Slow Food Boulder
www.slowfoodboulder.org

Cranberry, Caramel & Almond Tart

Dough ingredients:
13 Tbs. unsalted butter, cut into 13 pieces,
malleable, but cool
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbs. heavy cream

Filling ingredients:
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup water
2 ½ cups heavy cream
3 cups cranberries
12 oz. sliced almonds

Method:
1. When the butter is the correct consistency, place the confectioners sugar in a bowl. Add the butter and toss to coat the butter with the confectioners sugar.
2. Using a paddle attachment on a standing mixer or a hand-held mixer, cream the butter and sugar at medium speed until the sugar is no longer visible. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
3. Add the egg yolk and beat until well blended. Scrape down sides of bowl.
4. Add half the flour and beat until dough be-comes crumbly. Stop the machine and add the rest of the flour and then the cream. Beat until the dough forms a sticky mass.
5. Shape the dough into a disk, wrap well in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
6. Remove dough from refrigerator. Dust a cool work surface with flour. Cut the chilled dough into 1-inch pieces. Using the heel of your hand, knead the pieces back together into a smooth disk. Keep the work surface floured so the dough doesn’t stick.
7. Roll the dough to a thickness of ¼”. Carefully ease the dough into the tart pan. Freeze the tart shell for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat oven to 375°.
9. Bake for 10 – 12 minutes or until the pastry is light golden brown and the interior is dry. If the bottoms of the shells puff up as they bake, tap down lightly with your fingers as often as necessary. Remove the par-baked shell and let it cool on a rack. Lower oven temp. to 350°.
10. Heat the cream over low heat. This will splutter. Keep the caramel and cream on the heat and stir until the pieces of hardened caramel melt. Remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes.
12. Add the cranberries and almonds to the caramel. Stir to coat.
13. Pour the mixture into the par-baked tart shell, mounding it up in the center.
14. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes, until the cranberries have puckered and the juices are bubbling slowly around the edge. Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
15. When tart has cooled, remove from tart pan and serve.
11. To make the caramel, place the sugar in a clean heavy bottomed sauce pan. Carefully pour the water into the sugar. Try not to splash sugar water onto the sides of the pan. Place a cover on the pan and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, remove the cover. When the sugar turns to a medium amber color, stand back and pour the cream into the sugar.
WATCH OUT!
Yield: 10” tart
Recipe from Maury Rubin’s Book of Tarts.