CRANBERRY FRANGIPANE TART

Cranberry Frangipane Tart is a classic and irresistibly delicious fancy dessert one must have at their dinner table this Thanksgiving or Christmas. The edges of this tart are crispy with fresh homemade short crust pastry and is filled with melt in mouth filling. It is so tasty that you will want to prepare it all through the year.

We love to prepare tarts specially this time of the year, and trust me nothing can beat a cranberry tart prepared using fresh homemade cranberry jam. The cranberry jam is actually the main star of the dish. I have used premium frozen cranberries from Cape Cod Select to prepare this gorgeous jam.

The premium quality cranberries ensure that the jam has a gorgeous red color, and has a perfect balance of tartness and sweetness. Make sure you prepare a little extra jam because you cannot stop licking it once it's done.

How do you serve cranberry jam?

In addition to its use in dessert recipes like tart or pie, this jam can also be used in several other holiday meat or vegetarian recipes, as a condiment or side dish for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner or even as a topping for pancakes.

How long does cranberry jam last?

The jam can be stored for at least 6 weeks closed with lid tight in the refrigerator. This will surely come in handy as you whip out different delicious recipes this holiday season.

How to make Frangipane?

Frangipane is mainly almond flavored sweet pastry cream used in several desserts like cake, pies, tarts, pastries like croissants. It is made of butter, flour , eggs mixed with ground almonds.

What is the difference between marzipan vs frangipane?

The main difference is what gets mixed into ground almond paste and how they are used. Frangipane is like cream used mainly in desserts like any other pastry cream. marzipan is almond candy.

What is shortcrust pastry?

Shortcrust pastry is type of pastry used as base for tarts, pie, quiche. You can use this for both sweet and savory recipes like apple pie, chicken pie, lemon meringue pie.

What makes the bets shortcrust pastry?

Keep all ingredients, work place and your hands as cool as possible. Do not skip resting the dough.

What is the difference between shortcrust pastry and pie crust?

Shortcrust pastry will not puff up as it does not have any leaving agents and it is made with half the amount of fat as flour.

Why is egg used in short crust pastry?

Egg is used to enhance the flavor and add prtoeins which helps in binding.

How to make Cranberry Frangipane Tart from scratch?

To give an additional twist to the regular cranberry tart or cranberry pie recipe and take it to next level I have prepared a frangipane filling. Details are shared below.  You can use store bought short crust pastry for the tart shell. This will save you a lot of time 🙂  But doing everything from scratch was not only fun and easy, the end result was super satisfying and a great hit. You will definitely be proud of yourself 🙂

My husband has already requested me to prepare this again for their office Thanksgiving dinner party. I am super excited about it and look forward to preparing these delicious tarts for them.

Do try out this simple yet delicious cranberry tart recipe and I am sure you will enjoy it thoroughly.

While you are here feel free to check out some of the best and healthy, unique cranberry recipes to try this Thanksgiving and Christmas

• Cranberry Pesto Pasta  – Readers favorite ( award winning)
• Savory Cranberry Pull Apart Bread - Readers favorite
• Cranberry jam
• Sparkling Cranberry Panak 
• Cranberry Chicken
• Mini Pizzas With Cranberry Crust
• Cranberry Lemonade
• Chocolate Cranberry Barks
• Cranberry Pickle
• Pumpkin Cranberry Cashewnut Bread
• Cranberry Beer

Detailed recipe for Cranberry Frangipane Tart

Recipe card

If you like this frangipane tart using short crust recipe,

Don't miss to check out some of my delicious Thanksgiving and Christmas desserts, Fall and winter desserts or Holiday desserts

Pavlova Cake	Strawberry & blueberry Panna cotta
Persimmon apple pudding	Pineapple butter cake
Carrot Halwa, Carrot Pudding	Pumpkin pie with streusel topping

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Preparation time : 1 hour 30 minutes + rest time
Serves : one-9 inch tart

Ingredients for Cranberry Frangipane Tart

For Cranberry Jam:
Cape Cod Select Premium Frozen Cranberries - 2 ½ cups
Sugar - ½ cup
Light Brown Sugar - ½ cup
Orange juice - 1 ¼ cup
Water - ¼ cup

For Short Crust Pastry:
All purpose flour - 2 cups
Sugar - ¼ cup
Salt - ½ tsp
Cold Butter - 1 stick
Egg - 1
Cold milk - ¼ cup

For preparing Frangipane:
Almonds - 1 cup
Butter - ⅓ cup
Salt - ⅛ tsp
Sugar - ⅔ cup
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Eggs - 2
All purpose flour - ⅓ cup

Steps to prepare Cranberry Frangipane Tart

Step I (prepare Cranberry Jam) :

• In a large nonstick pan on medium-high heat add all ingredients listed under Cranberry Jam and cook for about 10 minutes or until the cranberries start to pop and slowly break apart.
• At this stage, reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking until the jam starts to thicken - about additional 10 to 15 minutes.
• Remember that it will continue to thicken as it cools down. Switch off the flame, and allow it to come to room temperature.
• Cranberry Jam is now ready. The recipe yields about 1 ½ to 2 cups of cranberry jam. It will store well when refrigerated in an air-tight container or mason jar for several weeks.

Step II (prepare Short Crust Pastry- if you are using store bought pastry, ignore this step)

• Add flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl and place in refrigerator for about an hour. Refrigerating is optional, but will help in making perfect short crust pastry.
• To the above bowl, add 1 stick of cold butter (cut into small cubes) and using your fingers break the butter and incorporate it into the dough. Your dough should resemble bread crumbs.
• At this stage add an egg and a splash of cold milk and mix until any dry flour is not visible. The dough will be slightly tacky, but that is OK.
• It is very critical not to over mix the dough, else it will make the dough elastic. Quickly form a dough ball and cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours so that the dough can relax.
• Grease a 9 inch tart pan with some butter and lightly flour the surface.
• Transfer the chilled dough to a well floured working surface. Dust some flour on top of the dough, and using a rolling pin roll it into a ¼ to ½ cm thick circle and whose diameter is an inch or two larger than that of the tart pan. If its diameter is larger it is fine, we can trim off the excess and use it in other recipes, but ensure that it is not too thick.
• With the help of the rolling pin, transfer the dough over the greased tart pan. Tuck the dough against the edges of the pan, and run the rolling pin over the tart pan to trim off excess overhanging dough.
• Using a fork, poke holes across the base of the pastry to ensure that it does not puff up during baking. Carefully transfer the tart pan to the freezer and let it freeze for an hour - or until you are ready to bake. I keep it overnight.

Step III (prepare Frangipane) :

• In a food processor add almonds and pulse for 1-2 minutes or till it forms a fine powder. Transfer this to a clean dry bowl.
• In the same food processor, cream together butter, salt, sugar, vanilla extract, and eggs. Transfer this to the bowl containing almond powder.
• Add all purpose flour and gently combine till you don't see any dry ingredients. Do not over mix. Frangipane is now ready!

Step IV (assemble the tart) :

• Remove the tart pan lined with short crust pastry from the freezer and let it thaw for 5 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 350 F.
• Use a crumpled parchment paper larger than the tart pan. Place it over the pastry, and fill it completely with baking beads (or dry rice or dry beans) to act as a weight. Blind bake the pastry for 13 minutes. Then, carefully remove the parchment paper along with baking beads and bake the pastry for another 5 minutes.
• Spread about half cup of cranberry jam as a bottom layer for the tart. Over this spread the frangipane filling and roughly level the surface. Top this with few dollops of (4 to 5 tbsp) cranberry jam and then using swirling motions of a toothpick spread the cranberry jam topping within the frangipane.
• Bake in a preheated oven for 45 minutes. Let it cool for 10 minutes before removing it from the tart pan.
• Cranberry Frangipane tart is now ready. Drizzle some cranberry or orange icing before serving. Enjoy!

Tip:

• To prepare the icing take ¼ cup of icing sugar in a bowl and add 1 tablespoon of orange juice, and whisk well. Drizzle this over cranberry frangipane tart slices before serving if desired.