Gingerbread and Cranberry Flavors in a Tart

Perhaps it's boring, or maybe just traditional, but I love having pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving. One of my sisters has her birthday close to Thanksgiving and her favorite pie is pecan. Those are the two pies that I make most often at Thanksgiving time.

This year Sweetie and I were invited to join friends in Healdsburg for Thanksgiving and I offered to make the dessert. Imagine my surprise when the hostess asked that it not be pumpkin. At first I was going to go with the second usual pie, but then I made one for a birthday gift for my sister, so I was open to the idea of something different.

In the Washington Post there was a recipe that was new to me, sounded delicious, and seemed like it would make a festive dessert for the Thanksgiving feast. It's a Gingersnap crusted Cranberry Tart. Sweetie loves gingersnap cookies and I had just bought a bag of fresh cranberries, plus some oranges, so I had most of the items needed. I did have to purchase some fresh ginger for the filling but otherwise I was good to go.

This is a wonderful tart! The nice thing is that you can bake the crust the day before and the filling gets cooked on the stovetop and doesn't need to be in either the oven or the fridge on Turkey Day, so it's a great one if you are cooking a lot of the meal in your kitchen. It is really impressive, delicious, and tart enough that it's refreshing at the end of turkey dinner with all the trimmings. Surprisingly, it also goes well with a spicy red wine.

As with most recipes, it's good to read this through at least once, and to have all of your ingredients prepped before you start. The filling part is given before the crust part, so if you are making the crust the day before, help yourself and print it out, then highlight the crust ingredients and instructions.

Hope you enjoy this as much as our Thanksgiving crew did! I skipped the cookie-fruit crumble topping and just added some whipped cream decor as I served each piece. Easier and everyone seemed to enjoy it that way.

Cranberry Tart With Gingersnap Cookie Crust

By Aaron Hutcherson   in The Washington Post
Servings: 8 (makes one 9-inch tart)

Ingredients

For the cranberry curd - make the morning of serving day- very early

·         1 pound (455 grams/4 cups) fresh or frozen cranberries

·         1 1/4 cups (250 grams) granulated sugar

·         Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange (about 1 tablespoon zest and 1/2 cup juice)

·         One (2-inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

·         Pinch fine salt

·         3 large egg yolks

·         2 teaspoons cornstarch

·         4 tablespoons (55 grams) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces and at room temperature

For the gingersnap cookie crust - can make one day ahead of serving day

·         8 tablespoons (113 grams/1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

·         1/4 cup (55 grams) packed dark brown sugar

·         1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

·         1 large egg yolk

·         2 tablespoons molasses

·         1 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour

·         2 teaspoons ground ginger

·         1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

·         1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

·         1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt or table salt

For the cookie-fruit crumble (optional) - make while filling is setting up

·         1/2 cup (50 grams) crumbled gingersnap cookies

·         1/4 cup (50 grams) diced crystallized ginger

·         1/4 cup (50 grams) diced candied orange peel

Directions

Time  -Active: 30 mins     Total: 3 hours 30 mins

1.     Step 1

Make the cranberry curd: In a medium saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the cranberries, sugar, orange zest and juice, ginger and salt and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Adjust the heat to maintain a very gentle simmer, cover and cook until all the cranberries have burst and started to shrivel, about 10 minutes. (I found that with fresh cranberries that it took longer than 10 minutes.)

 2.     Step 2

While the cranberries cook, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cornstarch until smooth. Transfer the hot cranberry mixture to a heatproof blender. Immediately add the yolk mixture, cover loosely (see Notes), gradually increase the speed to high and blend until smooth, about 1 minute. Let the mixture cool, uncovered, in the blender until a skin forms and it registers 120 to 125 degrees on an instant-read thermometer, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Make sure that you have soft butter ready.

3.     Step 3

Make the gingersnap cookie crust: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown and granulated sugars on medium-low speed until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes.

4.     Step 4

Increase the mixer speed to medium, add the egg yolk and molasses and mix to combine. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl thoroughly. Add the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice and salt and mix on low speed until fully incorporated and the mixture looks like crumbly cookie dough, about 1 minute.

5.     Step 5

Turn out the dough into a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Use your fingers to press it evenly across the bottom and up the sides. Loosely cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

6.     Step 6

When the crust is ready to bake, position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Dock the crust across the bottom with a fork and blind-bake (without pie weights), until evenly golden brown, 20 to 22 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely before adding the filling. (I lined the tart bottom with foil, shiny side down, that I had coated with a thin layer of butter - on shiny side - after docking crust bottom, but before baking. When I removed crust from oven, I used the foil to press down on the bottom of the crust since it had risen some during baking. Then I removed the foil and returned crust to the oven for 3 minutes, then removed from oven and cooled it.)

7.     Step 7

When the cranberry puree has cooled, add the softened butter and blend until fully combined, about 30 seconds. Pour the puree into the crust and smooth with an offset spatula into an even layer. Let the tart sit at room temperature for at least 2 hours.

8.     Step 8

Make the cookie-fruit crumble: If desired, combine the cookies, crystallized ginger and candied orange peel in a medium bowl and sprinkle all around the edge of the tart. Slice into wedges and serve at room temperature.

Substitutions

Dark brown sugar >> light brown sugar.
Gingersnap cookies >> graham crackers.

Notes

If you’re not sure your blender is heatproof or you don’t have one, you can use a heatproof food processor or immersion (stick) blender instead. To use a heatproof food processor, transfer the cranberry mixture to the bowl of a food processor, add the yolk mixture and process until smooth, about 1 minute. To use an immersion blender, add the yolk mixture to the cranberries in the pan and puree until smooth, about 1 minute. Be careful not to splatter the hot cranberry mixture. With either method, let the mixture cool, uncovered, until a skin forms and it registers 120 to 125 degrees on an instant-read thermometer. After the mixture has cooled, add the butter, as directed, and puree or blend again. If desired, strain the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, pressing the puree through with a rubber spatula, before transferring to the crust.

When blending the hot puree, be careful to not fill the blender pitcher more than halfway. Remove the center ring from the lid and place a kitchen towel over the opening as you blend. This will allow steam to escape and protect you from splatters.

 

Make ahead: The crust must be refrigerated for at least 30 minutes or overnight before blind baking. The baked crust can be allowed to cool completely and stored loosely covered at room temperature 1 day in advance.

Storage: Leftover tart can be covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days.