Brandied Cherry Tarts

Brandies cherries – yes, the picture above does look a bit like cured olives…my apartment has terrible lighting for my picutres…but those are, indeed, brandied cherries. Sweet, glossy, brandified cherries. Such a simple thing to make, and a great addition to cocktails and food. Drop a few of these babies and a bit of their juice into the bottom of a champagne flute, then top with a good prosecco – when you die of happiness you will come back to this earth to thank me.

I had these morsels in my fridge and really wanted to make dessert – plus I was inspired by my Bob Tarts crust last week and wanted to use that crust again. So Brandied Cherry Tarts were born!

We are going to use the crust recipe from last week’s post,  but first a small addition to that. The original crust recipe (which will be used today) turns out even more like original pop tarts if you decrease the butter by 4 Tbsps and sub in 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. It is a bit denser, a little more nutty – and much closer to childhood memories.

Ok – enough about last week! Pop on over to that post using the above link and grab the pastry recipe. You are going to use the same recipe, but sub in 2 Tbsps Brown sugar for the white sugar, and also add 1 tsp Cinnamon. Follow remaining directions up to getting dough prepped and in two portions in the fridge. Done? Is your dough ready? Oh, good…we can move on then.

Brandied Cherries

Drunken fruit, and no, we are not talking about me 🙂 Fruit preserved/flavored with alcohol is a time-honored tradition – most people are familiar with the version called maraschino cherries. Maraschino cherries used to not be nasty, bright red, oddly textured bits of fruit in a jar with no alcohol. The invention of cheaper dyes/preservatives, and time, brought about these fake fruits. Humans feel the need to inject all sorts of nasties into our foods – well I’m banning them! Begone nasty cherries! You shall not pass! Brandied cherries are a joy to make in the kitchen, take little actual cooking time, and are DIVINE dropped in the bottom of a champagne flute than filled with a good prosecco.

Gather the following for Brandied Cherries:

• Sheet pan, foil, mason jar with lid
• 1 lb fresh or frozen (and pitted) Cherries *
• 1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• Your fav Brandy

*Note on cherries. Fresh deliver superior flavor – frozen turn out good, just not great. Dark, sweet varieties are better and will not get bleached of color like lighter varieties (such as rainier cherries) Lighter ones also taste great, just have a weird color in the end.

Prep: Set your oven to 400F. Line the sheet pan with foil. Toss together cherries and sugar on foiled pan.

Cook: Bake for 15 – 20 minutes. You will start to smell a bit of caramelization on the cherries, this is what you want. Don’t over roast though, the cherries will lose a lot of their form.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to clean mason jar. cover with brandy and give a gentle stir or shake to help dissolve any remaining sugar. Set uncovered in fridge until completely cool, then seal with lid – should keep for weeks, nay, months, in your fridge.

The fridge? “Are these not preserved in alcohol?” you ask. Yes, yes they are. There are a myriad of ways to prepare these cherries with many differing opinions. Brandy is VERY high proof and very few organisms could grow in that level of alcohol, not to mention we roasted the cherries first, deeming them pasteurized. However, I encourage you to always practice food safety in your kitchen. Feel free to keep them in a dark cupboard, tightly sealed for months before eating – they will be divine. But remember that I also cautioned you not to in (the very slim) case they rot, lol, see what I did there covering my butt? 🙂 Moving on….

Serve: Leave the cherries for at least a week in the jar before eating, it lets flavors develop. Serve with prosecco, over ice cream,  flambéed over bananas – or straight out of the jar. These are a show stopper. You could also, of course, make the tart I describe below.

Brandied Cherry Tarts

Remember the dough you just made from above? Ok, roll it out, and make a bunch of 4×4 squares, bake those off in a 400F oven (don’t forget the egg wash!) until golden, remove to rack and allow to cool. Meanwhile….

Gather the following for Lemon Mascarpone Cream:

Finished Lemon Mascarpone Cream

• Food processor or stand mixer, silicone spat, measuring spoons, microplane, juicer
• 8 oz Mascarpone Cheese
• 1 Lemon
• 3 Tbsps Sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup Heavy Cream

*Directions are the same whether using mixer or food processor.

Prep: Zest and juice lemon into mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients except the cream. Turn on machine to combine. Add 1/4 to 1/2 cup cream, and mix until it is the consistency of whipped cream. If it gets to thick, you can adjust with a bit more cream and gentle mixing to loosen it up.

Cook: There is no cooking, it’s a whipped topping silly.

Serve: This is great as a dessert topping, served with a balsamic fruit or on the tart described below. This can be stored in fridge for about a week.

Gather the following for Brandied Cherry Dessert Sauce with Ginger:

The thick consistency you are looking for in the Cherry Sauce

• Small sauce pan, measuring spoons, silicone spat
• Brandied Cherries
• 2 Tbsps Brown Sugar
• 1 tsp Cornstarch
• 1 tsp Water
• Small Chunk Fresh Ginger

Prep: Grab those cherries out of the fridge. See the thick, deep, dark liquid they are in. This will become a sauce for us. Measure 1/2 cup cherry liquid from brandied cherries. Finely chop your ginger, no need to peel. Mix cherry juice, sugar and ginger in small saucepan. Combine water and cornstarch in separate bowl. You can top off the cherries with brandy to keep them covered & moist in the jar.

Cook: Bring the contents of pan to a boil, and reduce until a thick syrup. Add water/cornstarch mixture, whisking constantly, and bring to a boil again. Remove thickened syrup from heat and toss with 1 cup of cherries (careful not to add additional juice to the syrup, as you want it thick)

Serve: Grab a cute plate, and start with the crust as your bottom layer. Using a piping bag fitted with a large, round tip, make “hershey kiss” style globs of mascarpone cream in a circle on top of the square pastry. Make a second circle immediately behind those…so you now have two circles of the cream. carefully add a pile of cherries to the center with a spoon, then pour the extra sauce over, allowing it to drizzle over top and down the sides.

Finished tart

This is a rich dessert. Even though we cooked the sauce (which has a lot of brandy in it) the cherries retain a lot of that brandied zip you are looking for, and when combined with the spice of the crust & ginger, and the creamy of the cheese, your guests will love you for making this.

You can make the components of these tarts all ahead. The crust can be kept on the counter in ziplocks/tupperware for a day or two – but don’t go longer. Put them together when it is time for dessert.  I hope you have learned something in this post and make this dish for yourself. I’d love to hear about your results or take questions in the comments section. I also love to see pictures on my facebook, link below.

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