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.
  

Not exactly.

They’re delicious tea and fruit juice blends, sweetened with agave, a better alternative to refined sugar.

They lack some of the conventional energy drink kickers, like guarana, a berry that is more caffeine-intense than coffee beans; and the amino acids L-carnitine and taurine.

They do, however, contain ginseng, a medicinal herb that is believed to increase energy and is often used in energy drinks; and all rely on the natural caffeine of tea.

We’re can’t aver that they give us a special energy boost over other iced teas, but they sure are tasty!

The London-based manufacturer is originally from Denmark; the line is distributed throughout Europe and has just launched in Southern California. Hopefully, Little Miracles will get to a store near you soon.

The flavors include:

 
Discover more at DrinkLittleMiracles.com.

[2] When you see blueberries on sale, grab them and make this recipe (photo © Balducci’s).

[3] The crust is made from vanilla wafers (photo © Nabisco).

[4] An entire summer’s worth of desserts. Check out the book (photo © Grand Central Life & Style).

The crust is a simple combination of crushed vanilla wafers and melted butter. While baking the crust helps it to set more firmly, the purpose of this recipe is to keep the heat out of the kitchen.

Similarly, the cheese filling isn’t baked, but sets in the refrigerator. Prep time is 30 minutes.
 
 
RECIPE: NO BAKE BLUEBERRY CHEESECAKES

Ingredients For One 8-Inch Or Two 4-1/2-Inch Cheesecakes

For The Crust

 
For The Filling

 
For The Optional Garnish

 
Preparation

1. MAKE the crust: Mix together the vanilla wafer crumbs and melted butter until the mixture is combined and the crumbs are moistened. Divide the crust mixture evenly between two 4-1/2-inch diameter springform pans or one 8-inch pan.

2. PRESS the crust mixture into the bottom and about halfway up the sides of each pan. Set the pan(s) in the freezer for 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

3. MAKE the filling: Place cream cheese, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until combined. Add blueberries and pulse until thoroughly mixed. Divide filling between each prepared crust (if making two cheesecakes). Cover and refrigerate overnight.

4. REMOVE the sides of pans before serving. Garnish with a dab of whipped cream and a few fresh blueberries.
 
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*Jennifer prefers Trader Joe’s vanilla wafers, but you can default to the ubiquitous Nabisco Nilla Wafers.

†Set aside the nicest blueberries for the garnish.
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MORE NO COOK, NO BAKE RECIPES

Imagine quick and easy no-cook, no-bake savory meals plus cakes, pies, ice cream cakes, cookies, and more no-bake cheesecakes.

Make tasty desserts in minutes that taste like you have worked for hours.

Feed your family fast, stove- and oven-free, in the heat.

Sound good? Then check out:

The unconventional “salad” recipe below strays from the well-worn path of green vegetables.

There’s nothing leafy, instead presenting a mélange of peppery radishes, tangy feta cheese, sweet peaches and earthy almonds. You can substitute mangoes or strawberries when peaches are not in season.

The recipe is the creation of member chef Michael Schwartz of Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in Miami. You can serve it as a separate salad course or as a side dish. Prep time is 20 minutes.

Ingredients For 6 Servings

1. CUT the onions into thinly slices, using a mandoline or a very sharp knife. You should end up with about 1/4 cup.

2. FILL a small bowl with cold water and a few ice cubes and soak the onions for 5 minutes. This mellows the sharp bite typical of raw onions and makes them crisp. Drain the onions and pat dry with paper towels. Thinly slice the radishes.

3. COMBINE the oil and vinegar in a bowl with some salt and black pepper and whisk to combine. Add the peaches, onions, radishes, and basil, tossing gently to evenly coat the ingredients. Season to taste with additional salt and pepper if desired.

4. DIVIDE the salad equally among six plates and top with the crumbled feta and toasted almonds.

GET THE COOKBOOK

We rarely thumb through a cookbook and want to make everything. Get this one as a gift for yourself or anyone who likes imaginative seasonal cuisine.

You can purchase it on Amazon.com.

Seasonal apricot salsa brightens grilled
chicken or fish. Photo courtesy Landana
Cheese.

Salsa is simply the generic word for “sauce.” Many centuries before tortilla chips were invented, Aztecs and other Mesoamericans ground ingredients into sauces for meat and fish.

This salsa recipe was developed as a sauce for chicken or fish, as opposed to a dip for tortilla chips. It comes from Landana Cheese, a Dutch producer specializing in Gouda-style cheeses—hence the unusual addition of cheese. You can omit the cheese, and the salsa is just as good.

RECIPE: APRICOT CILANTRO SALSA FOR FISH & POULTRY

Ingredients

Preparation

1. CUT the apricots into a small dice. Remove the leaves of cilantro from the stems and mince them. Juice the lime and grate the zest.

2. COMBINE the apricots, cilantro, lime juice and zest and paprika and allow the flavors to blend for a half hour or longer. Shave flakes from the cheese and divide them over appetizer spoons or appetizer dishes. Then divide the apricot-coriander salsa over the cheese.

Fresh, ripe, California apricots are have a short peak season, and that season is now.

Some 95% of the apricots grown in the U.S. come from California. More than 400 growers produce apricots from 21,000 acres of orchards in the San Joaquin Valley in central California, and in the northern part around San Francisco.

Numerous apricot varieties grow in California, each with special characteristics. The most prevalent varieties are the Blenheims, Castlebrites, Pattersons and Tiltons. Growers continually experiment with new varieties that deliver sweeter, juicier flavor and/or process or ship with more longevity. Fruits are bred to do better in specific soils and microclimates.

Apricots originated China. Cuttings were brought by caravan across the Persian Empire and planted in the Mediterranean, where they flourished.

Spanish explorers get credit for introducing the apricot to the New World, and specifically to California, where they were planted in the gardens of Spanish missions. The first major production of apricots was recorded in 1792, in an area south of San Francisco.

HOW TO FREEZE APRICOTS

If you end up with a wealth of apricots, they can be frozen in sugar syrup, to be defrosted and enjoyed in the cold months when you need a bit of sunshine.

1. COMBINE 2 cups sugar and 5 cups water. Add 2 ounces ascorbic acid for each 2-1/2 cups syrup.

2. PLUNGE cleaned whole apricots into boiling water for about thirty seconds. Then peel, pit and halve or slice; place in the sugar syrup and freeze.

3. DEFROST slowly in the fridge (the best way to retain flavor when defrosting just about anything).