Cranberry Ginger Tart Food

CRANBERRY-LEMON TART

Steps:

• Make the crust: Whisk the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Work in the butter with your fingers until a soft dough forms. Firmly press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Prick the crust in a few spots with a fork. Refrigerate or freeze until firm, 10 to 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line the dough with parchment or foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the edges are set, about 20 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights and continue to bake until the crust is dry and lightly browned, 10 to 15 more minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
• Make the filling: Combine 3 cups cranberries, 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar and 1/4 cup water in a blender. Remove 5 wide strips of zest from the lemon using a vegetable peeler; set the strips aside. Fully peel the lemon, removing any white pith. Add the peeled lemon and 2 strips of zest to the blender and blend until smooth (reserve the remaining 3 strips of zest for topping). Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium saucepan, pressing on the seeds and skins with a rubber spatula. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally.
• Meanwhile, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolk, cornstarch and vanilla in a medium bowl. Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the hot cranberry mixture, then pour into the saucepan with the remaining cranberry mixture, whisking. Continue to cook, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula, until the filling boils and is thick like pudding, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into the crust, cover with plastic wrap or an inverted plate and refrigerate until set, at least 4 hours or overnight.
• Make the toppings: Bring 1/2 cup each water and granulated sugar to a boil in a small saucepan. Add the remaining 1/2 cup cranberries and 3 strips of lemon zest, then remove from the heat and let cool. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Thinly slice the zest. Put the remaining 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a shallow dish, add the cranberries and zest and gently toss to coat. Let set, 30 minutes to 1 hour, shaking occasionally to re-coat.
• Beat the heavy cream and confectioners' sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until medium peaks form. Top the tart with the sugared cranberries and lemon zest. Serve with the whipped cream.

SWEET-AND-TART CRANBERRY GINGER JELLY

Steps:

• Put cranberries, sugar, ginger, and 2 cups water into a medium saucepan. Cover, and bring to a simmer; cook, stirring occasionally, until berries are soft, about 10 minutes. Pour through a sieve into a medium bowl; discard solids.
• Meanwhile, put 1/2 cup cold water into a bowl; sprinkle with gelatin. Let soften 5 minutes. Add cranberry mixture; stir until gelatin has dissolved. Refrigerate, covered, at least 4 hours (up to 1 week).

CRANBERRY TANGERINE AND CANDIED GINGER TART WITH CARDAMOM CRUMBLES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• For the tart dough: Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl. Add the cold butter and toss to coat. Pinch the butter and flour together until the butter is flaky. Start to rub in between your fingers until it looks like coarse cornmeal.
• In the center of the bowl pour the cream. Using a rubber spatula, turn the flour over in the bowl repeating until the cream is absorbed. With your fingers press the dough to form a compact disc. Remove the dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill, about 1 hour.
• Working quickly, roll the dough into a 13-inch circle and carefully place it into a greased 10-inch tart pan. Gently fold the excess dough against the sides creating a reinforced crust. Press down the dough, trimming if there is extra that extends beyond the pan. Chill for an additional 30 minutes.
• Place kitchen parchment paper over the chilled dough, fill with weights, beans or raw rice are prefect. Bake, 15 to 18 minutes. Reduce the oven temperate to 350 degrees F. Carefully remove the parchment and continue baking until the tart shell is golden brown and fully baked, 10 to 12 minutes. Set aside and allow to completely cool.
• For the cardamom crumbles: Begin the cardamom crumbles in a bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, with the sugar and tangerine zest. In the palms of your hands, rub together the sugar and zest to release the tangerine oils. Add the flour, cardamom, cinnamon, ginger and salt and mix at medium speed until small clumps of dough form. Dump onto a sheet pan. Chill until needed. This can be made up to 2 days ahead.
• For the cranberry tart: In the palms of your hands, rub together the sugar and zest in a large bowl. Add the cranberries, candied ginger and brown sugar and toss well. Fill the baked tart shell with the cranberries, top with the cardamom crumbles and bake until golden brown and the cranberries begin to bubble up through the crumble, 45 to 50 minutes.
• Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool to room temperature. I prefer waiting an hour or longer before cutting the tart. This gives the very juicy cranberries time to cool, allowing the tart to set up. I've even let it sit all night on the counter.

STICKY CRANBERRY GINGERBREAD

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees and line a 9-inch square or round baking pan with parchment.
• In a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan, stir together cranberries, granulated sugar and 1 tablespoon water. Stir the cranberries over medium heat until the sugar is completely dissolved and cranberries form a sauce that is syrupy and bubbling thickly, about 10 minutes. Aim to have about half the cranberries broken down, with the remainder more or less whole.
• In a separate saucepan, stir together the butter, brown sugar, milk, maple syrup and molasses over medium heat. Bring it to just barely a simmer and then remove it from the heat. Do not let it come to a boil, or the mixture may curdle.
• In a large bowl, sift together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, salt, baking soda and black pepper. Beat in the butter-maple syrup mixture and then beat in the eggs. Stir in the ginger.
• Scrape the batter into the pan. Drop fat dollops of cranberry sauce onto the surface of the cake batter. Drag a long, slender knife through the batter in a swirly design, as if you are marbling a cake. Transfer the cake to the oven and bake it until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire baking rack and let the cake cool completely before eating it.

LEMON TART WITH CRANBERRY-GINGER SAUCE

Steps:

• For crust: Combine flour, sugar and ground cinnamon in processor. Using pulse button, cut in chilled butter and vegetable shortening until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 3 tablespoons ice water and process until moist clumps form. If dough is too dry, add more ice water by teaspoonfuls. Gather dough into ball. Flatten into disk. Wrap dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate 1 hour. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling.
• For Filling: Combine fresh lemon juice, sugar, eggs, egg yolks and grated lemon peel in top of double boiler over simmering water (do not let top of double boilers touch water). Whisk until mixture is thick and thermometer measures 160 degrees F. , about 13 minutes (do not boil). Remove from heat. Gradually add butter, whisking just until melted. Refrigerate lemon curd filling until cold, stirring occasionally, about 1 hour.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 15-inch round. Transfer dough to 11-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Gently press dough into place; freeze 15 minutes.
• Line crust with aluminum foil. Fill crust with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 15 minutes. Remove beans and aluminum foil and bake until crust is golden brown, piercing with fork if crust bubbles, about 25 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely.
• Pour lemon filling into prepared tart crust. Cover and refrigerate until filling is set, about 3 hours. Transfer to platter. Cut lemon tart into wedges and serve with sauce.
• Cranberry-ginger sauce: Combine cranberries, 3/4 cup water, sugar, grated orange peel and ground ginger in heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook until cranberry skins burst, stirring frequently, about 5 minutes. Transfer sauce to processor. Add maple syrup and process until almost smooth. Stir in chopped crystalized ginger. Cover and refrigerate overnight.