For decades, my mom hosted Christmas dinner at our house in California. In attendance? 10-15 people, almost entirely from my dad’s side of the family.
If that alone doesn’t win her consideration for sainthood (Saint Mary of the In-Laws?), get this: many of the older generation of my dad’s family felt free to make menu requests– demands, really.
Mom wants to make a beautiful beef roast? “But we can’t have Christmas without turkey!” Mom makes an incredible wild rice stuffing studded with little pearl onions and jewel-like dried fruit? “But what about the bread stuffing?”
Figuring the only thing worse than cooking the same thing for 30 years was dealing with irritated in-laws, Mom ended up making the beef roast and the turkey, the rice stuffing and the bread stuffing. It was a magical dinner every year, but it required a truly herculean effort.
The only place where Mom had total control was the desserts– and ho boy, did she seize the day. Starting around Thanksgiving, she would trawl recipe websites for the most festive, most delectable Christmas dessert ideas. We had peppermint torte with fudge topping and pumpkin crème brûlée, double berry mousse and the Zuni Café gâteau victoire. Our standards were exceedingly high: recipes other family members would ooh and ah over, we would raise our eyebrows and say, “it was good, but not make-again good.”
Thirty years of curating and baking extravagant desserts had turned us into real snobs. So you have to trust me when I say: this cranberry-lime curd tart deserves a spot on your holiday table.
Impressive presentation? Check! (I mean, look at that color! At the candied cranberries on top, looking like holly berries dusted with snow!) Incredible flavor? Check! (The cranberry and lime–assertively tart flavors–are balanced with *just enough* sugar.) Make ahead? You bet. (You know, so you have enough time to make the roast you want and the roast your in-laws can’t live without, facepalm.)
This excellence takes a lot of work. A few times, the kitchen fairies might have heard me grumble, “This had f*cking better be f*cking delicious.” But at the first taste, the hours passed and the leaning tower of dishes in the sink were all forgotten— and then all forgotten all over again when this bébé stole the show at Thanksgiving this year. I think it’s worth the effort, and I think you will, too.
Previously:
One year ago: Brussels Sprouts, Apple, and Pomegranate Salad (a great holiday side dish– top with blue cheese if you’re feeling extra!)
Two years ago: Epicurean Cutting Boards (a great last-minute gift idea for your favorite cook–they’ll use this for years to come!)
Three years ago: Bourke Street Bakery’s Chocolate Ganache Tartlets
And for my Australians:
Six months ago: How to Keep Asparagus Fresher, Longer
One and a half years ago: Mexico City Food Guide
Two and a half years ago: Spring Panzanella
Cranberry-Lime Curd Tart
10-12
servingsA festive holiday tart that balances a nutty crust with a zippy and sweet cranberry-lime filling.
Ingredients
- Crust
8 ounces (226g) gingersnap cookies (about 32 if using Nabisco)
2 cups (230g) pecans
8 tablespoons (113g) butter
6 tablespoons packed (75g) brown sugar
- Filling
24 ounces (680g) fresh cranberries, divided into 18 ounces (510g) for filling and 6 ounces (170g) for decoration
3 3/4 cup (750g) sugar, divided
4.5 eggs (this is awkward, but I kinda just grabbed half of the yolk and half of the white out of the shell)
3 egg yolks
3 teaspoons lime zest, divided
3/4 cup (177 mL) fresh lime juice
8 tablespoons (113g) butter
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350F (176C).
- Pulse cookies in a food processor until very finely ground (you should have about 1.5 cups/226g). Add pecans; pulse until finely ground. Add butter and brown sugar; pulse to combine.
- Transfer to a pie dish (I used a 12-inch/30-cm wide, 1-inch/2.5-cm deep removable-bottom tart tin). Using your hands or the bottom of a measuring cup, press the cookie-nut mixture firmly onto bottom and up sides of dish. Make sure it is solidly packed and goes as far up the sides of the dish as possible, since it will shrink a bit during baking. Bake until firm and slightly darkened in color, 10–15 minutes. If crust slides down sides, gently press back up while it’s still hot (Teflon fingers!). Let cool. Can be made two days ahead; store tightly wrapped at room temperature.
- Bring 18 ounces (510g) cranberries, 1.5 cups (290g) granulated sugar, and 6 tablespoons (88mL) water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Reduce heat; simmer until cranberries burst and most of the liquid evaporates, 12–15 minutes. Let cool. Purée in a blender until very smooth. (If you’re living dangerously and blending before cool, be sure to remove the plug from your blender, so the pressure from the hot cranberries doesn’t cause your blender top to pop off and paint your kitchen walls in cranberry puree.)
- Cook purée, eggs, egg yolks, lemon zest, lime juice, salt, 3/4 cup (185g) sugar, and 1.5 teaspoons lime zest in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (bowl should not touch water), stirring with a rubber spatula and scraping down sides of bowl often, until curd thickens and coats spatula, 8–10 minutes. (See image for this setup.) Let cool until just warm.
- Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat curd, adding butter a piece at a time and incorporating after each addition, until curd looks lighter in color and texture, about 5 minutes. (I bet you could just do this vigorously with a whisk.) Scrape into crust and chill until firm, at least 2 hours.
- Bring ½ cup (110g) granulated sugar and ½ cup (118mL) water to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Add remaining 6 ounces (170g, but these are just the topping so no need to be super precise) cranberries and cook until barely starting to soften, about 1 minute. Using a slotted spoon, transfer cranberries to a piece of wax paper or parchment paper. Chill until no longer sticky, 20–30 minutes.
- Put remaining sugar in a bowl (again, just for the topping, so no need to be precise). Toss the cranberries through the sugar until they look like they’ve been dusted in snow. Just before serving, top the pie with the cranberries and sprinkle with remaining lime zest.
Notes
- Pie (without topping) can be made two days ahead. Cover once filling is firm and keep chilled. Top with cranberries right before serving.
- This made one 12-inch/30-cm wide, 1-inch/2.5-cm deep tart and 3 painfully cute miniature tartlets. If you don’t share my weird obsession with tiny tarts, leftover filling would also be excellent daubed on these British-style scones.
Leave a Reply