Blood Orange Tart
Tender and slightly sweet lemon thyme crust filled with a smooth, citrusy, blood orange curd and topped with citrus thyme infused whipped cream. Sweet with a subtle hint of savory and bursting with blood orange and lemon—this flavorful tart is a must for citrus season!
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Anyone else go to the farmer’s market and get all these grand ideas of making delicious, wholesome, beautiful food, only to have no idea what to do with all that produce when you get home? Story of my life. I love going to the farmer’s market, because we can walk to a couple in our city on the weekends. Plus, I’m supporting local business and getting farm-to-table produce.
I hate to admit it, but I’m such a millennial.
This time, the farmer’s market sucked me in with those fancy displays of cut-open blood oranges. They just look so cool, so fancy, so delicious.
But what do I know about baking with blood oranges? Not a thing. So, I scoured my cookbooks to get some ideas then stumbled down my own path, experimenting until I came up with this delicious blood orange tart.
The curd is also so easy to make! I’m always tempering eggs and praying that I don’t scramble them, but this curd is only partially pre-cooked, meaning you don’t have to worry as much. Just stir, strain, then bake.
The best part is it’s a little tart and a little sweet and a lot cute. I mean, that pink color is just to die for, right?
How to make blood orange tart
First, you’ll want to make the shortcrust. The dough comes together quickly and can be made the day before. If you do this, I also highly recommend seeing my note below about citrus thyme infused whipped cream, which needs to cold steep overnight.
When you’re ready to make your tart, start with letting the dough sit out for a few minutes, then roll it out, fit it to the pan (I love my blue Jamie Oliver pan!), chill it for a bit, then blind bake for 30 minutes.
While the crust bakes, prep your filling ingredients. Whisk the sugar and eggs together, but wait to combine the rest until you’re ready to cook the filling. If you have an eager little helper like me, you’ll need that 30 minutes to monitor the “help.”
When the crust has about 5 minutes left, mix all of the filling ingredients, except for the heavy whipping cream, in with the eggs and sugar, and heat over medium low to medium, stirring constantly.
When the crust is done, remove the rice (you can keep it for future pies or tarts!). If the bottom still looks raw, you can put it back in the oven for a few minutes while you keep stirring the filling. Stir until filling begins to thicken and reaches 170 degrees. Strain through a fine mesh sieve then pour into warm tart crust and spread evenly. Bake about 10-15 minutes, until the filling is mostly set but a little wiggly in the middle. Let cool at least 2 hours.
Serve with a dollop of fresh whipped cream. See note below for making citrus thyme infused whipped cream.
Tips and notes for this recipe
Infuse your whipped cream
Yes, cold infusion does take more time, but it works better for whipped cream than heating and steeping then re-chilling. You risk making this cream resistant to whipping when you heat it. Plus, how easy is it to toss some ingredients into cream and let it do its thing? I suggest doing that the day before you want to make the tart, which is also an ideal time for my next tip…
Make the crust ahead of time
I’m all about saving time. I will split anything up into 2 or 3 days if I can, because it’s manageable to make a tart crust and infuse whipped cream in the afternoon while my daughter naps then roll it out and make the filling later. Plus, the beauty of this recipe is that there’s not actually a lot of hands-on time, other than cooking the filling. Everything else is rolling and waiting and prepping ingredients, so there’s a lot of freedom and no need to feel rushed or overwhelmed.
Pair with candied blood orange slices
I used this recipe to candy some blood oranges and it was soooo worth the almost entirely hands-off 2 hours it takes to make them. Since last time my orange slices weren’t as pretty as I wanted, I wanted to try it again but with blood oranges. The key really is fresh oranges and thin slicing with a very sharp knife. And I love that you can keep the syrup you candied them in as a blood orange simple syrup! Pro tip: candy the oranges the day before, when you make the infused cream and crust dough. :)
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Blood Orange Tart
- prep time: 5-10 minutes
- cook time: 5 minutes
- bake time: 10-15 minutes
- total time: 30 minutes (plus about 2 hours for the crust)
servings: 8-12
Ingredients:
for the crust
for the blood orange curd filling
- ¾ cup blood orange juice
- 2 tablespoons blood orange zest
- ¼ cup lemon juice
- 3 whole eggs plus 1 yolk
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
- ¾ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter, cut into pieces
for the citrus thyme whipped cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup powdered sugar
- optional: 2 sprigs fresh thyme
- optional: peeled zest of 1 large blood orange
- optional: peeled zest of 1 large lemon (or 2 small ones)
Instructions:
- See note for infusing whipped cream the day before
- Make the shortcrust dough at least an hour ahead of time. It’s very simple and can be made up to 2-3 days ahead. You’ll want to let it sit out 10 minutes after chilling, roll it to 2” larger than the diameter of your tart pan, fit it to the pan and trim the excess, then freeze it for 20 minutes. You can shape the trimmings into cookies and bake them on the parchment lined pan as you bake the crust (but only for 10-12 minutes).
make the blood orange curd filling
- While the crust par-bakes, prep your filling ingredients. Zest and juice your oranges, juice your lemon, dice your butter, and measure everything else out. Whisk the eggs and sugar together in a medium saucepan.
- When the crust has about 5 minutes remaining, whisk together all filling ingredients except for heavy cream and heat over medium low to medium heat, stirring constantly. When the crust is done, remove from oven and remove the foil/rice (you can save the rice for your next pie or tart). If the bottom still looks raw, you can bake it (unlined) a few minutes longer while the filling finishes. Be sure to stir your filling a few times while you check on the crust.
- Once the filling has thickened slightly and reached 170 degrees (or can coat the back of a spoon--this takes about 5-7 minutes once the pan has heated up), strain through a fine mesh sieve to remove the zest and any clumps of cornstarch. Stir in the heavy whipping cream until well combined. Pour warm filling into the still-warm crust. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges begin to set but the middle is still a little wiggly. If not using convection, rotate tart halfway.
- Let cool on the counter at least 2 hours. If not serving right away once cooled, cover and refrigerate tart until ready to eat.
make the citrus thyme whipped cream
- When you’re ready to serve, strain the thyme and peeled zest out of the heavy whipping cream. If you made the tart ahead of time, just be sure the cream doesn’t infuse longer than 18-24 hours or it will turn bitter.
- In a large mixing bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer with the whisk attachment), combine the infused cream and powdered sugar and whisk gently until combined. Then whisk vigorously or on high until soft peaks form. You can either spread the whipped cream on the whole tart or place a dollop on each slice before serving.
Enjoy! Store leftovers in the fridge, tightly sealed, for 3-5 days. Optionally, top with candied blood oranges, using this recipe.