Total Time: Probably about 3.5 hours of cooking/baking/assembly, plus cooling time
Source: The Perfect Pie
Serves: 6 to 8 (We did 6 because there were three of us, but I could see cutting it into 8 and still being happy)
This tart was in a recent issue of Cook’s Illustrated. I eyed it on the website for a while and then someone on the ATK panel shared it when she made it for Thanksgiving, which convinced me that I needed to give it a try. When my sister mentioned that we didn’t have cranberry sauce, which she loves, on Thanksgiving, I told her that I hate cranberry sauce but I could make her a cranberry curd tart instead.
Obviously, I didn’t read the title carefully enough, because I’m mildly allergic to almonds so an almond crust seems like a bad decision. However, I had also previously swooned over the cranberry curd tart in The Perfect Pie, so I decided that was my solution for Christmas.
When I was reading over recipes and trying to plan out my timeline for Christmas Day, I realized one important thing: Both the curd and the crust for this tart could be refrigerated for at least two days. Add that to the fact that after rolling out and baking the crust for an hour, all I had to do was assemble all of the pieces, and my Christmas Day dessert making had gotten much easier. So I made the curd and crust on the 23rd (they were both super easy) and set them in the fridge to chill.
The rest was super easy. I got up on Christmas morning, rolled out the dough, baked it, and moved it to the table to relax all day. After dinner, we gave our stomachs some time to digest and then I spent 15-20 minutes assembling the tart. I could have done it faster, but I wanted it to be beautiful, and I was not let down.
The recipe didn’t say how much mint to use, so I was decently sparing, which turned out to be the right decision. It was just enough herbal-ness to complement the berries and curd without being overpowering, and I often think fresh mint is overpowering. I usually don’t like fresh berries, but everything went so well together. It was like a super fancy berry version of lemon bars, in my mind. I loved every bite, and it didn’t even get too soggy in the fridge while we waited to eat it for dessert the next day.
Testing the Test Kitchen 