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–+ servings
A cranberry meringue tart on a wooden cake stand.

Cranberry Meringue Tart

Author: Gail Ng
Shortcrust tart shell filled with tart cranberry curd and topped with toasted meringue
5 from 2 votes
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Prep Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Chilling Time 14 hours
Total Time 16 hours 30 minutes
Yield 8 servings
Category Dessert
Cuisine American

Equipment

Ingredients
  

Tart Shell

  • 170 g unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 120 g powdered sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 350 g all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon salt

Cranberry Curd

  • 500 g cranberries, fresh or frozen
  • 200 g granulated sugar
  • 150 g water
  • 4 large eggs
  • 115 g unsalted butter, cubed and at room temperature

Meringue

  • 3 large egg whites
  • 125 g granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Garnish (optional)

  • sugared cranberries
  • rosemary sprigs

Instructions
 

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.

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.

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.

Notes

Note 1: Tart dough: This recipe makes enough tart dough for two 9" tart shells to avoid splitting an egg in half. This is why we divide the dough into two discs. You can use the second disc of dough for another tart or freeze it for another time. To make only enough tart dough for one tart, halve the recipe.

Nutrition

Calories: 564kcal | Carbohydrates: 78g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 26g | Saturated Fat: 15g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 7g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 143mg | Sodium: 183mg | Potassium: 132mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 47g | Vitamin A: 862IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 41mg | Iron: 2mg
Keywords cranberry curd tart, cranberry meringue tart, cranberry tart
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