Cranberry Curd Tart

This stunning tart is a beautiful and fun shade of pink! To ease the prep work, this recipe can be made over several days. The tart shell can be prepared ahead of time and the curd can be cooked and refrigerated for up to one or two days.

We used a 8" fluted tart pan with removable base but a pie plate will work just as well. Garnish with crème fraîche or whipped cream if you'd like!

Cranberry Curd Tart
Adapted from David Tanis

Cranberry Curd
1 bag (450 g) cranberries, fresh or frozen 
1 cup (225 g) granulated sugar
1 large orange, zested and juiced
1/2 cup butter (113 g) unsalted butter, cubed and softened
2 eggs plus 2 egg yolks

Pâte Sablée (Sweet Tart Dough)
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cup (225 g) Flourist Sifted Red Fife Wheat Flour
1/2 cup (60 g) confectioner's sugar
1/4 tsp salt
9 tbsp (128 g) butter, cold and cut into small cubes
2 large egg yolks

Pâte Sablée
To make the pâte sablée, place flour, confectioner's sugar and salt in a food processor. Pulse a few times to combine. Sprinkle the butter pieces all over and pulse to incorporate. The butter pieces should be roughly the size of a pea. In a small bowl, stir the yolks with a fork to break it up and tip it into the food processor a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. Once yolks are incorporated, process in 10 second long pulses until the dough starts to clump together. Turn dough out onto a clean, working surface. 

The dough is finished with a French technique called Fraisage which ensures that the butter is properly distributed and that all the dry ingredients have been worked in. Take a few tablespoons of dough at a time and with the heel of your hand, smear the dough outwards a few inches across your work surface. Gather all the smeared pieces and shape the dough into a disc. Roll dough out between two sheets of parchment or wax paper until it's about 3-inches larger in diameter than the base of your tart pan. You may need to lift the paper up occasionally to prevent the paper from rolling into the dough and creating creases. Once fully rolled out, slide the paper onto a baking sheet and refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

Thoroughly butter the tart pan, making sure to get into all the creases and rounded edges. When the dough is thoroughly chilled, remove from fridge and place on the counter to rest for about 10 minutes, until the dough is just pliable to work with, without breaking. Peel off paper and gently ease the dough into the prepared tart pan, pressing the dough firmly into the corners of the pan. Trim the excess dough off the top. Dock with a fork and tightly wrap with plastic wrap, place in freezer until frozen. 

When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 400°F and place a baking sheet in the oven to heat up.  Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminium foil that will fit over the crust completely. Press the foil tightly into the bottom and edges of the crust. Pour pie weights (dry beans, rice or sugar also work well) onto the aluminum foil and fill until close to the top. Place pie pan on the pre-heated baking sheet (don't forget the pan will be very hot!) and bake for approximately 25, until the dough is set and almost dry to the touch. Transfer to a cooling rack. 

Cranberry Curd
Place cranberries, sugar, orange juice and orange zest in a saucepan and heat over medium heat until mixture starts to bubble. Reduce heat to low and simmer gently until cranberries have popped and softened, about 10 minutes. Blend mixture until smooth in a blender or directly in the pan with a hand blender. Transfer to a fine mesh sieve and press cranberry mixture through, return back to saucepan and whisk in cubed butter.

In a clean bowl, whisk together eggs and egg yolks. Gradually whisk in 1 cup of cranberry mixture, to temper the eggs, then combine together fully. Return the liquid to the saucepan and cook over low heat, whisking continuously, until nearly bubbling and thickened, about 10 minutes.

If using the curd immediately, cool to room temperature. If preparing ahead of time, cover the curd with plastic wrap by pressing plastic directly on top of curd to prevent a skin from forming and refrigerate up to 2 days.

Assembly
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Pour cooled curd into the prepared tart shell and smooth over the top with a offset spatula. Bake for 10-12 minutes to set the curd. Cool and serve at room temperature. 

Print this recipe from your computer by using the print option on your computer menu when the post is open in your browser. It will be automatically formatted to print.