Cranberry Cream Tart

I created this Cranberry Cream Tart to highlight cranberries, an underutilized fruit which plays a secondary role to savory dishes and rarely in desserts. Since learning about the importance of wild cranberries to the diet of Native Americans in my third-grade lesson on the first Thanksgiving and their use by Pilgrims as a ubiquitous condiment, I often wondered why cranberries fell out of favor over centuries and now were such a small part of our annual diet. Thus, when these gleaming red berries appear in grocery stores each October, I feel the urge to seek innovative ways to use them.

I developed a taste for cranberries later than most people. Although my immigrant family celebrated Thanksgiving from our first year in the United State, cranberries were not part of my family’s holiday diet. I don’t recall Mama cooking cranberry sauce, but once she learned that cranberry sauce was an essential part of the Thanksgiving table, she bought canned jellied or whole berry sauce and proudly placed a bowl on the table which was left uneaten at the end of the meal. While combining savory turkey with sweet cranberry sauce did not please our Ukrainian palate, this unused cranberry sauce, not to be wasteful, would later appear mixed with apples or as a glaze in pies. So I associated cranberries with dessert from childhood.

Over the years I broke out of the turkey-cranberry sauce paradigm and paired cranberries with pork, duck, goose and beef with great results, but my use of cranberries in desserts was limited to sweet breads featuring fresh or dried berries and a few cakes. Thus, I was motivated to expand my repertoire of cranberry desserts.

My goal was to create a light, clean-tasting dessert that would work well after a heavy meal. I remembered the silky cream and fruit pies prepared by Weldon’s Aunt Bee and wanted to combine these berries with a pastry cream filling. I hoped the cream filling would mellow the tartness of cranberries into an ambrosial dessert.

For the pastry, I used a reliable shortcrust recipe for a tender crust. For the cranberry filling, I tinkered with several cranberry jam recipes adding orange peel, cinnamon, ginger and cloves which enhance the fruitiness and depth of the cranberries. The pastry cream posed most challenges as I wanted to achieve a stable thick cream that would limit the tendency of pastry cream separation while retaining its velvetiness. I explored various pastry cream techniques until I found one that had the taste qualities that I sought but was stable and would not weep after refrigeration. The trick I learned was to add gelatin in addition to the usual flour thickener.

This Cranberry Cream Tart exceeds my expectations. Cranberries and luscious pastry cream are a perfect sweet-tart combination and produce a delicious dessert. This pie’s cool and light taste and its appealing red hue is a wonderful alternative to brown-toned pumpkin or pecan pies, the traditional holiday desserts.

Cranberry Cream Tart

This Cranberry Cream Tart is assembled from five components: a pre-baked pastry shell, a special pastry cream, cranberry filling, cranberry glaze and optional sugared cranberries for garnish. Several of the components can be made several days ahead. Recipes for all five components are attached. Here is how I proceed:

1. Make pastry dough and refrigerate overnight.

2. Make pastry cream; cover as noted in the recipe and refrigerate overnight.

3. On the date of assembly, prepare the pastry shell according to recipe instructions and, once baked, leave in the springform pan to cool.

4. Make the cranberry filling and cranberry glaze.

5. Spread the cranberry filling in the bottom of the pastry shell. Chill tart in the refrigerator for one hour to set gelatin.

6. With an offset spatula, spread pastry cream on top of the cranberry filling in an even layer smoothing the surface and around the edges. Chill for 2 hours.

7. Gently spoon cranberry glaze over the surface of the cream filling to a depth of ¼ inch (0.6 cm). Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight until set. Cover top of springform pan loosely with aluminum foil.

8. Remove from springform pan and place on serving dish. Keep refrigerated until ready to serve.

9. Make sugared cranberries. Garnish tart.

Serves 8-10

Tart should be eaten within a few days

Pastry Dough

14 ounces +1 tablespoon (400 g) all-purpose flour
2½ ounces (70 g) sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
Pinch salt
5¼ ounces (150 g) unsalted butter, very cold
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 tablespoons milk

Preparing pastry dough: combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse to mix. Cut butter into small cubes and add, pulsing until the butter is no longer visible and the mixture looks crumbly. Lightly beat eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Add to flour mixture and pulse, adding milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough starts to form a ball. Invert dough on a floured counter and shape into a disk. Wrap and chill dough for at least an hour, or even overnight, before proceeding.

Instructions for manual preparation: Using a pastry cutter or your hands, work the butter into the flour sugar, baking powder and salt until no longer visible. Lightly beat eggs and vanilla extract until combined. Add to flour mixture and knead until the dough is smooth. Wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour, or overnight, before proceeding.

When ready to bake, remove dough from the refrigerator about 15 minutes before rolling. Lightly knead the chilled dough to soften it. Divide the dough into ⅓ and ⅔ pieces. Roll the ⅔ piece of dough on a floured surface to a ¼ inch thickness. Using the springform pan for shape, cut around to make a dough round to fit the bottom and place in the pan.

Repeat this step using the ⅓ piece of dough and roll a strip of pastry (or several) ¼ inch (0.6cm) fit the circumference and height of the pan. (28.26 inches (71.8cm) by 3 inches (7.6cm) for an 9 inch (23cm) pan.) Fit this strip along the wall of the pan, dampening the edge of the bottom dough with a bit of water, overlapping at ends and pressing at joints and bottom of dough with a fork to assure a seal. Cut away excess dough at the rim of the pan.

Use the trimmings to fill any cracks. Refrigerate the shell for 20 minutes. Consolidate dough scraps into a ball. (Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for later use.)

Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Remove pastry from refrigerator and dock surface and sides with a fork to prevent puffing up. Line the pastry shell with a 16-inch (41 cm) piece of aluminum foil fitted inside the pan against the dough; fill the foil to the top of the pastry with pastry weights or dried beans.* Bake for about 40 minutes, or until the edge of the dough is lightly browned. Remove the foil and beans and fill any cracks, if any, with the reserved pastry dough. Continue baking the pastry shell for about 15 minutes longer, or until browned on the bottom. Transfer to a rack and let the pastry cool in pan.

Makes one 9-inch shell

The baked pastry shell can be wrapped in plastic and kept at room temperature overnight.

*To minimize shrinkage during blind baking (baking without a filling), it is important to avoid stretching the pastry dough while lining the springform pan. Pastry weights or dried beans are used to keep the dough in place during initial baking. Removing the beans before baking is completed permits the bottom of the dough to brown. The beans used as pastry weights will be too hard to cook in another dish but can be stored in a glass jar and reused many times.

Pastry Cream

This version of pastry cream is thickened with gelatin in addition to the usual flour. The gelatin holds the pastry cream at room temperature and prevents weeping after refrigeration.

1½ teaspoons gelatin
2 teaspoons cold water
1⅓ cup (355 ml) milk, very hot
4 egg yolks
½ cup sugar (100 g)
¼ cup flour (35 g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla bean split

Soften gelatin in cold water and set aside.

If using a vanilla bean, scrape out seeds and add to milk along with the pod; heat the milk until hot but not boiling.

Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a non-reactive saucepan. Whisk in flour. Remove vanilla pod from the milk, if using. Add milk slowly, whisking well and scraping the corners of the pan with a rubber spatula to make sure entire egg yolk mixture is incorporated. Place over medium heat and, stirring constantly, bring to a boil. Boil for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla (if using extract). Stir gelatin into the hot cream and stir until dissolved. Pour into a storage container laying plastic wrap on the surface to prevent skin from forming and refrigerate overnight to chill or freeze.

When ready to assemble the tart, remove pastry cream from refrigerator 1 hour before filling pastry shell.

Makes: About 2 cups (480 ml)

Cranberry Filling

2 cups (200 g) fresh or frozen cranberries
1¼ cups (250 g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (59 ml) cranberry juice
2 teaspoons finely shredded orange zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice|
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon (7 g) gelatin (enough to gel 2 cups of liquid)
¼ cup (59 ml) water

In a small saucepan, combine cranberries, granulated sugar, cranberry juice, orange zest, lemon juice and spices and simmer until berries start to pop. Do not crush the berries. Continue cooking for another 5 minutes, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens.

Dissolve gelatin in water. Add to saucepan with cranberries and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring until gelatin melts. Turn heat off and let cool slightly.

Leave at room temperature until ready to assemble the tart. (Do not refrigerate as the filling will gel and be too hard to spread.)

When ready to assemble the tart, spread filling in ½ inch (1 cm) layer (or the depth of a cranberry) on the bottom of the pastry shell and chill for one hour until set. (Leftover cranberry filling may be used for other desserts or as a condiment to turkey, chicken or pork.)

Makes 2 ½ cups

Cranberry Glaze

1 cup (200 g) fresh or frozen cranberries
1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar
½ cup (118 ml) cranberry juice
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
½ teaspoon lemon zest
Pinch salt
1 tablespoon (7g) gelatin (enough to gel 2 cups of liquid)
¼ cup (59 ml) cranberry juice

In a small saucepan, combine cranberries, granulated sugar and ½ cup (118 ml) cranberry juice and simmer, crushing the berries, until jammy, about 8 minutes. Taste and add the confectioners’ sugar if too tart, lemon zest and salt.

Dissolve gelatin in ¼ cup (59 ml) of cranberry juice. Add to saucepan with cranberries and simmer for 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly to melt the gelatin. Turn heat off and let cool slightly.

Strain cranberry mixture through a fine sieve, pushing with a spoon to extract juice. Discard solids and leave strained liquid at room temperature until ready to assemble the tart. (Do not refrigerate as the glaze will gel and be too hard to spread.)

When assembling the tart, gently spoon cranberry glaze over the surface of the cream filling to a depth of ¼ inch (0.6 cm). Do not pour as it will mark the cream surface which will be visible through the glaze. Refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight until set. Cover top of springform pan loosely with aluminum foil.

Makes about 1⅓ cups

Sugared Cranberries (optional)

⅓ cup (75 g) granulated sugar
⅓ cup (79 ml) water
1½ cups (340 g) fresh cranberries, room temperature
1½ cups (340 g) granulated sugar (for coating)

Place sugar and water in shallow pan and heat until simmering (not boiling) and stir until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat.

Place cranberries in the pan and submerge making sure cranberries are well coated. Using a slotted spoon transfer coated to cranberries to a wire rack to dry for an hour until not sticky to touch. Separate cranberries as much as possible to avoid clumps of simple syrup that will lead to clumps of sugar.

Place granulated sugar in a rimmed sheet pan and working in small batches, roll individual cranberries through sugar to coat. Transfer coated cranberries to a clean surface for furthering drying, about 1 hour.

Makes 2 cups