Cranberry Tarts
An easy, cranberry tarts recipe for the ulitmate dessert
Equipment
- Electronic digital scales
- Food processor optional
- Rolling Pin
- Palette Knife optional
- Baking Beads or dried beans
- Baking Parchment
- Medium Saucepan
- Hand Blender optional
- Conical Strainer or a regular fine mesh strainer
- Medium Heat Proof Bowl
- Whisk
- Pastry Brush optional
- Cooling Rack optional
- 6 10 cm round pastry tarts with removable bottoms 4 inches
Ingredients
Pastry [see Instruction below]
Cranberry Curd Filling
- 400 grams Fresh or frozen cranberries [14 ounces] defrosted if using frozen
- 200 grams Caster Sugar [7 ounces]
- 3 Egg Yolks free range or organic eggs are best
- 75 grams Butter [2.6 ounces OR 5 Tablespoons] cold and cut into cubes
Cream
- 150 ml Whipping Cream [5 ounces] cream with a minimum 38% fat
- 1 Tablespoon Icing Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Ground cinnamon
Instructions
Pastry Cases
- Use my recipe for Shortcrust Pastry. Add an egg yolk to the mix and the zest of one medium orange [optional]; you may only need a drop or two of water to bring it all together- this depends on the flour you are using.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees [355 F] and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Whip an egg white with a drop of water and set aside. Following the recipe, after chiling the pastry dough, unrwap the clingfilm and roll out with a rolling pin to the thickness of a £1 or 1€ [or a 25 cent coin]. Using a 12 cm ring [4.75 inches] cut out 6 circles. Save any excess dough for another purpose.
- Use your palette knife or a butter knife and carefully transfer each circle to the tart tins and gently press the dough into the corners; prick the base with a fork and trim any edges. Using a pastry brush, brush the top edges of the pastry case- the part that will be visible once the tart has been filled, with the whipped egg white mixture. Place cut rounds of baking parchment [see Note 1] into the base of each pastry tart case and fill with baking beads or dried beans.
- Bake for 15 minutes, or until starting to turn a lovely golden colour. Remove from the oven, and carefuly remove the beads/beans and the paper. Move the rack up one notch and bake for another 3-5 minutes, or until the bottoms of the pastry have been cooked through and are nice and golden colour. Remove from the oven onto a cooling rack. Remove the pastry cases from the tins when cool enough to handle, or about 10- 15 minutes.
Cranberry Filling
- Put the cranberries, sugar and 150ml [5 ounces] of water in a pan [see Note 3], and simmer over a medium heat for 6-8 minutes, or until the berries burst, and the liquid is syrupy but not jammy. Use a hand blender or tip into a blender to whizz until smooth.
- Place the strainer over a heat proof bowl, and push through the mixture to ensure there are no "bits" and the mixture is smooth.
- Place the heatproof bowl with the cranberry juice mixture over a saucepan oof simmering water, known as a bain marie, and whisk in the the egg yolks for 6-8 minutes or until the mixture thickly coats the back of a spoon, then whisk in the butter in pieces until the mixture is smooth and shiny. ** Note, you will need to continuously whisk during this process.
- Using a spoon or a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle, fill the pastry cases with the cranberry curd mixture [Note 4] Pop in the fridge and chill for at least 1 hour. [Note 5]
To Finish
- Sift the icing sugar and the cinnamon into a bowl with the whipping cream. Using a a hand mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks form. Using a spoon or a piping bag, decorate the top of the tarts and sprinkle a bit of cinnamon or grated nutmeg on top of the whipped cream. Decorating options: mint leaves, or you could add some orange zest to the whipping cream and omit the cinnamon. [Note 6]
Notes
Note 1. this process is called blind baking
Note 2. I keep a plastic zip-loc bag in the cupboard with the dried chick peas I use for blind baking, along with pre-cut baking parchment to fill my tart and pie tins, which I re-use.
Note 3. The recipe calls for 150 ml [5 ounces], but I added about 30 extra ml [2 Tablespoons] as the cranberry mixture was too thick- you need the mixture to be slightly loose, and syrupy but not jammy.
Note 4. I had 300 grams [10 1/2 ounces] of curd mixture when I finished and split that evenly between the 6 pastry cases.
Note 5. I have put the tarts into a plastic container lined with baking parchment overnight. Do not top with cream until you are ready to serve.
Note 6. This is an excellent meal-prep dessert. You can make the pastry cases up to one month in advance: Line the plastic air-tight container with parchment paper, placing the tart cases on top of the parchment and placing another layer of parchment between the layers of pastry cases. ** This is important ** it absorbs any moisture that may result in "soggy pastry bottoms" The cranberry curd filling can be made up to one week in advance. Once the mixture has cooled, decant it into a clean jar; make sure the lids seals perfectly and keep in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the tarts. Do add the whipped cream until serving.