it too long, you will make butter:) so make sure you watch it. I have done this! When I went to help one of my kids and I didn’t watch the cream being whipped, I let it go too far and made butter. I added some salt and we suddenly had fresh butter–which is kind of fun, in and of itself, but then I couldn’t make the tarts! Ha! So, just make sure you watch it and stop it before it goes that far–unless you want butter, that is!
Combine all the dry ingredients together: 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 1/2 c. white flour. Stir well.
Mix the dry ingredients into the whipped cream, either by hand stirring or with an electric mixer on low or stir.
Melt 1 c. butter in the microwave and add it to the dough. Stir well.
Chill the dough. Wrap it in parchment paper or another type of wrap first, then, let the dough sit in the fridge for a few hours to harden. It needs to harden up so you can roll it out flat. If you don’t let it sit in the fridge long enough, it will be sticky and hard to work with.
After a few hours, pull the dough out of the fridge and roll out a chunk of dough on a well-floured surface with a rolling pin. Roll and flip the dough sprinkling flour underneath the dough before continuing to roll it out thin. If the dough is sticking to your rolling pin, sprinkle some flour on top of the dough before continuing to roll it out flat.
Cut the dough into 2×2 or 3×3 inch squares.
Make a cut with a knife on each corner of the square about an inch long.
Add two cherries from the cherry pie filling to the center of each square.
Fold in every other point and pinch the dough together. If the dough isn’t pinched together enough, the tart might pop open during baking.
Sprinkle the pastry cookies with red sprinkles, as desired.
Transfer tart cookies to an ungreased cookie sheet, either with your fingers or a spatula to keep them perfectly intact.
Bake at 375° for 6-7 minutes. (if your dough is thick it can take up to 10 minutes) Remove the cookies when the bottoms are golden. TIP**The tips of the stars may start to look golden, try to take them out before they do and not later than that because when the tips are golden, it usually means the bottoms are already golden.
Serve immediately or allow to cool prior to storing.
I use this kind of mixer and I love it:)
Storage of these Cherry Tarts
Store these cherry tarts on the counter for a few days, but beyond that, you may want to stick them in the fridge before they start to mold. I have successfully frozen these tarts as well. They are best when eaten fresh…but what isn’t, right?
When to Serve these Cherry Tarts
I love these little cherry tarts with coffee or tea in the morning or as an afternoon snack. Being red, they go great with the holidays of Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or even Easter. They are a great addition to a party dessert table as well.
In my experience, both kids and adults enjoy these tasty tarts.
Vary the Tarts by Changing the Pie Filling Flavor
This is a very versatile cookie because any type of filling can be substituted for the cherry pie filling. I’ve used jelly too, but it’s a bit messier as the jelly is more liquid-like and often oozes onto the pan during baking, but the pastry tarts are really yummy with jelly too, maybe jam might be better…hmmm…yeah, I need to try jam in these tarts next time. Anyway, vary your tarts by simply changing the pie filling flavor. I have used apple, prune, strawberry, raspberry, almond, and blackberry. These are all great choices and they are delicious!
Enjoy!
I hope you enjoy this recipe. It’s a stellar looking cookie; it looks harder to make than it really is. It’s attractive so people love to grab these appetizing little tarts. They are often a hit at parties and holidays in my experience.
Eat well and enjoy life!
Thanks for visiting my site!
Want more yummy treat recipes?
Check out these recipes: Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream Cake
Easy No Bake Jello Dessert Salad for the 4th of July, Red, White, & Blue!
Christmas Wands Chocolate Covered Pretzel Rods
Festive Christmas Fruit Ice Cubes for Cocktails or Mocktails
Rich Decadent Butternut Squash Apple Bars
Copyright © 2019 Julie Hoag Writer. All Rights Reserved. Photos by Julie Hoag.
Cherry Tarts A Yummy Pastry for Dessert
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3 1/2 cups white flour
- 1 can cherry pie filling
- 1 red sprinkles
- 1 cup butter melted
Instructions
- Whip the heavy whipping cream with an electric mixer until it's stiff, and it makes some stiff peaks. (Don't mix it too far or you will make butter.)
- Combine all the dry ingredients together: 1 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 3 1/2 c. white flour. Stir well.
- Mix the dry ingredients into the whipped cream, either by hand stirring or with an electric mixer on low or stir.
- Melt 1 c. butter in the microwave and add it to the dough. Stir well.
- Chill the dough. Wrap it in parchment paper or another type of wrap first, then, let the dough sit in the fridge for a few hours to harden. It needs to harden up so you can roll it out flat. If you don't let it sit in the fridge it will be sticking and hard to work with. After a few hours, pull the dough out of the fridge and roll out a chunk on a well-floured surface. Roll and flip the dough sprinkling flour underneath the dough before continuing to roll it out thin. If the dough is sticking to your rolling pin, sprinkle some flour on top of the dough before continuing to roll it out flat.
- Cut the dough into 2x2 or 3x3 inch squares. Make a cut with a knife on each corner of the square about an inch long. Add two cherries from the cherry pie filling to the center of each square.
- Fold in every other point and pinch the dough together. If the dough isn't pinched together enough, the tart might pop open during baking. Sprinkle the pastry cookies with red sprinkles, as desired. Transfer tart cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet, either with your fingers or a spatula to keep them intact.
- Bake at 375° for 6-7 minutes. (if your dough is thick it can take up to 10 minutes) Remove the cookies when the bottoms are golden. The tips of the stars may start to look golden, try to take them out before they do and not later than when they do as this usually means the bottoms are already golden. Serve immediately or allow to cool before storing.
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They cherry sounds like a wonderful flavor!
Yes! I love cherries too! Thanks!
These are so cute. Love the fun shape and cherry flavoring! Yum.
Thank you! I love the shape too and cherries are so yummy! 🙂
These look delicious and so fun to make!
Yes! They are fun and they aren’t as hard to make as they look. They are very tasty! Thank you!
These sound delicious and they look really pretty!
I agree:) Thanks for visiting my blog:)