Cranberry Meringue Tart

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This cranberry meringue tart is made with a shortcrust tart shell filled with silky cranberry curd and topped with toasted meringue. It's a stunning centerpiece for your holiday dessert table.

A cranberry meringue tart on a wooden cake stand.

This cranberry meringue tart is a twist on classic lemon meringue tart with festive and fruity cranberries. It's sweet and tart from the cranberries with a deep toasted flavour from the meringue. Dress it up with sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs and you've got the perfect tart for the holidays!

Why you'll love this recipe

Cranberry curd filling. The filling is tart, fruity, and a stunning vibrant colour. You can use any leftovers as a jam for your morning pancakes or as a topping for other desserts.
Shortcrust tart shell. This is a basic pâte sucrée tart shell that is buttery and perfect for all kinds of tart recipes.
Toasted meringue. The fluffy meringue is torched to perfection for a cozy, smoky flavour.

Tools

Electric hand mixer - A hand mixer or stand mixer is essential for whipping up egg white meringue and makes mixing other ingredients like tart dough quick and easy.
9" fluted tart pan - You'll need a tart pan that has a removable bottom to make releasing the baked tart shell easier.
Pie weights - Pie weights or baking weights are small ceramic beads that you use when blind-baking a tart or pie shell. They prevent the bottom of the tart shell from puffing up during baking. If you don't have pie weights, you can also use uncooked rice to weigh the tart shell down.
Blender - Use a blender or immersion blender to blend the cranberry filling until it's smooth.
Piping bag - If you want to pipe the meringue in a design on top of the tart, you'll need a piping bag. Otherwise, you can just plop the meringue on top of the tart and spread it around for a more organic look.
Large round piping tip (optional) - I used a large round piping tip to pipe the flower design on my tart but you can also just cut the tip of the piping bag off.
Kitchen torch - You'll need a blow torch to toast the meringue. There isn't really another way to do this without a torch. Kitchen torches are pretty affordable so I'd recommend picking one up!

A slice of cranberry meringue tart cut from the rest of the tart.

Ingredients

Unsalted butter
Powdered sugar - Using powdered sugar in the tart shell makes it tender rather than too crunchy.
Eggs
All-purpose flour
Cinnamon - This adds a little bit of warmth to the otherwise fruity tart.
Salt
Cranberries - You can use fresh or frozen cranberries. Cranberries freeze well so you can even buy extra and freeze them for next year.
Granulated sugar
Water
Vanilla extract
Sugared cranberries - I haven't included a recipe for sugared cranberries because you only need a few and they're optional but you can easily make them with just cranberries, sugar, and water. There are already tons of recipes online on how to make them!
Rosemary - For garnish.

How to make a cranberry meringue tart

For the tart shell

Dry ingredients - In a medium bowl, stir together flour, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside.

Left to right: dry ingredients in a bowl, stirring dry ingredients together with a spoon.

Cream butter and sugar - In a large mixing bowl, use an electric hand mixer to beat softened butter until it becomes very creamy. Add the powdered sugar and beat until incorporated and creamy. Add the egg and mix until combined.

Left to right: powdered sugar in a bowl of butter, an egg in a bowl of creamed butter and sugar.

Form dough - Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until a soft and crumbly dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap.

Left to right: flour in a mixing bowl, mixing a crumbly dough with a hand mixer.

Shape dough - Press the dough together with your hands until it comes together. Use a bench scraper to cut the dough in half. Shape each half into a flattened disc. Wrap both discs in plastic wrap. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Left to right: hand pressing down on dough, two discs of dough with a hand pressing down on one of them.

Roll out dough - On a floured surface, roll out one disc of dough until it's about ⅛" thick and 1-2" larger than a 9" fluted tart pan, lifting and rotating it occasionally to prevent it from sticking to the surface. Roll the dough around the rolling pin and unroll it over your tart pan.

Left to right: rolling out tart dough with a rolling pin, unrolling dough on top of tart pan.

Press into pan - Lift the edges of the dough and let it sink into the edges of the pan, pressing the dough against the sides and edges of the pan with your fingers. Roll your rolling pin over the top edges of the pan to cut the excess dough off. If there are any cracks or thinner areas, you can use the excess dough to patch it.

Left to right: hands pressing dough into the sides of a tart pan, rolling a rolling pin over the edges of a tart pan.

Dock crust - Use a fork to prick holes across the bottom of the dough. Place a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil on top of the dough and add a layer of baking weights or uncooked rice on top to prevent the bottom of the tart shell from puffing up during baking.

Left to right: docking a tart shell with a fork, a tart shell lined with parchment paper and filled with pie weights.

Chill - Preheat oven to 350°F. While the oven preheats, let the tart shell chill in the fridge.

Bake - Bake the tart shell for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and baking weights and bake for another 15-20 minutes or until the tart shell is lightly golden brown. Let it cool completely on a wire rack before removing the tart shell from the pan.

For the cranberry curd

Cook - In a medium pot, add the cranberries, sugar, and water. Cover and cook on medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until the cranberries pop and soften. Uncover and let the water cook out until the mixture thickens into a jammy consistency.

Left to right: cranberries and sugar in a pot, cranberry sauce in a pot.

Blend - Let the cranberry sauce cool slightly before pouring it into a blender (or use an immersion blender). Add the eggs and blender on low-medium speed for about 30 seconds until incorporated.

Left to right: pouring eggs into a blender filled with cranberry sauce, blending cranberry mixture in a blender.

Let thicken - Pour the mixture back into the same pot and heat on medium heat, stirring often, until it becomes very thick, about 15-20 minutes.

Stir in butter - Remove the pot from the heat and stir in the butter, one cube at a time, and it has all melted into the cranberry curd.

Left to right: pouring cranberry mixture into pot, a cube of butter sitting in a pot of cranberry curd.

Fill tart shell - Pour the curd through a fine mesh sieve into the tart shell. Chill the tart in the fridge overnight to let the filling set.

Left to right: cranberry curd dripping from a sieve into a tart shell, tart filled with cranberry curd.

For the meringue

Double boiler - In a small pot, bring about 1" of water to a boil. In a large mixing bowl that fits perfectly into the pot without touching the water, stir together the egg whites, sugar, and vanilla extract. Once boiling, turn the heat off and place the bowl on top of the pot.

Left to right: egg whites and sugar in a bowl, a double boiler with an egg white mixture in the bowl.

Dissolve sugar - Heat the mixture, stirring often, until the sugar dissolves. If you rub the mixture in between your fingers, it should feel smooth with no grittiness. Remove the bowl from the pot, being careful not to get any water in it.

Beat to stiff peaks - Use an electric hand mixer to beat the egg white mixture on medium-high speed until it becomes stiff peaks. When you pull the mixer out of it, it should leave spikes of meringue that curl over at the very tips.

Left to right: beating egg white mixture with a hand mixer, stiff peaks of meringue on the beaters of a hand mixer.

Toast meringue - Transfer the meringue to a piping bag fitted with a large round piping tip. Pipe the meringue on top of the tart in any design you'd like. Use a kitchen torch to toast the meringue. Garnish with sugared cranberries and rosemary sprigs (optional).

Left to right: piping meringue on top of cranberry curd tart, toasting meringue with a blow torch.

Storage

This cranberry meringue tart can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

Freezing

Leftovers can be frozen in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Thaw in the fridge overnight or at room temperature for several hours.

A slice of cranberry meringue tart on a plate with a spoon.

Tips for success

Chill the tart shell in the fridge before baking. This lets the dough firm up and helps prevent the tart shell from shrinking when baked.
Cook the cranberry curd until it's very thick. You want most of the water to evaporate out of it so that it becomes thick and firm enough to maintain its shape when you cut the tart into slices.
Whip meringue to stiff peaks. This process takes a while but it needs to be at the right consistency otherwise it won't hold its shape. If the meringue is still gooey when you pull the mixer out of it, keep beating!
Let the tart set in the fridge. Chilling the tart overnight is essential for the curd to set. Otherwise, it'll just leak out of the tart when you slice into it. This means this tart a good recipe to make ahead of time. Make it 1-2 days before you plan on serving it and add the meringue on top on the day you're serving it.

Frequently asked questions

How do I thicken cranberry curd?

If your curd is too runny, try reheating it on low-medium heat until it's bubbling and thickened. You could also stir in more butter. Butter hardens when cold so it'll help the curd set.

What can I do with the excess tart dough?

Each disc of tart dough from this recipe makes one 9" tart shell plus enough leftover dough for one 4" tart shell. You can also roll out the scraps, sprinkle them with sugar and cinnamon, and bake them as "cookies".