By David Tanis
- Total Time
- 1½ hours
- Rating
- 5(8,762)
- Notes
- Read community notes
If you are a fan of lemon curd or the classic French tarte au citron, you will love this cranberry version. To minimize kitchen time, make it in stages, preparing the crust and curd a day or two in advance. The finished tart keeps well for a couple of days too. The wheat-free hazelnut crust is adapted from a cookie recipe from the pastry chef and writer David Lebovitz’s popular website.
Featured in: Gluten-Free (if Not Guilt-Free) Thanksgiving Desserts
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Ingredients
Yield:8 to 10 servings
- 1¼cups/180 grams raw hazelnuts
- 1cup/125 grams rice flour
- ¼teaspoon salt
- ½cup/112 grams sugar
- 6tablespoons/100 grams softened butter, more as necessary
- 12ounces/340 grams cranberries
- 1cup/225 grams sugar
- Peel (orange part only) and juice of 1 orange (about ½ cup)
- 4ounces/113 grams softened butter (1 stick)
- 2eggs plus 2 egg yolks
For the Hazelnut Crust
For the Cranberry Curd
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (10 servings)
479 calories; 30 grams fat; 12 grams saturated fat; 1 gram trans fat; 13 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 51 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 36 grams sugars; 5 grams protein; 75 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Make the crust: Heat oven to 325 degrees. Put hazelnuts on a baking sheet and roast for 10 to 15 minutes, until skins darken and crack. Put roasted nuts in a clean towel and rub off skins. Discard skins and let nuts cool.
Step
2
In a food processor, grind nuts with half the rice flour until mixture resembles coarse cornmeal. Add remaining rice flour and salt and pulse briefly.
Step
3
Cream sugar and butter in a mixing bowl with a wooden spoon for a minute or two until pale and thick. Add nut mixture and combine until dough comes together. If it seems crumbly, add 1 to 2 tablespoons softened butter or a little cold water.
Step
4
Press dough evenly into a 10-inch tart pan; use half the dough for the sides and half for the bottom. Prick bottom with a fork and freeze for 30 minutes (or several days if desired).
Step
5
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake chilled tart shell about 15 minutes until lightly brown. Cool.
Step
6
While the crust bakes and cools, make the cranberry curd: Put cranberries, sugar and orange juice and peel in a saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until cranberries have popped and softened, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a food mill or medium mesh sieve and press cooking liquid and solids into a bowl. (Alternatively, for the most vibrant color, purée the cooked cranberry and orange mixture with an immersion blender or in a food processor or blender. Press through a fine-mesh sieve.) Whisk the butter into the warm liquid.
Step
7
Put eggs and egg yolks into a bowl and beat lightly. Slowly whisk a cup of warm cranberry liquid into the eggs to temper, then combine both and whisk together. Wipe out pot if necessary, return liquid to pot and cook over low heat until nearly bubbling and thickened, about 10 minutes. If using immediately, let cool to room temperature. If working ahead, cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap (press wrap against curd) and refrigerate. (Curd may be cooked up to 1 day ahead.)
Step
8
Pour cooled cranberry curd into the cooled prebaked tart shell and smooth top with a spatula. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes to set curd. Cool on a rack. Store at room temperature for up to 2 days.
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8,762
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Cooking Notes
Lisa
Tip for bright color *and* easy cranberry straining: First I pureed the cranberry mixture in the pot with an immersion blender, then I pushed it through my sieve with a spatula. It only took a minute or two and the puree is buttery smooth and NEON red.
Baba
If you want avoid some headache, I recommend the Julia Child/Alice Medrich method for peeling the hazelnuts rather than the oven method (which did not work for me).
1. Add 3 Tbs of baking soda to 2 cups of boiling water.
2. Add the hazelnuts and boil for about 3 minutes until the skin removes easily from a hazelnut that you tested.
3. Pour the contents into a colander and run under cold water. Fyi, the water will be black.
4. Remove skin. I used a paper towel to help remove the skin.
bsaylor
2 cups of almond flour will work instead of the hazelnuts and rice flour. You can add a little arrowroot flour or cornstarch. Or use half almond flour and half cup-4-cup.
Eileen
I used the lemon poppyseed crust (minus the poppyseeds) from Melissa Clarks ricotta tart, it uses ground almonds and it was fantastic with the curd.
David Tanis
Figure 1/2 cup orange juice. For maximum yield, don't let cranberry mixture "cook down." Strained cranberry mixture should yield a scant 1 + 1/2 cups. Even with less, should be sufficient for a 9- or 10-inch tart.
For the best color, make sure the curd is not overcooked (i.e. grainy) and be sure to cool (it thickens as it cools) before pouring into tart shell. If possible, make curd a day in advance. Will keep a week or more, refrigerated.
kgs
Can regular white or wheat flour be substituted for the rice flour? We don't need to avoid gluten, but would rather avoid extra shopping if possible. Thanks in advance.
Carol
I don't sieve the cranberries as the skins have a lot of pectin which helps the curd solidify. Plus I like the taste. I also use three whole eggs rather than 2 yolks and 2 eggs. I've made this several times and the curd has always been delicious.
Ellen
For the color to remain the beautiful jewel-red, it might be better to add the butter last, and perhaps a little less of it. I have made this recipe twice; the first time I forgot the butter till the end, and kept the lovely color. This time I followed the directions and the butter lightened the cranberry puree to a pinkish-orangey tone, less attractive. The old NY Times Cookbook recipe for lemon meringue pie left the butter to the end, with I think good results.
Merle Gilmore
Loved this recipe but two hints for making it the next time: 1 - do ahead (make and freeze crust, make curd) but do NOT combine and bake until day of serving. The crust turned slightly soggy when it was made the day ahead and stored at room temp as indicated in directions. 2 - add extra liquid in the form of 2 - 3 ounces of non-pulp orange juice or unsweetened cranberry juice (which also makes an excellent Cosmo!)
SCG
I too struggled with the volume of the cranberry mush after straining; to cut the tartness and to add volume, I made a stove-top vanilla custard and layered the cranberry curd on top, which ended up filling the pan perfectly, and the flavor combo is yummy! Baking it creates the lovely, bright color; it will look pasty before that. Cracking, roasting and peeling 50 raw hazelnuts was nuts (pun intended). Boil the nuts in baking soda in water and rise off skin in a cool bath; so much easier!
Helen S. Fletcher
When I had my bakery, we made a Chocolate Cranberry Curd Tart (http://pastrieslikeapro.com/2014/11/chocolate-cranberry-curd-tart). It featured a chocolate crust and chocolate ganache topping.
We also just buzzed our cooked cranberries through the processor and although bits of the skin were left, it added to the charm of the tart and, when eating were not detectable.
MissEmphasis
Despite the fuss involved sieving the cranberries without a food mill I turned around and made a second batch the moment I tasted the first. Yum yum yurrrm. I opted for three whole eggs instead of the 2 eggs, 2 yolks (I'm not fond of the taste of commercial yolks) and that worked beautifully. I served the curd with gingerbread one night and in a simple butter crust the next. And I ate a goodly portion directly out of the jar.
Gorgeous color and tastes awesome.
Janie F
It also seemed like it would take an eternity to push the cranberries through a sieve, so I just used an immersion blender and pureed. Perhaps not perfectly smooth, but tasted fine.
Angelina
I didn't have time for the hazelnut crust, so I followed braylon's advice about the almond flour as a substitute (2 cups as a replacement for rice/hazelnut). This tart was a huge hit with kids and adults alike, especially with guests that have celiac. I used the pulp remaining in my mesh sieve in Mark Bittman's basic muffin recipe and the pulp (cranberry/orange peel) made a perfect flavoring.
M
This is an unusually poorly written recipe. Could you please add the amount of liquid we should expect from the orange (they vary considerably in size and in juice content) and after straining the cranberry mixture. It was barely enough for one cup after I strained them.
NY Housewife
Very good. Just used leftover homemade cranberry sauce and added a bit of sugar, the butter and eggs to make the curd. Could have this on toast/
Alex
One of the best desserts of all time.
n
Use 2 cups almond lour in place of hazelnuts and rice flour
Janie R
I'm not a huge fan of hazelnuts so I substituted a ginger snap crust. I also struggled with volume and added 12oz of frozen raspberries to the curd. Both paired beautifully with the cranberry.
trinap
This recipe worked so well for me- I froze the crust for a few days before making the curd.It came out perfectly and was GORGEOUS. I used slightly less sugar- It was definitely tart but I loved that about it.
Katie
Wow, this came out amazing! I did as others suggested and used an immersion blender for the cranberry mixture. It came out a deep red even after adding the butter. I didn't have rice flour so I used oat flour instead. I didn't take the skins off of my toasted hazelnuts because I didn't have the time which made the crust a wee bit darker in color but still tasted great! Absolutely will be making again, super easy and very impressive looking.
Lisa -
The crust is too sweet for me. cut the sugar. Use the Vitamix to macerate.
Thai
It’s quite unfortunate that cranberries aren’t available year round - this recipe was a hit for us!
tulsi a
I know in the recipe it says that blending is optional, but I think it is an essential step! I read that some people had trouble with yield, but blending then pushing through a sieve gives high yield, better color, and a better consistency by preserving more of the pectins from the cranberry skins.Also, I subbed the orange for a blood orange and it added a lovely, more complex flavor!
Paul Banas
Why rice flour? I used my standard Fannie Farmer pie dough which works fine with regular flour. If you have almond flour, put in 1/4 C and the other 3/4 regular flour. You don’t need hazelnuts and rice flour to make this otherwise easy tart a crowd-surprised and pleaser.
jv
Tasted great and looked beautiful.. I will never make it again! The prep is exhausting...
Victoria
This was just fantastic! Decorated it to look like a wreath with edible fruits and such. A huge hit and big flavor!!
Rob
Six tablespoons of butter do not weight 100 grams. A four ounce stick of butter weighs about 113.5 g. That makes 6 Tbs. about 85 g. Should this crust use 6 Tbs. of butter or 100 g. of butter?
Kristine
Why do I have to cool the cranberry mixture to room temperature before baking it?
Joanne
For my crew, this was basically perfect made as written. *Vitamixed the cranberry/sugar mixture and then ran through a fine mesh sieve before adding in the butter. *2nd sieve of finished curd to get out any little bits of overcooked egg. *Will add a little lemon juice next time (my oranges weren't great tbf.) A beautiful, silky curd -- and a perfect special occasion dessert. Will be using the hazelnut crust for other crumb-crust recipes in the future.
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