Cherry Apricot Tart

This tart will suffer if you have sub-par apricots (which unfortunately is a chronic problem in the Chicago area). I would suggest adding a little more sugar if this is the case and brushing a generous amount of melted apricot jam over the tart when it is done if you don’t have access to really delicious apricots. The recipe for the crust is adapted from Sara Foster’s Southern Kitchen and the filling is adapted from Bon Appétit magazine.
For the crust:
2 cups flour
3 T sugar
2 sticks salted butter (or 2 sticks unsalted butter and 1/2 t salt)
1 large egg yolk
3 T ice water

Using a pastry blender (or a food processor but it will turn out much better if you do it by hand), cut the butter into the dry ingredients until mixture resembles coarse meal (it should look kind of like wet sand). Mix egg yolk and ice water and drizzle over the flour mixture; mix lightly with a fork and a gentle touch until dough comes together (adding 1 T more water at a time if it doesn’t come together). Divide dough into two pieces and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for about 30 minutes. You will only use 1 disk for this tart but you can freeze the other or use it to make little hand pies or individual tarts.

For the tart:
1 cup pitted Bing cherries (thawed and drained if using frozen)
6 large apricots, cut into 4 to 6 pieces each
5 T sugar (I will use a little more next time- maybe 1 T more if the apricots aren’t sweet)
2 T flour

Roll the crust out to an 11-inch round and place on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet. Mix flour and 1 T sugar and sprinkle over the bottom of the crust, leaving a 1 1/2″ border. Place apricots over the flour and scatter the cherries over the apricots. Sprinkle the fruit with 4 T sugar (or more if needed). Fold the pastry edges over the fruit- I refrigerated the tart for about 15 minutes after doing this so that the edge would stay folded in place.  Bake in a 400º oven for about 50 minutes or until golden and bubbly. This will leak juices all over the parchment so don’t be scared!  When the tart is done, you can brush the juices back onto the tart or use a little spoon to scoop them up and eat them.  If you feel that your apricots are lacking in flavor, melt about 1/4 cup of apricot jam and brush it gingerly over the top of the tart. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

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