Cherry Almond Tart

I adapted a French frangipane (almond tart crust) recipe without the flour. I've had a bag of Townsend Farm organic dark sweet cherries in the freezer, and they were perfect for this.

The crust is almond meal, sugar, egg yolks and butter, with egg whites folded in. It leaked a bit out of my tart pan, so be sure to bake it on a cookie sheet. It would also work in a cake pan, but it might stick. Make sure to line any pan with parchment. 

Unbaked tart

Cherry Almond Tart

Gluten free

Serves 12 

Ingredients

2 cups almond meal
2 tbsp potato starch, corn starch or rice flour
8 TB (1 stick) softened unsalted butter
4 eggs, separated
¾ cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 ½ cups tart cherries, frozen or fresh
Turbinado (coarse) sugar for sprinkling on top (optional)

Lemon zest (optional)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks and set aside. Combine the softened butter, egg yolks, sugar, potato/corn starch or rice flour, salt and almond meal in a mixing bowl or food processor, Blend or beat just until smooth. Fold the egg whites gently into the almond mixture.

Line the bottom of a tart pan or shallow cake pan with parchment. Spoon the crust mixture in, and smooth the top with an offset spatula or flat knife. Scatter cherries evenly across the top, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. If using a tart pan, place on a baking sheet because the crust could leak a little. Bake 30-40 minutes, until the middle is firm and bounces back to a touch, and the surface is evenly browned. Sprinkle with lemon zest while still warm. Let cool for at least 30 minutes, or it will be hard to remove from the pan.