Maple Pecan Tart with Dried Cherries says a grand goodbye to fall

Now that the snow has fallen here in Saskatchewan, I’ll be turning my attention to winter food and desserts (think holiday-style cookies and cakes).
   But to send off fall with one last hurrah, I made Maple Pecan Tart with Dried Cherries (click for the recipe) last weekend.
   It’s a really terrific dessert – delicious and elegant, yet easy to make.
   The dried cherries are a highlight that adds a little extra somethin’-somethin’ to the already-lovely combination of a pecan crust filled with maple syrup and brown sugar and topped with more pecans.
   Be sure to serve the pieces of the tart at room temperature, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.
   Egg yolk, melted butter, canola oil and water are combined. Pecans and sugar, flour and salt are pulsed in a food processor to the consistency of coarse meal. The yolk mixture is drizzled through the feed tube, and the mixture is pulsed until just combined.
   The mixture is spread in a nine-inch tart pan with a removable bottom that has been coated with cooking spray, and pushed all along the bottom and up the sides to form a crust. The pan is placed on a baking sheet, and the crust is baked for 12-14 minutes.
   While the crust is baking, eggs, maple syrup, brown sugar, dark rum (optional, but I recommend it), melted butter and salt are combined in a medium bowl, with ¼ cup of the mixture being transferred to a small bowl. A half-cup of pecans are chopped and added to the medium bowl, and cherries are stirred in. The remaining one cup of pecans is mixed into the reserved maple mixture.
   The filling is spread evenly on the crust, and the maple-syrup coated pecans are arranged on the filling.
   The tart is baked for 25-30 minutes, then let left to cool for 20 minutes before the pan sides are removed. Let cool completely.