Fresh Fruit Tart
As an Amazon Affilate, I earn commission on qualifying purchases.
This fresh fruit tart is perfect for your patriotic celebrations this summer! The delicious, colorful, tart can be made with a grain-free crust, a shortcrust dough or graham cracker crust. It’s a beautiful way to highlight seasonal fruit.
I love any kind of dessert with fruit and this easy fruit tart is no exception. It’s not too sweet, with a tangy lemony filling and is a very adaptable recipe. Use whatever fresh fruit is available! (This recipe was originally published on December 11th, 2011)
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
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.
Ingredients for fresh fruit tart
I’ve made this easy fruit tart several times, with a couple of different types of crust. A shortbread crust, which is more like cookie dough and a little to sweet for my taste. There’s pie dough, which won’t be as sweet as the short dough crust. And then there’s graham cracker crust, which is the original recipe from Nigella Lawson. My latest incarnation is this nut-based, grain-free crust, which also makes it gluten free.
For the grain free crust
- 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
For the filling
- 2 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup lemon curd, (8 ounces) at room temperature
- 1 10-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom, 2 inches deep
- Assorted fresh fruit (the amount of fruit will vary depending on how you’d like to arrange)
- 2 Tablespoons Apricot Jam,
- 2 Tablespoons water
How to make this fruit tart recipe
I’ve made this easy fruit tart several times, with a couple of different types of crust.
I’ve tried a shortbread crust, which is more like cookie dough and a little to sweet for my taste. There’s pie dough, which won’t be as sweet as the short dough crust. And then there’s graham cracker crust, which is the original recipe from Nigella Lawson. My latest incarnation is this nut-based, grain-free crust, which also makes it gluten free.
For the gluten-free nut crust
- 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.
- Press dough into bottom and sides of the pan. Trim excess dough.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Press dough into a greased tart pan with removable bottom.
- Blind bake for 12-15 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.
Filling
- In a clean processor bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, process the cream cheese and lemon curd until smooth.
- Spread it into the bottom of the chilled tart crust, covering the base evenly.
Finishing the fruit tart
- Wash and slice the fruit.
- Spread the filling onto the cooled bottom of the crust.
- Arrange fruit in a pattern starting with center and moving outward.
- To achieve a bakery quality finish, use a pastry brush to apply a thin layer of apricot glaze before chilling.
- Wrap well with plastic wrap and refrigerate until ready to serve.
Apricot glaze
- Heat 2 Tablespoons apricot preserves or jam and 3 Tablespoons water in a small saucepan over medium heat, until jam is melted and any lumps disappear.
Alternate crust options
The graham cracker crust is also a no-bake option.
- If you’d like to make this 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 options
Don’t limit this showstopper dessert to just berries. It’s the ideal base for a variety of your favorite fruits from and kiwi slices to stone fruit
More French fruit tarts:
More patriotic July desserts:
Gluten free and grain free desserts:
Grain Free Fresh Berry Cake or Strawberry Fool.
Fresh Berry Fruit Tart
Equipment
- 1 loose-bottomed 10-inch fluted tart pan 2 inches deep
Ingredients
Grain-Free Crust
- 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
Lemon Filling
- 2 8-ounce bars cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1 cup lemon curd, (8 ounces) at room temperature
- 1 lb. assorted fresh fruit washed and sliced
Apricot Glaze
- 2 Tablespoons apricot preserves or jam,
- 2 Tablespoons water
Instructions
Grain-free crust
- 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.
Lemon Filling
- 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.
Finishing tart
- 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.
Apricot Glaze
- 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.
This looks fantastic! Perfect dessert for any 4th of July party!
Yes, isn’t it? You can change the fruit around too.
The perfect summer dessert, for sure! Such delicious flavours.
Thank you Bintu! Yes, great for summer.
Wowzer this looks delicious!! What a combo of goodies!
Thank you Tessa! Great for summer!
What a gorgeous tart! And so easy!
Very easy Linda and versatile!
Such a gorgeous tart! This will be perfect for all the summer holidays.
Thank you Jean.Yes, a great summertime dessert!
What a beautiful dessert! Love the nut crust too.
The nut crust is so good, you don’t miss the graham cracker crust at all!
That photo with the filling going into the pie!! This looks so delicious and beautiful!
Thank you Megan! I love the name of your site! That says it all!
So beautiful and perfect for picnics all summer long! That cream cheese lemon filling, wow… can’t wait to try it out!
So simple too. And you can change up the fruit.
What a beautiful dessert. Love the colors.
Thank you Yvonne! Perfect for the 4th!
How delicious, Cynthia – love the sound and look of this wonderful crunchy base!
Thank you Jill! The perfect base!
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.
It totally works Mimi, and I love that it’s so much healthier.
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!
Thank you! I’m slowing trying to update my recipes to use less sugar and gluten.
This is so fun and festive for summertime and perfect for the 4th of July! Love this idea with all of these delicious berries!
I love berry desserts! I will definitely make this soon!
What a gorgeous fruit tart. This is my favorite. So perfect for summer. Thanks for sharing !
Thank you!
First of all congrats for this blog and such a nice logo starr struck also post is too informative.
diabetes mellitus
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
Thank you! I agree! I’m glad you like it.
A very nice recipe you have got! Tried it and worked well! Thanks for this one!
Xcellerate 35
Pretty and delicious!
Thank you Tara! Glad you liked it!
Really tasty recipe ! You really have a great stuff on this topic! Thanks for the tasty recipe!
Xcellerate 35
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.
Thank you! I’m glad you liked it and it sounds like the jam worked fine.
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!
THank you Tara!
Wow! Thanks so much for this post. This information has been very helpful thanks for sharing this post.
you’re welcome!
Looks so yummy I am gonna try to make it this sunday Thanks.
awesome! Thanks!
thank you for this awesome post. It really shows your immense knowledge and research on this topic. Please keep sharing
Awesome points such a beauty-full post, thanks for sharing this post.