Gluten-Free? You CAN Eat Pie
All week, soon-to-launch magazine Wild Apple's Liza Jernow and Tara Donne are schooling us on what, exactly, “gluten-free” means and how those of you with celiac can eat healthfully—and decadently. (And yes, those things can happen at the same time.)
Photo credit: Liza Jernow and Tara Donne
We celebrate fresh cherries by doing little to them. For dessert, serve them simply pitted and halved, with whipped cream on top. Of course, this duo requires a vehicle to transport it to your mouth—something with a little crunch—so we’ve fashioned an almond crust. And yes, it’s gluten-free.
Fun fact: Almonds and cherries are both stone fruits; the almond is the “stone” or pit of the almond fruit. So pairing almonds with cherries, apricots, peaches or plums produces a wonderful marriage of flavors.
—Liza Jernow and Tara Donne, Wild Apple
Cherry Almond Butter Tart
by Liza Jernow and Tara Donne
Serves 6-8
You can make the tart shell up to two weeks in advance; it will keep if you wrap it tightly and store it in the freezer. We use cherries here, but you can use any in-season fruit.
½ cup sugar
½ cup crunchy almond butter
2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg
½ tsp. pure vanilla extract
⅛ tsp. pure almond extract
1 cup gluten-free all purpose flour mix, without gums
¼ tsp. Kosher salt
2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 ¼ lb. cherries, pitted and halved
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
1 cup organic heavy cream
Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In the bowl of a food processor, pulse sugar, almond butter, butter and egg together until well combined. Add the extracts; beat to combine. In a separate bowl, mix flour with salt. Pulse flour mixture into butter mixture until fully incorporated.
Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom. It may help to wet your hands a bit. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Poke the tart with a fork many times across the bottom. Line inside of tart shell tightly with nonstick foil, adhering it to the bottom and sides of the crust to support it during baking. Place on a sheet pan.
Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the sides of the dough look dry. Remove foil and bake for about 12 more minutes, or until the center of tart looks dry and the edges begin to brown. Remove from sheet pan to cool slightly. (If you don’t own a tart pan, roll dough out on parchment into a 1/2-inch thick square, place on sheet pan with parchment, chill for 30 minutes, poke all over with fork, and bake until edges are golden and crust is dry-looking, about 20 minutes.) While tart is still warm, remove from the tart ring and place on a serving platter.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over gently simmering water. Paint chocolate with a pastry brush to coat inside of crust. Let cool completely, until chocolate is set.
Toss cherries with brown sugar and let sit for 15 minutes. Whip the cream to soft peaks just before serving. Spoon into shell, top with cherries, and serve!
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