It’s summertime! Which in my book means that it is also picnic time! Every picnic needs a sweet ending. Something small. Something decadent. Something easily transportable. Something that can be eaten with your fingers. Something that doesn’t need refrigeration. These Mini Cherry Tarts are the perfect answer. Totally simple to make with the right tools, and — they can be made a day ahead of time! All it takes is a tiny bit of planning.

But, before you begin the recipe, let’s talk tools. The right tools are two-fold.  The first one is a non-stick miniature muffin tin — an essential.  The other one is a wooden tool that instantly mashes the dough into a tart shape. Known as a Tart Shaper or Tart Tamper they are readily available on Amazon. If you don’t already have one, it is time you added it to your stock of kitchen tools. If you love to bake you will be forever thankful — it will save you so much time.

Mini Cherry Tarts

Filling

• 16-ounce bag frozen pitted sweet cherries, thawed and drained
• ⅓ cup granulated sugar
• 2-3 teaspoons cornstarch

 Streusel

• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped toasted pecans
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1½ tablespoons butter

Pastry

• ½ cup room temperature butter
• 3 ounces room temperature cream cheese
• 1 cup all-purpose flour

Directions

Filling

In a small saucepan, combine cherries, sugar, and cornstarch. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, stirring, until thickened and bubbly.  Cool to room temperature.

While cherry filling cools, make streusel topping and pastry.

Streusel

In a small bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon. Mix in butter with your fingers or a pastry blender until mixture is crumbly.

Pastry

Preheat the oven to 325°F.

In a medium bowl, beat butter with cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the flour and mix on low speed till combined and the consistency of dough. Place on a lightly floured surface, forming into a square.  Divide pastry into 24 portions; shape into balls. Place each ball in the center of each individual muffin indentation in the pan. Use the Tart Shaper to Press each ball into a tart shape. You may want to dip the end you press into the dough in flour to keep it from sticking.  Use floured fingers to finish shaping the dough into tarts.

To Assemble

Spoon filling evenly into each pastry-lined muffin cup. (Approximately 3 cherries per tart.) Sprinkle streusel topping evenly over each cherry filled muffin cup. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until pastry is golden. Cool in muffin cups for 5 minutes then remove tarts to a wire rack to cool completely.

To  Store

Place tarts in an airtight container. If your container isn’t large enough to store them in a single layer, separate each layer with parchment paper.