Short on Fruit but Still Satisfying: Raspberry Sour Cream Tart

Ah, another summer barbeque, another fruit tart! I wanted to make something light and relatively low fuss for an outdoor dinner hosted by our friends Jim and Colleen. I happened to have some extra graham crackers on hand (after buying a box to make the Poppy Seed Pound Cake from Baked Elements), so a recipe for a Raspberry Sour Cream Tart with a graham cracker crust seemed perfect. 

This tart is incredibly easy, especially because you don't even need to make a pastry crust. The crust is just graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter. You press the mixture into a tart pan and bake it until firm. After the crust is cool, you fill it with a mixture of cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. You chill the filled crust for at least four hours, and then top it with raspberries and a drizzle of raspberry jam.
I totally misread the amount of raspberries needed for the tart. The recipe says "2 1/2-pint baskets raspberries," which means five cups of raspberries. For some reason, my brain processed this as two baskets of raspberries, with each basket holding one-half pint -- meaning I had purchased only two cups of raspberries. (In my defense, wouldn't it be clearer to simply say "five cups of raspberries"?) So I didn't have enough berries to pile the fruit high as shown in the photo accompanying the recipe. Instead, I arranged the berries in concentric rings around the perimeter. The jam drizzle seemed a little odd to me, but overall, I thought it was a good looking tart.

The tart was easy to slice and serve, although I don't have any photos of it after it was sliced (it was after dusk when we ate it!). It was quite delicious. The filling was smooth and creamy, and even though it was made out of cream cheese and sour cream, it wasn't heavy. The tart was basically a much lighter version of cheesecake. The graham cracker crust was crisp and flavorful, and even with only 40% of the raspberries I was supposed to use, it was nicely fruity. I would definitely make this again, and you could use any sort of fruit you like. It's a wonderfully quick and easy recipe for a summer day.

Recipe: "Raspberry Sour Cream Tart," from epicurious.com.

Comments

Susan said…
It's still beautiful & I love the flavor combination!