My Mother's French Tart Recipe

This tart is a wonder in that it was a dessert everyone in my family could eat (from my father who is on a low-fat diet to my sister who eats gluten-free to my mother and I who like tasty desserts). It was also amazingly simple. The hardest part was pitting all the cherries and making sure they looked nice on the top of the tart. 

My Mother’s French Tart

I made this tart with my mother when I was home over the summer. We choose to use gluten-free gingersnaps for the crust and it was delicious (and hence the gluten-free label used for this recipe). I've made it with a prepared pie crust before, but really prefer it in tart form. When it's in a pie, the filling gets very thick and you lose the nice balance between custard-y filling and tart topping.  

I've found the fromage blanc in Whole Foods. It's a non-fat cheese filling similar to marscapone, which you can probably substitute if you can't find the fromage blanc in your local grocery store.

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 9-inch, prepackaged pie crust OR

2 cups graham cracker crumbs or ginger snaps

3 Tablespoons melted butter or margarine

Filling:

2 containers of fromage blanc (Vermont creamery)

Lemon zest of one lemon

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

½ cup sugar

Topping:

Assorted berries

1 tablespoon fruit jam

Lemon juice from the “zested” lemon

Equipment:

9 or 10 inch tart pan with removable bottom

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Make the crust (if making, otherwise, place prepackaged pie crust into tart pan and make the filling): put the graham crackers/ginger snaps in a food processor until crumbs. Add 3 tablespoons melted butter to the mixture and press into pan.

Make the filling: Mix all ingredients together, except berries, and bake for 40 -45 minutes in the center of the oven.  Bake until just slightly brown around the edges and almost set.

Topping: Once pie cools, combine lemon juice, about a Tablespoon of jam, melted in the microwave, with fresh cherries, strawberries, raspberries, or blueberries or any combination. Arrange this topping in concentric circle on top of tart.

Serves 6 to 8