By Last week of January. The Christmas tree is finally down. The decorations are in the bin in the front closet. The apartment looks bigger and sadder, which is also a season.
I made my dad's birthday meal on Saturday — he turned sixty-five, which he refuses to acknowledge as a real number, which is fine, sixty-five doesn't feel real to him because his knees feel like ninety-five and his hands feel like forty. We did dinner at Mom and Dad's. I brought the gołąbki — Babcia Rose's recipe, the one I've been making for two Christmases now, which the family has decided is now my responsibility forever. I rolled them at the kitchen table on Friday night with the twins "helping," which means Owen ate raw cabbage leaves and Nora unrolled the ones I had just rolled. I kept making them. They came out fine. Mom said they tasted like Babcia Rose's. She was being kind. They didn't. But they tasted like mine, which is its own thing now.
Wally was there, eighty-eight and slower than he was at Christmas. He ate one gołąbek, very slowly, and said "good, Myszka, very good." That was all the energy he had. My dad sat next to him the whole meal. They didn't talk much. They ate and watched the Bears highlights from a game they'd already watched. There was a tenderness between them that I won't describe well because it doesn't need words. My dad has spent the last year and a half being his father's son and his father's caretaker and I don't know how he does it.
The twins were up in everyone's lap. Owen on Wally's lap, very gently, like a child who has been told to be careful around grandpa. Nora on my lap, always on my lap lately, like a kid who has decided I might disappear if she lets go. I held her tight. The kitchen smelled like cabbage and tomato and a roast on the counter. My family fit in this house, just barely, and I sat at the table and looked at all of them and let myself notice that this was a moment I would want back later.
I brought the gołąbki as the main event, but I’d promised my dad something sweet for his birthday, and a man turning sixty-five — even one who refuses to acknowledge the number — deserves a real dessert on the table. These cherry tarts came together the same Friday night I was rolling cabbage leaves with two toddlers undoing my work, and they held up beautifully in the fridge overnight. When I set them out after dinner, Wally looked at them for a long moment before he took one. That felt like enough.
Cherry Tarts
Prep Time: 25 min | Cook Time: 20 min | Total Time: 45 min | Servings: 12 tarts
Ingredients
- 1 package (14.1 oz) refrigerated pie crusts (2 sheets), or homemade shortcrust pastry
- 1 can (21 oz) cherry pie filling
- 4 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
- Whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat — and prep the pan. Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or set out 12 individual tart pans on a baking sheet.
- Make the cream cheese layer. Beat softened cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla extract until smooth and fluffy. Set aside.
- Cut the crusts. Unroll pie crusts on a lightly floured surface. Using a 4-inch round cutter (or a wide-mouth glass), cut 12 circles, re-rolling scraps as needed.
- Form the tart shells. Press each dough circle gently into the muffin cups or tart pans, pressing the edges up the sides to form a shallow shell. Brush the inside of each shell lightly with beaten egg.
- Fill. Spoon about 1 teaspoon of the cream cheese mixture into each shell and spread it in a thin layer across the bottom. Top with 1 to 2 tablespoons of cherry pie filling.
- Bake. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the crust edges are golden brown and the filling is bubbling at the edges. Rotate the pan halfway through baking.
- Cool. Let tarts cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire rack. They will firm up as they cool.
- Serve. Dust lightly with powdered sugar before serving. Add a small dollop of whipped cream if desired. Can be made the night before and refrigerated uncovered.
Nutrition (per serving)
Calories: 210 | Protein: 3g | Fat: 10g | Carbs: 28g | Fiber: 1g | Sodium: 160mg