June 18th is National Cherry Tart Day. You’d be surprised how easy it is to make a delicious cherry tart—or any fruit tart.

This recipe works for any fruit tart. Pick any seasonal pie fruit—including, currently, apricots, figs, nectarines, plums and strawberries. Don’t bother with a filling: You won’t notice it with the delicious fruit and the delicious crust.

You can buy or make crème fraîche; here’s a recipe. Or, substitute vanilla ice cream.

Prep time is 90 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: EASY FRUIT TART

Ingredients

1. PREHEAT oven to 375°F. COMBINE flour, salt and 2 tablespoons of the sugar in a bowl or food processor. Dice 8 tablespoons of the butter. Use a pastry blender or two knives to blend the flour mixture and butter in a bowl until crumbly, or pulse them together in a food processor.

2. BEAT the egg yolk with 3 tablespoons of cold water. Dribble over the flour mixture, then stir (in bowl) or pulse slowly (in food processor) until the mixture starts clumping together. Add more water as necessary. Shape the dough into a loose ball and form into a disk on a lightly floured surface.

3. ROLL out the dough and line a 10-inch loose-bottom fluted tart pan. Cover the pastry with a sheet of foil and place pastry weights or dry beans on top. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove foil and weights from the crust. Return the crust to the oven and continue baking until it is lightly browned, another 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from oven; increase temperature to 400°F.

4. PIT and slice the fruit: cherries in half, most other fruit in eighths, figs or other small fruit in fourths.

5. BRUSH the crust with the melted preserves (this prevents the crust from becoming soggy). Arrange the fruit in tight concentric circles, skin side down, starting with the perimeter. The fruit should “stand up.”

6. MELT the remaining butter on low and cook until it turns a light nut brown. Brush the fruit with the butter and dust with the remaining sugar.

7. BAKE 35 to 40 minutes, until the edges of the crust have browned but fruit is still perky (not collapsed). Cool and serve with crème fraîche.