Blood Oranges are in season, and this tart is a must every winter! Blood oranges and hibiscus go really well together, the sour/sweet fruit with the sweet/floral dried hibiscus is a great combination to work with and one that I simply love. I make a mean blood orange and hibiscus curd that can go simply on toast, or sandwiched between cookies, or make a tart using Gingersnap Cookies as the crust!
Valentine’s Day is around the corner, and although we do not celebrate it cause I feel it’s so cheezy to celebrate love on one day, we do celebrate FOR the kids, and make them sweet treats around this time of the year that are heart shaped or chocolatey, or pink/red in color! And all the extra hugging and kissing is included along with the desserts 🙂 cause they pair really well right?! 🙂 This tart would be a great dessert for Valentine’s day with its pretty pinkish hue from the blood oranges and dried hibiscus OR for a gathering/party of any kind!
The first step for this recipe is to make the blood orange and hibiscus curd and the candied blood orange slices. You can get the dried hibiscus flowers from amazon.com here. I love dried hibiscus flowers cause it is so fragrant, and provides a sweet floral taste to any dessert. The curd takes about 15 minutes to make, once you have all the ingredients set out. It is really easy to make. Once the curd is ready, you have to chill it in the fridge for a couple hours before you can use it in the tart.
The candied blood orange slices need to be made a day in advance, allowing them enough time to rest and dry. The candied blood orange slices make excellent garnishes and look so pretty on top of the tart !! The process is very simple and it can be made even a week in advance. You can ofcourse omit this step completely and simply garnish with twirls of blood orange zest or a sprinkle of hibiscus powder(with its pretty magenta hue).
The Crust for the Tart is pretty simple. I used gingersnap cookies from Trader Joe’s, along with ginger powder, all purpose flour, some sugar, butter and eggs. Once the flour mixture is put on the tart pan and flattened, it goes in the fridge for half an hour, before it gets blind baked. After it is blind baked and cooled, pour the curd into the pre-baked tart, and bake it for about half hour or until it is slightly wobbly. It has to cool completely, and then set in the fridge before it can be cut into it.
I assembled the tart with whipped cream and the candied blood orange slices! This tart pairs so well with some good espresso made in my Nespresso VertuoPlus. Sips of the bitter fragrant espresso after a bit of the sweet, sour, floral tart is PURE BLISS!
I hope you get a chance to try this recipe, because you will not be disappointed! IF you do try this recipe, please do not forget to tag #thejamlab and/or leave a comment on this blog post.
Happy Valentine’s Day to you all! Spread love everyday!
Until next time!
XO
Amisha
Blood Orange and Hibiscus Curd Tart with a Gingersnap Crust and Candied Blood Orange slices
Ingredients
Blood Orange and Hibiscus Curd:
- 2/3 cup blood orange juice
- 1/8 cup lemon juice
- 3 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 6 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup dried hibiscus (available on Amazon.com)
- ½ tsp salt
- 2 tsp blood orange zest
For the Gingersnap crust:
- 10 small gingersnap cookies( about ¾ cup when crushed – I used Trader joes Gingersnap cookies)
- 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp granulated sugar
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 stick cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
- 1 ½ tsp ginger powder
Candied Blood Oranges:
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 blood oranges sliced thinly(about 1/3 inch thick)
Whipped Cream:
- 1 cup cold heavy cream
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Make Candied Blood Oranges:
- In a large saucepan, on medium heat, add the sugar and water, and let the water boil, and sugar dissolve about 3-4 minutes. Now add the thinly sliced blood orange slices all separated into the pan. Let it simmer for 40 minutes, turning around half way through gently with tongs.
- Meanwhile keep a large baking tray with a parchment paper, and a cooling rack on the top aside. Once the blood oranges are done, gently remove with tongs, removing any excess water and let it rest on the cooling rack. Do the same for all the slices. Let it rest for a day atleast until all of the slices are dried.
- Store in an air tight container. It wont last long 🙂
Make blood orange and hibiscus curd:
- In a medium saucepan, on medium heat, combine all ingredients except the butter and whisk constantly with a whisk, cleaning the sides constantly to gather up the bits, until the mixture thickens, for about 8 minutes. You know it is done when you run your finger on the back of the wooden spoon, dipped in the curd and it stays clean and the sides do not run.
- Immediately strain the mixture through a sieve over a medium bowl. Once strained stir in the butter pieces, and keep stirring until well blended and smooth. Cover it with a plastic wrap and Let it cool for about 30 minutes. Now let it rest in the fridge for about an hour atleast.
Make dough:
- Put oven rack in middle position and preheat to 375°F.
- Pulse flour, gingersnap cookies, ginger powder, sugar, and salt in a food processor until combined. Add butter and pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal with some small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Add yolks and pulse just until incorporated and dough begins to form large clumps.
- Put dough in tart pan and pat out with well-floured fingers into an even layer over bottom and up sides so it extends to the rim. Chill 30 minutes.
- Lightly prick tart shell all over with a fork, then line with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake shell until golden around edge, about 15 minutes. Carefully remove the paper and weights and bake until shell is golden all over, about 15 minutes more. Cool shell completely in pan on a rack.
Make Tart:
- Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
- Pour in the blood orange curd and smoothen it out onto the baked tart crust. Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until the tart is set. When you shake the pan, it should wobble a bit. Remove it from the oven and let rest out for an hour. Cool in the fridge for another 3 hours to let it set before it is ready to assemble!
Whipped Cream:
- In a large bowl, add the cold heavy cream. With a hand whisk, whisk the whipped cream for a minute or two until it has thickened slightly. Now add in the powdered sugar and vanilla extract and whip for another minute until it forms peaks.
Assembly:
- On the cold tart, you can pipe the whipped cream on the border of the tart, or dump it in the center of the tart and arrange the candied blood orange slices around it or on top of it in concentric circles!
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