The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

The past couple of months have been hectic. I missed the May challenge preparing for a cross-country move / trip. Then I spent three weeks on the road to arrive in San Francisco and found I missed another deadline for the Daring Bakers. I wasn’t going to let a little deadline stop me though, better late than never.

I’ve made many pies, but not many tarts. The shortbread recipe was new, but didn’t seem too different from a pie crust recipe. I wanted to get some fruit into this tart, so I decided on using cherries. My first time working with cherries happened to be in Austin while visiting some friends recently. Pitting cherries can be messy and labor intensive, but it’s worth rolling up the sleeves and using fresh ones. It also gave me an excuse to visit the Ferry Building Farmers Market in San Francisco beyond fattening up on all the delicious food stands.

When I was in London a few years ago we happened upon tiny cherry tarts in a random convenient store. This challenge and that inspiration was the driving force in the variation on this recipe. After pitting the cherries making the filling is as simple as mashing them up a bit and cooking on the stove with some sugar. I especially enjoyed using the little tart pans. I don’t need many reasons to purchase new kitchen things, so now I’m thinking of other ways I can use these pans.

Co-workers enjoyed them (I had a number of them myself). Bonus: making up for the overcooked strawberry rhubarb pie I made last time that didn’t turn out so good.