To Make the Crust:

Fit your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. In it’s bowl, combine the flour, powdered sugar, and salt. Stir on low to combine. Cut the butter into small chunks, and add them to the flour mixture one at a time while the mixer is running. Continue to mix until it is all worked into the dry ingredients, and the mix looks like slightly clumpy sand.

Stir in the grated egg yolk, then the raw egg yolk, cream, and vanilla extract. Stir until a dough is beginning to form. The dry ingredients should be completely absorbed, but you want to stop mixing while the dough is still in several smaller clumps and hasn’t come together into one large ball.

Remove it from the bowl to a sheet of plastic wrap and press it together gently to form a ball, then wrap it with the wrap and press it into a disc. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before rolling and baking. It can be kept in the refrigerator for up to three days.

To bake, remove the dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll it into a round 1/4″ thick. Carefully lift the dough into your tart pan and press it into edges and side. Allow any extra dough to hang over the sides, and either run your rolling pin over the edges to remove it or cut it off with a sharp knife. If any cracks are visible, press a bit of the excess dough into it with your fingers to fill it in. Put the crust back in the fridge for another hour.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Poke the crust 10-15 times with a fork, then line the crust with a sheet of parchment paper and fill it with baking weights, dry beans, sugar, or rice. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove it from the oven and lift the parchment paper with the weights from it. Return the crust to the oven and bake for another 5-8 minutes, or until the bottom crust is no longer shiny. The edges should be golden brown. Remove it from the oven and cool completely before filling. 

For the Cherry Filling:

Stir together the cherries, liquer, sugar, vanilla extract, and lemon juice in a medium saucepan. Allow them to sit and mascerate for about 30 minutes. The sugar will bring out the juices in the cherries and help you create a sauce.

Heat the cherries over medium low heat for 5-8 minutes, stirring frequently, until the sugar has dissolved and the juice is simmering and bubbling. Mash the cherries gently as you stir. 

Place the cornstarch in a small mixing bowl and pour about a half cup of the hot juice over it. Mix until there are no lumps of cornstarch left, then pour it back into the simmering cherries. Stir and continue cooking for another 3-5 minutes, or until the liquid has thickened and is no longer cloudy. Set it aside to cool, but don’t refrigerate it to the point of being cold.