Cranberry Curd Tart
Cranberry Curd Tart will make a striking addition to your holiday dessert table. Made with fresh cranberries, orange juice and a graham cracker crust for the perfect balance of sweet and tart. Easily make it gluten free with an almond or hazelnut crust.
“This tart is absolutely delicious! I made it as a special Christmas Day dessert and everyone loved it. Five stars! Highly recommend!”
—Katy
“I made this today with a gluten free almond crust. Beautiful and delicious. A great way to use cranberries.”
—Carolyn
Cranberry Tart Will Be A Jewel On Your Dessert Table
If you’re looking for a dessert that is both stunning AND delicious, make it this Cranberry Curd Tart. As you can see, it has that wow-factor color, but also a silky smooth filling and a buttery graham cracker crust.
Honestly, we believe that almost all pies deserve a graham cracker crust. We love them that much. There’s even gluten free options here, which we discuss below.
The magic is in the curd, even if that word sounds like it’s from a 1950’s cookbook. Fresh cranberries are simmered with orange peel, sugar and love. Then, you’ll blend it and whisk in eggs and butter, and it transforms into a rich, custardy filling that equal parts sweet and tangy.
It’s fresh, vibrant and a little unexpected – everything you want in a festive holiday finale.
Why You Will Love This Cranberry Curd Tart Recipe
- An alternative to pumpkin pie and apple pie, if you’re looking for something different, or something to add to a dessert spread when the other pies are already spoken for.
- The vibrant, ruby-red color will add a festive touch to your holiday table.
- Simple ingredients that are easy to find, with an easy way to make it gluten-free, too!
- Make it up to three days in advance, so your holiday stays stress-free.
Cranberry Curd Tart Ingredients
A full recipe card, including exact ingredient amounts, appears at the bottom of this post.
- graham crackers – these form the crust for this cranberry tart recipe.
- sugar – regular old white granulated sugar is what we’re using.
- cinnamon – this adds a warming fall flavor to the crust.
- salt – it’s important to add a pinch of salt to desserts to balance the sweetness.
- butter – we’ll need almost 2 whole sticks of butter for this cranberry curd pie. Almost a full stick for the crust, and one full stick for the curd. Sorry, not sorry, butter is what makes desserts taste good.
- orange juice and orange zest – the flavor pairs so well with cranberries. Save a bit of extra orange peel for a pretty garnish, too.
- fresh cranberries – or frozen cranberries work, too (we’ve tested this cranberry tart both ways). Just thaw them and pat them dry.
- eggs – you can’t make a curd without eggs! We’ll be using 2 whole eggs plus 2 egg yolks for a rich, luscious curd.
- vanilla – high quality vanilla extract adds big flavor to the curd.
- whipped cream, sugared cranberries and/or rosemary sprigs – for serving. Find out how to make sugared cranberries in the Home Chef Tips box below.
Need It Gluten Free? Make This Cranberry Curd Tart With Almond Crust or Hazelnut Crust
If you’re baking for gluten-free guests, you can use gluten free graham crackers for the crust. Or, an almond- or hazelnut-flour crust makes a great swap (and we love it almost as much as graham cracker crust, actually).
Bob’s Red Mill has a great recipe for gluten free hazelnut pie crust. We’d obviously make the “Sweet” version of the crust for this tart, and we’d add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon to the mixture, too.
Another source that we trust is King Arthur Flour. They have a recipe for almond flour lemon bars. You can grab the crust recipe from that and again, add 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon. Since that recipe is written for an 8- or 9-inch square pan, it also works just fine for a tart shell.
How To Make Cranberry Curd Pie
- PREP & BLIND BAKE CRUST. Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon, salt and some melted butter. Press the crust mixture into a tart pan and bake until golden brown.
- COOK CRANBERRIES. Cook the orange peel, cranberries, sugar and orange juice in a saucepot until they start to burst. Remove the orange peel and then use an immersion blender to puree the cranberries.
- TEMPER EGGS. Whisk the eggs and egg yolks in a bowl, and then slowly whisk in a ladleful of the warm cranberry mixture. Then, add the egg mixture to the pot with the cranberry mixture.
- THICKEN CURD & STRAIN. Add the butter and vanilla to the cranberry mixture and cook until the mixture is thickened, stirring it constantly as it cooks. Strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer.
- BAKE & COOL. Pour the custard into the prepared crust and bake 10 minutes or until the curd is set. Transfer the tart to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate at least 4 hours.
- SERVE. Slice and serve topped with whipped cream and orange peel, if desired.
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Cranberry Custard Tart Home Chef Tips
- A tart pan with a removable bottom is ideal if you want to transfer the finished cranberry custard tart to a serving plate, but a regular tart pan also works just as well.
- It’s important to temper the eggs as outlined in the recipe, because if you were to just add all of your cold eggs to the hot cranberries at one time, the eggs would cook, and you’d have scrambled eggs mixed with cranberry sauce. Gross.
- Straining the curd through a fine-mesh sieve is also essential – don’t skip it. You need to strain out the cranberry seeds and skin.
- Don’t overbake. The curd should quiver slightly in the center of the tart when its done; it will firm up more as it cools.
- For the sugared cranberry garnish, toss a few cranberries with an egg white, then roll in sugar and let dry on parchment paper for a few hours.
Cranberry Tart Pie Storage
- Refrigerate: If you have leftovers, cover them tightly with plastic wrap and keep in the fridge up to 3 days.
- Freeze: Not recommended, as the curd texture gets weird when you thaw it. We tried.
Cranberry Curd Tart Recipe FAQs
A curd tart is set when the center jiggles slightly but doesn’t slosh around when gently shaken.
Cranberries contain high levels of natural acids, contributing to their natural tartness.
To balance the tartness of cranberries, it is essential that you balance their flavor with sugar (like we’ve done in this cranberry curd tart) or a sweetener like honey, agave nectar or maple syrup.
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Cranberry Curd Tart Recipe
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Ingredients
For The Graham Cracker Crust:
- 10 graham cracker sheets crushed into crumbs in food processor (1-1/2 cups crumbs)
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of kosher salt
- 7 tablespoons butter melted
For the Cranberry Curd:
- Peel of one orange
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup fresh orange juice
- 2 whole large eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces 8 tablespoons
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Serving:
- Whipped Cream store bought or homemade
- Thinly sliced orange peel optional
- Sugared cranberries optional (see Notes)
- Rosemary sprigs optional
Instructions
Make the Graham Cracker Crust:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In medium bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, sugar, cinnamon and salt.
- Add melted butter and stir with fork until combined. Press crust into bottom and up sides of 9-inch tart pan.
- Place tart pan on rimmed baking sheet and transfer to oven. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to cooling rack and allow to cool completely before filling. Leave oven on.
Make the Cranberry Curd:
- Stir together orange peel, cranberries, sugar and orange juice in a medium saucepot. Cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes or until cranberries are very soft and most have burst, stirring frequently.
- Remove and discard orange peel. Using an immersion blender, puree cranberry mixture until smooth (or transfer to a blender and blend until smooth).
- Place eggs and egg yolks in medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Slowly add 1 ladleful of warm cranberry mixture to eggs while whisking constantly. Add entire egg mixture to pot with cranberry mixture.
- Add butter and vanilla to pot and cook over medium-low heat 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is thickened, stirring constantly. Immediately strain mixture through fine mesh strainer into large liquid measuring cup. Discard solids left in strainer.
- Pour custard into prepared tart crust and smooth top with spatula. Transfer to oven (tart pan should still be on rimmed baking pan) and bake 10 minutes or until curd is set (it should be slightly jiggly but not sloshy when gently shaken).
- Transfer tart to cooling rack and let cool at room temperature 1 hour. Then, cover tightly with plastic wrap and transfer to refrigerator at least 4 hours or up to 3 days.
- To serve, cut tart into 8 pieces and serve topped with whipped cream and garnished with orange peel, sugared cranberries and/or rosemary sprigs, if desired.
This tart is absolutely delicious! I made it as a special Christmas Day dessert and everyone loved it. Five stars! Highly recommend!
Awww, I’m so glad to hear this was a delicious part of your Christmas, Katy!
Is there anything you need to do to prep the fresh cherries before cooking them? Besides washing of course 🙂
Hi Rachel! If you are using cherries, they would need to be pitted. Although, this recipe hasn’t been tested with cherries. For cranberries, nothing you need to do but wash them!
Just made this. Came out very well. Thanks!
I’m so glad to hear that!
This is DELICIOUS. I’ve already made two this week — thank you for posting! Curds always intimidated me but this was easy as, well, pie.
So glad you like it, Nic!
Can I make just the curd? Would I still bake it?
Sure, you can make just the curd! You don’t need to bake it at all. After step 7, chill the curd, and it’s ready to eat!
Can you freeze this tart? Wanting to make ahead for a gathering. Thank you
Hi Olivia! I haven’t tried freezing it, but my intuition is that it would work. Lemon curd usually freezes well, so cranberry curd should be the same. Have a great thanksgiving!