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.
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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.
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.
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.
Arrange fruit in a pattern starting with center and moving outward.
To achieve a bakery quality finish, brush the top of the fruit with an apricot glaze before chilling.
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.
Red, White and Blue Berry Fruit Tart
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.
Demeter says
This looks fantastic! Perfect dessert for any 4th of July party!
Cynthia says
Yes, isn’t it? You can change the fruit around too.
Bintu | Recipes From A Pantry says
The perfect summer dessert, for sure! Such delicious flavours.
Cynthia says
Thank you Bintu! Yes, great for summer.
Tessa Simpson says
Wowzer this looks delicious!! What a combo of goodies!
Cynthia says
Thank you Tessa! Great for summer!
linda spiker says
What a gorgeous tart! And so easy!
Cynthia says
Very easy Linda and versatile!
Jean says
Such a gorgeous tart! This will be perfect for all the summer holidays.
Cynthia says
Thank you Jean.Yes, a great summertime dessert!
Carol Little R.H. @studiobotanica says
What a beautiful dessert! Love the nut crust too.
Cynthia says
The nut crust is so good, you don’t miss the graham cracker crust at all!
Megan Stevens says
That photo with the filling going into the pie!! This looks so delicious and beautiful!
Cynthia says
Thank you Megan! I love the name of your site! That says it all!
Kari - Get Inspired Everyday! says
So beautiful and perfect for picnics all summer long! That cream cheese lemon filling, wow… can’t wait to try it out!
Cynthia says
So simple too. And you can change up the fruit.
Yvonne says
What a beautiful dessert. Love the colors.
Cynthia says
Thank you Yvonne! Perfect for the 4th!
Jill @ Mad About Macarons says
How delicious, Cynthia – love the sound and look of this wonderful crunchy base!
Cynthia says
Thank you Jill! The perfect base!
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.
Cynthia says
It totally works Mimi, and I love that it’s so much healthier.
Leslie-Anne says
Lemon curd is heavenly! This looks like such a fantastic dessert for the summertime. I love that you rewrote the recipe for grain-free, much appreciated!
Cynthia says
Thank you! I’m slowing trying to update my recipes to use less sugar and gluten.
Emily @ Recipes to Nourish says
This is so fun and festive for summertime and perfect for the 4th of July! Love this idea with all of these delicious berries!
Joni Gomes says
I love berry desserts! I will definitely make this soon!
ChihYu says
What a gorgeous fruit tart. This is my favorite. So perfect for summer. Thanks for sharing !
Cynthia says
Thank you!
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kidshealthbuddy says
Amazing Fruit tart . Tired once . Loved it . New moms need to take care of plenty of things. They don’t have to just follow the norms for their own health but for the baby’s health as well. https://www.kidshealthbuddy.com
Cynthia says
Thank you! I agree! I’m glad you like it.
Krishnan says
A very nice recipe you have got! Tried it and worked well! Thanks for this one!
Xcellerate 35
Tara Dix says
Pretty and delicious!
Cynthia says
Thank you Tara! Glad you liked it!
Krishnan says
Really tasty recipe ! You really have a great stuff on this topic! Thanks for the tasty recipe!
Xcellerate 35
Chris-27 says
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.
Cynthia says
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it and it sounds like the jam worked fine.
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!
Cynthia says
THank you Tara!
Anna coblin says
Wow! Thanks so much for this post. This information has been very helpful thanks for sharing this post.
Cynthia says
you’re welcome!
Linda Lashley says
Looks so yummy I am gonna try to make it this sunday Thanks.
Cynthia says
awesome! Thanks!
Amelia Todd says
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Luca Roth says
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