Winter White Chocolate Cranberry Tart Recipe: There are times when you just want a quick sweet treat to satisfy your sweet tooth, and there are times when you really want to go all out and make a dessert that is both beautiful and delicious. Katie Rosenhouse, a recipe creator, shares the white chocolate cranberry tart recipe, which is a great winter treat for everyone.
Despite how fancy it looks, this tart is actually very easy to make, whether you want to make it for a holiday party or just to cheer up a dark and cold day. “This is a classic ganache tart that comes together quickly and easily,” adds Rosenhouse. “Using a quick-cooked cranberry jam with bits of juicy cranberries studded throughout means the tart fruit remains at the forefront, balanced by the silky white chocolate filling.”
Although there are a few steps to this tart recipe, it’s not too hard. Even the sugar-dusted cranberries on top are easy to make. Rosenhouse says to serve this with a glass of sparkling white wine for dessert if you’re making it to share with friends and family. “It would also go well with a dollop of crème fraiche whipped cream,” she says. How to put it all together.
Winter White Chocolate Cranberry Tart Recipe
Ingredients
- For the crust
- 6 ounces gingersnap cookies
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, melted
- For the cranberry jam
- 2 cups whole cranberries
- Zest of ½ orange
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ¼ cup water or bourbon
- For the white chocolate ganache
- ⅔ cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons salted butter, softened
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or extract
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 12 ounces (2 cups) white chocolate chips or broken chocolate bar
- For the sugared cranberries
- ¾ cup granulated sugar, divided
- 1 cup whole cranberries
Optional Ingredients
- Halved gingersnaps
- Candied orange peel
- Rosemary
- Gold leaf
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
- Grind gingersnaps to fine crumbs in a food processor.
- Add 4 tablespoons of butter and pulse to combine.
- Use a small measuring cup to press gingersnap mixture evenly into a 9-inch fluted tart pan set over a prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until firm. Set aside to cool slightly.
- In a small pot, heat cranberries, orange zest, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, lemon juice, and water or bourbon over medium heat until cranberries break down, stirring often, 4-6 minutes. Optional: blend until smooth.
- Spread the jam evenly into the prepared tart crust.
- In a small pot, bring cream, 4 tablespoons of butter, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt to a simmer.
- Add the white chocolate and let sit 1 to 2 minutes.
- Whisk until smooth.
- Gently spoon the white chocolate ganache over the cranberry jam.
- Chill until firm, at least 2 hours or overnight.
- In a small pot, bring ½ cup sugar and ½ cup water to a simmer.
- Remove from the heat; add the cranberries and let sit 10 minutes.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer the cranberries to the remaining prepared baking sheet. Let sit 10 minutes.
- Sprinkle the cranberries with the remaining ¼ cup sugar, and shake the baking sheet back and forth to coat them.
- Decorate the tart with sugared cranberries and other garnishes as desired before serving.
| Calories per Serving | 610 |
| Total Fat | 33.6 g |
| Saturated Fat | 20.0 g |
| Trans Fat | 0.7 g |
| Cholesterol | 52.9 mg |
| Total Carbohydrates | 82.1 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 4.6 g |
| Total Sugars | 62.5 g |
| Sodium | 310.0 mg |
| Protein | 4.0 g |
FAQ
Q1. Should I use vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract in this tart recipe?
When making this holiday white chocolate cranberry tart, you can use a variety of ingredients. For example, you can use either vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste to taste the white chocolate ganache. “I love using vanilla bean paste — it has great flavor, and also lends little specks of vanilla bean to recipes,” says Rosenhouse. It’s a mix of vanilla extract and vanilla bean that has been made and sweetened. This makes it stronger than vanilla extract alone. You can use either for this tart, though.
Yes, the choice is yours. If you don’t have a lot of money, you might want to stick with vanilla bean paste instead of extract. If you do use extract, make sure it’s pure vanilla extract. Fake vanilla extract doesn’t taste as good and can even leave a bad aftertaste.
But vanilla bean paste might be worth the cost if you really want the vanilla taste to stand out in your tart. In this recipe, the vanilla is not baked into the tart like it would be in a cookie or cake recipe. Instead, it is added to the melted chocolate. This is a great chance to use vanilla bean paste to give the tart a better taste and look.
Q2. Can you make this tart recipe ahead of time?
This isn’t the kind of recipe you can just throw together on the spot; none of the steps are particularly hard, but it does take time to make each part of the tart, plus the time it takes for the layers to set or chill. But there are ways to break up the steps so that busy cooks can use the method more easily.
“If you want to get ahead of the prep for this tart, the gingersnap crust can be made and baked up to two days ahead,” Rosenhouse says. “Until you’re ready to use, keep well-wrapped in the fridge or freezer.” You can sugar the cranberries up to one day ahead of time and keep them at room temperature in a jar that won’t let air in.
For those of you who want to make this tart ahead of time, you should know that it doesn’t last very long. As per Rosenhouse, “Store the leftover tart well-wrapped in the refrigerator for up to two days.” Thank goodness, she says, “freeze the tart for longer storage (up to two months), ideally in slices for quick thawing.”
