Thick, creamy and sweet cherry curd made from fresh cherries is spooned into grain free and paleo cookie tarts for a delicious, fun and secretly healthy dessert! Dairy free, refined sugar free, gluten-free and paleo.
I’ve been hanging on to this recipe for a ridiculously long time, for no good reason other than I wasn’t sure I liked the photos. Big food blogger sigh right there. The struggle is very much real with recipe photos sometimes.
There are times I photograph a recipe, LOVE the pictures, and then realize the recipe sucks. In fact, that happened to me just earlier TODAY with a coconut flour chocolate chip cookie recipe, batch number one. Two batches later and one more photoshoot and I’m ready to throw my camera and my coconut flour in the dumpster once and for all.
Then there are those times when I make a recipe and it’s absolutely perfect. So perfect that I start feeling the pressure to make it look as good as it tastes! And, ultimately I wind up hating the photos, thinking I just didn’t do any justice to a truly delicious recipe.
So yeah, this happened to me with these cherry curd cookie tarts. It ALSO happened to me with the recipe I’ll be posting tomorrow – plantain bacon waffles (YAY!) which have been completely torturing me for about 2 weeks now.
I decided that this weekend will be “rip-off-the-bandaid-quickly” at least when it comes to posting these recipes that have tortured me so much. The irony of course is that they both came out perfectly THE FIRST TIME, which is SAYING something, so I can’t, can’t, CANNOT keep them from you any longer!
So here we are with the cherry curd! I’d been dying to try out a cherry curd after making lemon curd. Typically when I think of curd I think of citrus, so I honestly wasn’t sure how it would turn out. I based the recipe on my lemon curd recipe, adding in steps to cook and then blend the cherries. Considering how simple I went with it, I was VERY pleasantly surprised with how the curd turned out!
After running it through a strainer (this part was just the same as the lemon version) the result was all the thick, creamy deliciousness that I love about lemon curd, except with cherry flavor! I decided to do cookie tarts again, since those are always fun to eat, but the curd itself can be used as a dip, spread, or filling for anything you want – cookies, banana bread, fruit, etc.
The cookie tart part of the recipe is the same basil one I’ve used for similar recipes like these cheesecake cookie cups and lemon curd tartlets. It’s chewy and slightly crisp, made with almond flour and sweetened with raw honey – so you’re using the same sweetener for both the for the curd and tarts. The only difference is that I decided to bake them in full-size cupcake liners for bigger cups! They’re still “mini” tarts, but not quite as mini as the lemon ones 🙂
Grab your cherries and put on your apron – I think we’re ready to go! You are going to LOVE this recipe and will have to stop yourself from eating the cherry curd with a spoon! Let’s start cooking!
Cherry Curd Cookie Tarts {GF, DF, Paleo}
Cherry Curd Cookie Tarts {GF, DF, Paleo}
Ingredients
For the Cherry Curd:
- 2 1/4 cups fresh cherries pitted
- 3 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 4-5 Tbsp raw honey
- 5 Tbsp refined coconut oil ghee or grass-fed butter may also be used
- pinch salt
- 3 large eggs room temp, whisked
For the Cookie Tarts:
- 1 egg room temp
- ¼ cup coconut oil melted and cooled to almost room temp
- ¼ cup raw honey
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 cups blanched almond flour
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ⅛ tsp sea salt
Instructions
For the Cherry Curd:
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In a medium saucepan, heat the cherries and 1 Tbsp of the lemon juice over medium heat, stirring until the cherries soften and begin to break down, then remove from heat.
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Using either an immersion blender or by putting the cherry mixture in a regular blender, puree the cooked cherries, then add them back to the saucepan.
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With no heat on, whisk in the honey, the rest of the lemon juice, salt, and whisked eggs until combined. Turn the heat on to medium-low while whisking continuously, and add the coconut oil while whisking.
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Continue to cook and whisk over med-low heat for 5-10 more minutes until the mixture thickens enough to coat the back of a spoon.
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Remove from heat, then use a fine mesh strainer to transfer the curd from saucepan to a separate bowl to remove lumps. The mixture is thick, so be patient and use your whisk to help the curd pass through the strainer. You will be left with a perfectly smooth curd! Allow the curd to come to room temperature, then store covered in the refrigerator. It's best to use a slightly chilled curd to fill the cookie tarts since it will thicken even more as it cools.
For the Cookie Tarts:
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line a regular muffin pan with 12 cupcake liners.
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Prepare the cookie dough by whisking together the egg, honey, vanilla, and coconut oil.
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Combine the dry ingredients well in a separate bowl, then stir the dry mixture into the wet until a dough forms. Chill in the fridge or freezer for 5 minutes if it's sticky and needs to firm up.
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Form the dough into balls and press each one into the muffin liner forming a cup shape.
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Bake in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes until the centers are almost done - they'll puff up a bit which is fine.
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Remove from the oven and gently press down in the middle of each one with the back of a spoon or your thumb. Allow to cool completely in the liners on wire racks before removing from liners.
To assemble the cookie tarts:
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Once cookie shells and curd have cooled, use a spoon to fill the cookie shells with cherry curd just about to the top, careful not to overflow. Top with a cherry if desired and enjoy! You can refrigerate leftover tarts for about 2 days and leftover curd in a covered container for up to 5 days. Enjoy!
Nutrition
What I Used To Make My Cherry Curd Cookie Tarts:
Want More Paleo Dessert Recipes? Try one of these!
Almond Butter Fudge Cookie Cups
Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookie Cups
Key Lime Pie with Coconut Pecan Crust
Tell Me!
What types of fruit curds have you made and which would you like to try?
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These mini tarts look so tasty!! I can’t wait to give your recipe a try!
We made the curd for dessert night and it was voted in as ‘a keeper’ by our family! Thanks for the yummy recipe!
Hello! I am wondering if you think I could use sour cherries for this recipe if I upped the honey?
I’m not sure how much more honey you’d need, but texture wise it wouldn’t be a problem 🙂
Please help! I can’t have honey can I use stevia instead and if so how much would I need? Thank you in advance
Hi! I haven’t cooked with stevia but this article might help you – seems to cover what you need: http://www.livestrong.com/article/548423-how-to-substitute-sweetleaf-liquid-stevia-for-honey-in-baking/
I have coconut flour on hand but not almond. Any idea if I could still make the cookies with that?
I made this last night and it taste great but it isn’t that thick. I haven’t made the crust yet but I don’t think my curd will work. Is there a way to thicken it and do you have any idea why it wouldn’t thicken. Lol
My curd did not thicken up. I’m not sure what I did wrong. Is there any way for it to thicken after it gets cold? The taste is good though.
My daughter chose to make this for Thanksgiving. The curd didn’t thicken up so I added a little arrowroot and put it back in the pot for it to get warm and thicken. It ended up being a little gelatinized, but not bad. The cherry flavor was lacking and all we tasted was the lemon. I did use frozen cherries so I’m not sure if that played a part or not, but shouldn’t have.
This is one of the best dessert recipes I’ve ever made! I was blown away by how well these turned out. I love how refreshing and summery these taste too. Definitely holding onto this recipe, thank you!