Cranberry and Rosemary Curd Tart with Shortbread Crust

Infused with fresh rosemary, this cranberry curd tart with shortbread crust is a creamy and tart dessert to have on your holiday table.

I love cranberries. Whether it's making cranberries into homemade cranberry sauce, my mom's cranberry muffins, or using cranberries to make a festive cocktail, November and December are the months of the cranberry around here. I try to cram as many meals incorporating them as possible -- and this time, I'm sharing a new dessert to add to your holiday table: a cranberry curd tart!

This recipe has been adapted from a recipe from the New York Times. It's an amazing cranberry curd recipe that's sweet enough to eliminate the bitterness from the cranberries but not too sweet to hide how delicious cranberries are. There are a couple major and minor differences from their recipe and mine:

• The addition of rosemary. I've included 3 sprigs of rosemary to cook with the cranberries. Some of the leaves fall off the sprig and make their way into your cranberry mixture. That's okay because the cranberries will all be processed then strained through a sieve. What's left is just a hint of rosemary to add a little more something something to the curd.
• Shortbread crust. This is my favorite shortbread crust that I prefer with curd -- the same one I use with this meyer lemon curd tart. There's something really nice about a simple shortbread crust that's a great pairing with the curd. Maybe it's the buttery-ness? Or the simplicity with the tart curd? I don't know but it's amazing.
• Processing of the cranberries to give the tart that vibrant color. You can get away with using the food processor for this recipe, but I wouldn't skip it because it makes the tart this brilliant bright pink color (that's all natural, of course).
• Orange zest instead of peel. This allows the citrus flavor to shine through a little more than just using the peel of the orange. It makes for a bright and fresh flavor.

How to Make Cranberry Curd

First, heat your cranberries.

First, simmer cranberries, sugar, rosemary, and orange juice and zest in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. When the cranberries have popped and started to become tender, remove the rosemary sprigs from the mixture and discard. It's okay if some of the rosemary leaves make their way to the mixture. You'll see why!

Second, run cranberry mixture through a food processor then sieve.

Transfer the mixture over to a food processor or use an immersion blender to pulverize the cranberries until they are liquidy. This will give the cranberry tart that beautiful, vibrant pink color. Then strain the mixture through a fine mesh sieve until you're left with just the liquid.

Third, whisk in butter then slowly add eggs and yolks.

Whisk in the butter until combined. Slowly whisk in a few tablespoons of your egg mixture (eggs and yolks) to temper then whisk in the remaining eggs into the cranberry mixture.

Next, place mixture back on stove until just starting to bubble. Let cool.

Put all of this back on the stove (you can use the same saucepan used before...just clean it out if there's any remnants). Cook over low heat until the curd is just about to bubble. You do not want to boil the mixture. This will likely take about 10 minutes. Let cool to room temperature.

Finally, place curd in shortbread crust and bake for 10 minutes at 250˚F.

Spread the curd into the cooled shortbread crust. Smooth with a spatula, then bake for 10 minutes at 350˚. Cool to room temperature before enjoying with some whipped cream.

Other Festive Holiday Desserts

Try some of these other festive favorites of mine!

• Santa Sugar Cookies
• Homemade Peppermint Patties
• Gingerbread Bundt Cake with Vanilla Maple Glaze
• Chocolate Covered Oreo Reindeer

Love and cranberries!

xox,

kathryn

As always, if you make anything from the blog, be sure to let me know! I love hearing from you in the comments on this post below or find Worn Slap Out on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!