Home » Easy » Red, White, and Blue Dessert: Grain-Free Berry Fruit Tart

Red, White, and Blue Dessert: Grain-Free Berry Fruit Tart

by 79 Comments

Jump to Recipe

This red, white and blue dessert idea is perfect for your patriotic celebrations this summer! The delicious, colorful, berry fruit tart can be made with a grain-free crust, or with a dough or graham cracker crust.

Red white and blue dessert tart with strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries.

As an Amazon Affiliate, I may earn commission on qualifying purchases. Visit my Amazon Store for tools and ingredients used in this recipe!

Easy 4th of July Dessert Recipe

I love any kind of dessert with fruit, and this patriotic tart is no exception. Not too sweet, not too tart, with a very adaptable recipe – if you don’t need a red, white and blue dessert, use whatever fresh fruit is available! 

The filling is simply lemon curd and cream cheese. That’s it! No added sugar, other than what is the lemon curd. It’s the perfect filling for fresh fruit, which doesn’t need to be masked by an overly sweet filling. 

Overhead view of red, white and blue fruit tart.

If you’re looking for more patriotic desserts, try star-spangled meringues with fresh berries, or this simple fresh strawberry pie. For more grain free desserts, try this Grain Free Fresh Berry Cake or Strawberry Fool. 

How to Make This Red White and Blue Dessert

I’ve made this easy Fourth of July fruit tart several times, with a couple of different types of crust. 

I’ve tried a short dough crust, which is more like cookie dough. There’s pie dough, which won’t be as sweet as the short dough crust. And there’s graham cracker crust, which is the original recipe from Nigella Lawson. My latest incarnation is this nut-based, grain-free crust.

The most difficult part of the recipe is letting the pie chill for a couple of hours before you decorate it, so be sure to prepare it in the morning if you plan on serving it later in the day.

For the gluten-free nut crust, simply pulse the nuts, butter and a few dates in a food processor.

Press the mixture into a greased pie plate or tart pan with a removable bottom.

Grain-free nut crust pressed into pie plate.

Bake the nut crust at 350F for about 10-15 minutes to set it. Allow it to cool to room temperature.

While the crust is cooling, prepare the filling (which takes about 3 minutes!) by combining cream cheese and lemon curd. Wash and slice the fruit. 

Spread the filling into the cooled pie crust.

Pouring lemon curd mixture into tart shell.

Arrange fruit in a pattern starting with center and moving outward.

Assembling the fruit tart.

To achieve a bakery quality finish, brush the top of the fruit with an apricot glaze before chilling.

Brushing glaze on red white and blue dessert.

If you’d like to make this red, white and blue fruit tart with the original graham cracker crust, follow these instructions:

  • Pulse 27 sheets of graham crackers and one stick (8 Tablespoons) of unsalted butter in a food processor until it resembles sand. 
  • Press into the sides and bottom of a tart pan. 
  • Chill 10 to 15 minutes. 
  • Follow the recipe below for filling and finish.
Fruit tart top shot.

Red, White and Blue Berry Fruit Tart

Cynthia
This no-bake fruit tart is adapted from Nigella Lawson. It is one of my favorite patriotic dessert recipes! (I've included the original crust recipe for those who do not need a grain free/gluten free option. 
4.88 from 25 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate this Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 3 hours
Total Time 3 hours 20 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American, English
Servings 8 servings
Calories 535 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 3 cups walnuts and almonds, (you can use pecans and hazelnuts as well)
  • 5 Tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 8 dates, soaked in hot water for 5 minutes, then pit
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 cup lemon curd, (8 ounces) at room temperature
  • Assorted fresh fruit
  • 1 loose-bottomed 10-inch fluted tart pan 2 inches deep
  • 2 Tablespoons Apricot jam,
  • 2 Tablespoons water

Instructions
 

  • Soak dates in hot or warm water 5 minutes, then pit.
  • In a food processor, fitted with blade, pulse nuts, butter, dates and salt until a dough forms. 
  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press dough into a greased tart pan with removable bottom. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden. 
  • In a clean processor bowl, process the cream cheese and lemon curd and spread it into the bottom of the chilled tart crust, covering the base evenly.
  • Arrange the fruit gently (so it doesn’t sink in too much) on top of the lemony cream cheese.
  • Refrigerator the tart, preferably overnight, or for at least 4 hours. It does need to get properly cold in order to set enough for the tart to be unmolded and sliced easily.
  • For the glaze: mix 2 Tablespoons apricot jam and 2 Tablespoons water in a small sauce pan and cook over low heat, stirring until jam is melted and thin enough to brush over fruit. Add more water if necessary. 

Nutrition

Serving: 1gCalories: 535kcalCarbohydrates: 36gProtein: 17gFat: 39gSaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 26mgSodium: 558mgPotassium: 396mgFiber: 4gSugar: 28gVitamin A: 270IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 246mgIron: 1.5mg
Keyword Red, white and blue dessert
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
cynthia

ABOUT CYNTHIA

Welcome to my blog ​where I cook healthy food with a global spin! Read more...

Comments

  11. Mimi says

    I love nut-based crusts, although I don’t remember making any without flour. But why not, if it works?!! This is a beautiful dessert.

    Reply

  13. Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says

    5 stars
    This is so fun and festive for summertime and perfect for the 4th of July! Love this idea with all of these delicious berries!

    Reply

  20. Chris-27 says

    5 stars
    I made this tart for our Fourth of July barbecue, as it’s my grandies favorite dessert. They were thrilled, so was I, as they decorated it, without any help from me. One was in charge of berries, and the other had the warm apricot glaze, to drizzle over the top. I made a graham cracker crust, and, I did bake it for 10 minutes (350F) which I find makes it easier to serve. (No stray cracker crumbs.) This dessert is a keeper, and very quick and easy to put together. I only have 4 oz of lemon curd, so used 4 oz of the apricot jam to make up the required amount. Very tasty.

    Reply

  21. Tara Dix says

    I made this recipe a while back and loved it. The crust makes a nice change and the lemon curd and cream cheese filling is just so delicious. I copied your decorating with the fruit and had lots of comments on how pretty and delish it was!

    Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




SEEN ON