Some of your Thanksgiving guests may turn up their noses to pumpkin pie. Well, here’s a tart that reflects the traditional holiday spirit, and yet is very different from the usual fare—Cranberry Tart with Chocolate and Pastry Cream. This dessert looks lovely and is a wonderful combination of sweet and tart. Here you will another Thanksgiving recipe.
A history of cranberries as a tradition for Thanksgiving.
For the Shell
Place flour and salt in a food processor bowl and process for 1 minute. Add cold butter and lard or Crisco and pulse until coarse crumbs are formed.
Add butter and shortening to the flour.
Pulse until you have coarse crumbs.
With the processor running, gradually add just enough ice water to bring the pastry together in a ball.
Add water to form a ball.
Flatten the pastry into a disk with the palm of your hand and cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or over night.
Flatten pastry into a disk.
Preheat the oven to 425°. Lightly butter a 9-inch quiche or flan pan. Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and let it rest for 7 minutes so that it won’t crack. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface.
Roll out the pastry.
Fit the pastry into the quiche pan, prick it with a fork, and freeze it for at least 15 minutes.
Fit the pastry into a pan.
Lightly butter a piece of foil that will cover the pastry. Remove the pastry from the freezer. Gently fit the foil, butter side down, onto the pastry, being certain that the foil is firmly against the sides. Fill the pastry with dried beans or rice.
Line the pastry with foil and beans.
Bake the shell for 12 minutes. Gently remove the foil and beans. Continue to bake for another 5-8 minutes or until golden. Let the shell cool completely. At this point, you can either remove the shell to a serving plate or keep it in the quiche pan.
For the Chocolate
Finely chop 3.5 ounces of semisweet chocolate and place in a small bowl with 1 tablespoon of coconut or vegetable oil. (Use chocolate that is 60% cocoa or less.) The oil will keep the chocolate from getting too hard, without disturbing the flavor. Heat 2⁄3 cup of heavy cream until boiling. Pour the cream into the chocolate and whisk until smooth.
Melt the chocolate.
Spread the chocolate over the bottom of the cooled tart shell and refrigerate until the chocolate is firm.
Spread the chocolate onto the shell.
For the Pastry Cream
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, and sugar.
Whisk the dry ingredients.
Beat in the egg and egg yolk until smooth.
Beat in the eggs.
Heat the milk in a saucepan until simmering. Slowly pour half the simmering milk into the egg mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk.
Pour milk into the mixture.
Pour this mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk and whisk thoroughly until smooth. Over medium heat, bring the pastry cream to a boil and whisk constantly. Lower the heat and continue to whisk for another 2 to 3 minutes, until very thick and smooth.
Cook cream until thick.
If the pastry cream is at all lumpy, strain it into a bowl. Otherwise, skip this step.
Strain the pastry cream.
While it is still hot, beat in 2 tablespoons of soft unsalted butter. As it cools, beat in the vanilla and rum or Grand Marnier. Continue to stir occasionally so that a skin does not form. When it cools spread it over the chocolate in the tart shell, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it.
Spread pastry cream over chocolate.
For the Cranberries
Carefully wash the cranberries. In a metal bowl, sprinkle the gelatin over 3 tablespoons of cold water, stirring and letting it soften for 5 minutes.
In a saucepan, boil the water with 1⁄2 cup of sugar until it is dissolved. Add the cranberries and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer for 1 minute. (You don’t want the cranberries to burst completely, but to remain whole.)
Cook the cranberries.
Pour the cranberries into the gelatin mixture and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Place the bowl in ice water, stirring occasionally until the mixture is cool, thickened a bit, and is not too runny.
Cool the cranberries.
Remove the tart from the refrigerator and gently spoon the cranberries evenly over the pastry cream.
Spread cranberries over pastry cream.
Refrigerate the tart for at least 2 hours or overnight. If you have left the tart in the quiche pan, set it over an inverted small bowl, gently remove the rim, then place it on serving plate.
Remove the Cranberry Tart with Chocolate and Pastry Cream from the refrigerator a half hour to an hour before serving.
