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.

Walnut Cranberry Tart for the Festive Season

Welcome December! We had lots of rain last night and this morning!! With the prolonged drought we have been in here in California, this is cause for celebration. Of course the coming holidays are also cause for joy...and lots of baking and making. Here is the first recipe I recommend to you, dear reader, for you holiday baking. It's a keeper. Do read through the full post before making it...there are tips for you.

I bought a bag of fresh cranberries sometime in early November. I do this almost every year because I know that before they get too old I'll come across a recipe or recipe idea where you need fresh cranberries...and there they will be in the bottom crisper drawer in the fridge.

That happened last week. There was no time to make the tart for Thanksgiving, but that weekend I had the time, so I made this delicious tart which combines walnuts, fresh cranberries, orange, and some brandy.

Instead of making a tart dough, I just used a refrigerated, rolled out pie dough circle. Once I fit it into my 9" tart base and pushed the dough up the sides, there was just enough to fold the rest of the dough down along the sides and push it into the sides...so I had double thick sides but a single thickness on the bottom. Of course a home made pie dough is delicious, so if you prefer to do that, the recipe is below the recipe for the tart.

Because I didn't have the size tart pan called for in the recipe (10-inch is called for but I had a 9-inch one), I knew that there would be extra filling. My solution was to let the fruit and nuts settle a bit after I mixed them into the filling, and then I poured out about a third of the filling into a spare bowl. I poured the rest into the tart shell and then topped it up with the filling in the spare bowl. It worked just fine, but I had leftover filling...without many bits of cranberry or nuts. My solution was to spray a pie dish with baking spray and then I added about a half cup of walnuts to the spare bowl and the filling still left in it. That mixture went into the prepared pie dish and it was baked at the same temperature...but for only about 15-20 minutes until the mixture was set. Sweetie had some after it cooled and he liked the mostly nuts version...without any crust!...better than the tart. I liked the tart better. I think that the cranberry added a freshness that the 'mainly nuts' filling didn't have. Still, if you would like to put in more walnuts and fewer cranberries (or none), feel free. I think you'll find that the orange-brandy-brown sugar filling works well with both.

Bakers tip: Zest the orange before you juice it.

Cranberry Walnut Tart

by Michele Anna Jordan, as published in the Nov. 23,2022 Press Democrat newspaper
Makes 6-8 servings

Pastry dough (recipe follows) (or do as I did and use ready made pie dough circles)

3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup agave nectar or maple syrup (I used 1/2 cup pure maple syrup and 1/2 cup dark brown Karo syrup)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon brandy
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup fresh cranberries, minced
1 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

First, make the pastry dough and chill it according to the instructions in the recipe.  Then, on a well-floured surface, roll out the dough into a 12-inch circle. Carefully lift the dough and put it into a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, pressing it gentle at the inner edge and crimping it all around. Cover and refrigerate until ready to fill. (Alternately, use a refrigerated pre-rolled pie dough round, folding the extra dough down the inside circumference and pressing gently into the indentations to make a double sided crust. Chill as described above.) 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Put the eggs into a medium bowl and whisk until they are thick and frothy, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and agave nectar or maple syrup and stir well. Add the melted butter, vanilla, brandy, orange juice, orange zest, and salt. Fold in the cranberries and walnuts, pour the mixture into the tart shell and set on a baking sheet. Set the baking sheet on the middle rack of the preheated oven and bake until the edges of the crust are golden brown and the filling is set, about 40 minutes. (Check at about 20 minutes and thereafter; if the top is getting too brown, tent loosely with foil.)

Remove from the oven and let rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour before cutting into wedges and serving.

Pastry Dough for Pies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 4 pieces , or 4 ounces of lard, chilled
3-4 tablespoons ice water

Combine the flour and salt in a medium mixing bowl. With your fingers or a pastry cutter, cut in the butter or lard until the mixture resembles coarse cornmeal; work very quickly so that the mixture doesn't get too warm.

Make a well in the center and pour in 3 tablespoons of water. Use your fingers to mix the dough together quickly; add more water if needed for the dough to come together.

Press the dough into a ball, wrap it in wax paper and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes and as long as 2 hours.