Cranberry Curd Tart

My Cranberry Curd Tart is a beautiful and festive dessert for the holidays. With a brilliant ruby color and luscious cranberry orange filling this tart is a showstopper of a dessert worthy of any holiday celebration. An elegant alternative to pie this Cranberry Curd Tart is perfect for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Eve.

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This tart recipe always draws rave reviews and with its vibrant color is a gorgeous addition to any holiday dessert table. A simple all butter tart crust is then filled with a smooth Homemade Cranberry Curd (that on it’s own is a delicious dessert spread for scones, biscuits or as a filling for cake). For more delicious holiday desserts take a look at my Pumpkin Tiramisu, Bourbon Pumpkin Pie and Eggnog Bread Pudding.

Ingredients

For the Crust

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

For the Cranberry Curd

• fresh cranberries
• orange zest
• fresh orange juice 
• kosher salt
• sugar
• eggs
• egg yolks
• unsalted butter

Garnishes

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.

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

Baking Tips

• When making the pastry crust ensure your butter and water is cold for the best results
• If you don’t have a food processor you can make the dough by hand, cutting in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives until you get a a crumbly, coarse texture.
• I use powdered sugar to give the crust a finer texture but you can certainly use granulated sugar if that’s what you have.
• Fill the cooled tart shell immediately after making the cranberry curd while it’s warm, it will be harder to spread the curd if it’s had a chance to set

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, sugar ( I use powdered sugar for this tart 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 dry ingredients (flour, powdered sugar, and salt) in your 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.

On a lightly floured surface roll out the tart dough into a 12 inch circle. Transfer the dough into a 10 inch tart pan with a removable bottom, press the dough into the sides and trim the excess crust. Using a fork prick the bottom of the crust and refrigerate 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. Bake for 20 minutes, remove the pie weights and parchment paper and bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the crust is lightly golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

While the crust is baking make the curd by combining together fresh cranberries, orange juice, orangezest, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes, occasionally stirring with a wooden spoon until the cranberries have popped and softened. Blend the cranberry mixture (either with an immersion blender or  transfer to a traditional blender) and strain through a fine-mesh sieve, using a silicon spatula to push as much of the liquid through as possible in order to remove the solids and give you a smooth 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 mixing bowl, then whisk in 1/4 cup of the warm cranberry liquid (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 (the curd should coat the back of a spoon when done). Pour the curd into the cooled prebaked tart shell and refrigerate for at least 3 hours to set the curd. Garnish and serve as desired.

Storage

Store leftovers in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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 Orange Coffee Cake

Cranberry White Chocolate Scones

Cranberry Simple Syrup

If you make this Cranberry Curd Tart please be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Be sure to follow me on Youtube, 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!