Concerning pies, this may be the proudest I have ever been of one of my recipes. It's delicious, festive, and oh 🙌🏻 so 🙌🏻 PRETTY! Especially with that sugared cranberry garnish amiright?? Introducing the holiday cranberry curd tart with a hazelnut infused pie crust!
Full disclosure, I saw NYT Cooking's cranberry curd tart recipe, went 👀 and immediately had to adapt it. There are definitely a few differences, first and foremost the crust.
The Cranberry Curd Tart Crust
While NYT Cooking did a full on hazelnut crust with rice flour as a binder, I stuck with my go to pie dough recipe and swapped out ¼ cup of the all purpose flour for ½ cup of hazelnuts, ground into bread crumb consistency. Just enough to get some of that nutty flavor while at the same time keeping that golden, layered pie crust we know and love at the holidays!
Cranberry Curd Tart Filling
Second major difference? I added a few extra yums to the curd filling. A touch of ground ginger and a pinch of ground cinnamon. I also used orange zest as opposed to an orange peel for a stronger infusion of flavor.
Those Sugared Cranberries
Third and final major difference, I garnished my tart and added some sugared cranberries to the mix! Though totally optional, they just SO PRETTY! Between the cranberries, cut out crust toppings, rosemary sprigs, and sanding sugars, this tart is just the Christmas in a pie.
Best believe this cranberry curd tart will be making an appearance on my dining table through out the holiday season starting with Thanksgiving (which is NEXT WEEK...what?!)! You in? Thought so, scroll down for the recipe 👊🏻.

Cranberry Curd Tart
- Total Time: 2 hours
- Yield: 11-Inch Tart 1x
Description
The ultimate festive holiday dessert with a tart and sweet cranberry curd filling, hazelnut pie dough crust, and sprinkled with sugared cranberries for extra yums!
Ingredients
For the Filling
- 12 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- ½ cup orange juice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon ground ginger
- 4 ounces unsalted butter (1 stick)
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- 2 egg yolks, beaten
- Optional garnishes: rosemary, white sugar, gold sanding sugar, crust cut outs, and sugared cranberries (see below)
For the Dough
- 2 ¼ cups flour + extra for dusting
- ½ cup shelled hazelnuts
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons white sugar
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup cold water
- Egg wash: 1 egg yolk + 1 tablespoon cold water, beaten
For the Sugared Cranberries
- 12 ounces cranberries
- ½ cup granulated sugar + 1 cup for dusting
- ½ cup water
Instructions
For the Tart
Make the Pie Dough
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet and bake in the oven for 10 minutes, until lightly toasted. Remove from heat and place in a tea towel. Let sit for 1 minute, then rub the hazelnuts through the towel to loosen the peels. Discard peels and set hazelnuts aside to cool.
- Once cooled, use a food processor to pulse hazelnuts until they reach the consistency of breadcrumbs.
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the ground hazelnuts, flour, sugar and salt until fully combined.
- Add the cubed butter, and using either a pastry blender or two forks, cut the butter into the mixture until the pieces are around the size of a pea. To save time, you can also pulse the flour mixture with the butter in a food processor!
- Pour in the water and the vanilla extract. Stir until the dough clumps together.
- Move the dough to a floured surface and fold the dough into itself until the flour is incorporated and can be formed into a ball. Due to the hazelnuts, this dough tends to be on a little on the wet side. If it is too sticky, add some more flour to the surface or your hands and sprinkle the dough as needed.
- Pat the dough ball down into a disc, about ½ inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Remove the disc from the fridge. Cut a piece that is about ¼ of the dough, wrap in plastic, and place back in the fridge to chill. This will be for garnishing the top of the tart if desired. The remaining dough will be the actual tart crust. Roll the dough out into a 12-inch circle. Place in an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom, trim off the overhang, and prick the bottom with a fork several times. Put the dough back in the fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
- Remove the dough from the fridge. Gently brush the top of the edging with the egg wash. Line with parchment paper and fill with baking beans. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, until puffed, golden, and mostly cooked through (just a touch underdone).
- Remove from heat. Once cool enough to handle, remove the pie beans and parchment paper. Let the crust cool completely.
Make The Filling
- In a large sauce pan over medium heat, stir together cranberries, sugar, orange juice, orange zest, ground ginger, and ground cinnamon. Cook at a simmer, stirring occasionally, until cranberries have softened and popped, around 10 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender or transfer to a stand blender* and blend until smooth. Strain the mixture through a medium mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl, pressing the liquid through the sieve with a silicone spatula to get as much as possible. Wipe the sauce pan clean and set aside.
- Once strained, whisk the butter in the warm mixture until completely combined.
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and egg yolks. Temper the eggs by slowly whisking in 1 cup of the warm cranberry mixture. Once combined, whisk the tempered eggs into cranberry mixture until smooth.
- Tip the cranberry mixture back into the sauce pan. Cook on low heat, stirring frequently, until somewhat thickened and just barely bubbling (about 7-8 minutes). Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature (about 10-15 minutes).
Assemble the Tart
- Pour the cooled cranberry curd filling into the cooled, cooked pie crust, smoothing the top with a silicone spatula. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, until filling is set (it'll have a slight jiggle).
- Remove from heat and let cool completely. Remove from the tart pan. Garnish as desired with crust cut outs and sugared cranberries (directions below), fresh rosemary sprigs, and a sprinkle of white sugar and gold sanding sugar.
For the Garnishes
Make Crust Cut Outs (Optional)
- Remove the remaining piece of dough from the fridge, and roll out into a circle about the same thickness as your pie crust.
- Prepare a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper. Using a lattice cutter, stencils, cut outs, etc. make dough cut outs to decorate the top of the tart as desired. Place on the prepared baking sheet. When done, put into fridge to chill for 10 minutes.
- Brush each cut out with the egg wash, place in the oven, and bake for 15-20 minutes until puffy and golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Make Sugared Cranberries (Optional)
- Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large sauce pan, whisk together sugar and water. Bring to a boil, and reduce to a simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Stir in cranberries and coat in the syrup. Simmer for 2 minutes, remove from heat, and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, remove cranberries to the prepared baking sheet. Let them dry out for 1 hour.
- Working in batches, toss the cranberries in the cup of sugar reserved for dusting until coated (I rolled them in the sugar on a baking sheet). Place in an air tight container and keep in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Notes
If using a standing blender, let the cranberries cool somewhat. Hot liquid + a lid on standing blender will cause the lid to fly off when you start blending.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 1 hour
Zoe says
This tart turned out AMAZING. The most beautiful thing I have ever created - and delicious!!
Judy Dumka says
Do you need the hazelnuts?