Cranberry Curd Tart

The holidays call for a festive dessert and few pastries are as beautiful and unexpected as this cranberry curd tart. With a brilliant ruby color and luscious filling this cranberry stunner is a showstopper worthy of your holiday party. My Cranberry Curd Tart is an elegant dessert that’s sure to impress.

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About Cranberry Curd

Cranberry curd is a smooth dessert spread made with cranberries, orange juice, sugar, eggs and butter. Lemon curd is the most common version but curds can also be made with lime, orange, passionfruit, mango, raspberries or blackberries.(Take a look at my Homemade Cranberry Curd recipe!).

Garnishes for Cranberry Curd Tart

With it’s stunning red color this tart is beautiful as is but there are a number of pretty (and tasty!) garnishes to elevate your cranberry curd tart.

• dollop with fresh whipped cream
• pile high with creamy meringue
• top with meringue cookie buttons
• sprinkle with candied orange peel or candied orange slices
• place sugared cranberries along the crust.

Ingredients for Cranberry Curd Tart

For the Crust

• all purpose flour
• powdered sugar
• salt
• unsalted butter
• egg yolk
• cold water

For the Cranberry Curd

• fresh cranberries
• zest of one orange
• fresh orange juice 
• water
• sugar
• eggs
• egg yolks
• unsalted butter

How to Make Cranberry Curd Tart

To begin this tart we’ll start with the crust, which is a pate sucree. This traditional sweet French pastry crust is buttery and crisp, with a cookie-like texture. Pate sucree is a mix of flour, powdered sugar (which produces a finer crumb that granulated sugar), salt, butter, egg yolk and water. Like any pastry dough the key to getting the best results is keeping everything (especially the butter and water) as cold as possible.

I like to use a food processor to make my pastry and pie doughs. Place the flour, powdered sugar, and salt in your food processor (I love this food processor) and pulse to combine. Add the cubed, cold butter and pulse 4-5 times until it forms a coarse meal ( it should resemble large grains of sand). Add the egg yolk and water 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each addition but taking care not to over work the dough. Remove the dough and form into a disc, about 1 inch thick, without kneading. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

To roll out the dough place the dough between two pieces of parchment paper (my preferred method of rolling out pie and pastry dough as it prevents the dough from sticking to your rolling pin) or on a lightly floured surface and roll into a 12 inch circle. Transfer the dough into a 9 inch tart pan (this tart pan with a removable bottom is great), press the dough into the sides and trim the excess crust. Using a fork prick the bottom of the crust and freeze for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the tart dough with parchment paper and weigh down with pie weights or dried beans then bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely before removing the parchment paper and pie weights.

While the crust is baking make the curd by combining together fresh cranberries, the zest and juice of one orange, sugar and water in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the cranberries have popped and softened. Blend the cranberry mixture (either with an immersion blender or a traditional blender) and strain through a fine mesh strainer, using a silicon spatula to push as much of the liquid through as possible (this can take a little time but is worth it to ensure a smooth cranberry curd).

Return the liquid to the pan and heat until warm. While that is heating up whisk together the eggs and egg yolks in a bowl, then whisk in 1/4 cup of the warm cranberry mixture (this is done to temper the eggs so they don’t curdle). Add this to the remaining cranberry mixture in the sauce pan whisking continuously until combined. Cook for another 3-4 minutes or until the cranberry curd has thickened and then stir in the butter until thoroughly incorporated. Pour the curd into the cooled tart shell and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to set the curd. Garnish and serve as desired.

If you like the Cranberry Curd Tart be sure to take a look at some of my other recipes!

Cranberry Orange Biscotti

Cranberry Old Fashioned

Cranberry Sauce with Apple Cider

Cranberry White Chocolate Scones

Cranberry Simple Syrup

If you make this Cranberry Curd Tart a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Be sure to follow me on Facebook and Pinterest for my latest recipes. Also, if you do make this recipe please tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see what you guys are making!