Peppered Sour Cherry and Goat Cheese Tarts

Preheat oven to 400ºF.

In a small saucepan, mix sour cherries with red wine, sugar, pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil.

While the cherries come to a boil, mix cornstarch with cold water. Once the cherry mixture starts to boil, pour in the cornstarch slurry and stir constantly as the cherries come back to the boil and the mixture thickens. Remove it from the heat and set it aside.

Roll each sheet of puff pastry to approximately 12 by 10 inches. It is important to roll the pastry a little bit even if the sheets you are using already fit this measurement. If you don’t, the pastry will puff up quite a bit in the tins and your filling will go everywhere.

Using a cookie cutter, cut out 12 circles from each sheet of puff pastry. If you don’t have a large enough cookie cutter, then simply cut each sheet of pastry into twelve squares. If you plan on cutting the pastry into squares, then you should roll the pastry into a square as best you can.

Press the puff pastry into the wells of a mini tart pan or mini muffin tin.

Slice goat cheese into 24 evenly-sized pieces. Keeping it in the fridge until you need it will make it easier to slice. Place the pieces of goat cheese on each tart.

Top the tarts with the cherry mixture. Each tart will get at least 2 cherries and some will get 3. Spread the mixture out amongst the tarts as evenly as you can.

Bake at 400ºF for 17–19 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown at the edges. Let the tarts cool slightly in the pan and then remove them to a cooling rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.