tarte basque

Our friends invited us to their house for dinner and wine tasting, and they always open such terrific wines for us. I felt that I should bring a dessert that merited their beautiful space, excellent food and drink, and their terrific company, so I happened upon this recipe for tarte basque in Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz.

Honestly, the hardest part of this recipe was finding the cherries I wanted. This was part of my aforementioned odyssey to find roasted chestnuts in light syrup, so I ended up with some sour cherries in light syrup. I used two jars of them ($$) but it was totally worth it! The crust is a cross between a pie and a cookie dough and was definitely fiddly to get into the tart pan. But the filling is just reduced cherries with some lemon zest and Kirschwasser, and then topped with crème pâtissière.