Cranberry Curd Tart (All the Colors of the Pie)
The Perfect Potluck Event
Before going full force into Christmas mode, a recap of Thanksgiving is due. Turkey Day was spent at my brother’s house in The City with aunties, uncles, cousins, and friends. Potluck style, the spread is a mash-up of classic Thanksgiving dishes and Chinese dishes adapted for the holiday.
Our table would not be complete without sweet rice stuffing – Gnaw Mai Fan and Cousin Gary’s Sweet Potatoes (yep the classic copious amounts of butter and brown sugar, topped with mini-marshmallows). Our contribution to the annual feast was PIES and for forty-plus people. That’s a whole lotta pie. Lucky for me Jamie was home. Yay. Reinforcements.
It’s Pie Time
Have you ever noticed, Thanksgiving dinner is texturally (besides the turkey) a toothless delight-stuffing, yams, corn casserole, carrot pudding, overcooked green bean casserole…you know what I’m talking about. The traditional desserts are a plethora of orangey-brown tones-pumpkin pie, sweet potato pie, and pecan pie. The only reprieve is a dollop of whipped cream on every slice. Kinda monochromatic.
Well, we fixed that this year. Not the soft foods just the dessert color palette problem. We still made Pecan Pie and Pumpkin Pie but we then finished with a color flurry-Purple Sweet Potato Pie, Apple Tart (don’t peel your apples), and a Cranberry Curd Tart. Splash!
For the Cranberry Curd Tart, two recipes stood out (ok, they were the first two after Googling). David Tanis’s recipe in the New York Times and the Cranberry Curd Tart from the blog Blossom to Stem. A flip of the coin, Blossom to Stem won. It is a beautiful blog, craft cocktails, and delicious food, check it out.
Let’s Talk Crust, Crust, Baby
The crust, all butter, flour, powdered sugar, egg yolk, and orange zest. The powdered sugar makes a tender crust by lowering the protein content of the dough. Melted butter means no waiting for the butter to soften. I am a believer in using melted butter for crusts. I learned this from making Alice Medrich’s BOSS Lemon bar recipe. Bake it until a nice golden brown. The finished crust is sweet, citrusy, and tender. Love it.
The curd starts with cooking the cranberries in orange juice until they burst then passing the mixture through a food mill to remove the seeds and skin. Don’t have a food mill? Make the curd and strain it. A little more elbow grease (ok, more than a little) without a food mill but doable.
Voila, a gorgeous ruby red cranberry curd-sweet, tart, and delicious.
The curd will thicken as it cools so make sure the crust is baked before finishing the curd. Quickly pour the curd into the crust and slide it into the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and cool the tart at room temp for an hour and then into the fridge it goes to set.
Garnish with pomegranate seeds or candied cranberries and serve with a ubiquitous dollop of whipped cream or if you like, a meringue (nope, not me).
Make this tart and bedazzle your family and friends this holiday season.
Cranberry Curd Tart
Ingredients
For the crust
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- zest of one orange
For the cranberry curd
- 12 ounces cranberries fresh or frozen
- juice of one orange Approximately 1/2 cup
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 2 whole eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1 stick
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon orange liqueur such as Grand Marnier (optional)
Instructions
Make the crust
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Add the flour, powdered sugar, and salt to a small bowl and whisk together. Melt the butter in a small saucepan (or in the microwave), add the vanilla extract and orange zest to the butter and stir, then pour into the dry ingredients and stir together until thoroughly moistened.
- Press the dough evenly along the bottom and sides into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Make the cranberry curd
- Heat the cranberries and orange juice in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat until the cranberries split. Strain through a food mill or fine mesh sieve and discard the skins.
- Return the strained cranberry mixture to the saucepan and add the sugar, eggs, egg yolks, butter, vanilla, and orange liqueur (if using) to the pan and give everything a good stir. Heat gently over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and registers 170°F on an instant read thermometer (about 8-9 minutes). Immediately strain through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl and pour into the prepared crust. Bake (still at 350°F) until the curd is set (it should jiggle but not slosh), about 10 minutes.
- Let cool at room temperature for about 1 hour, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill. Serve this chilled or at room temperature.
- Serve with softly whipped cream