Blood Orange Hibiscus Tart
A winter citrus perfect for creating a dessert out of, blood oranges have a unique and dramatic color and flavor that’s ideal for creating a “wow” factor when serving to friends and family. Combined with the flavor and color deepening effect of hibiscus petals, the blood orange curd tastes like a Dreamsicle with a hint of raspberry.
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch pre-baked Pâte Sucrée tart shell, or tart crust of choice
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, (1 stick) cold and cubed
- 1 tablespoon blood orange zest
- 4 large eggs
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup blood orange juice, strained
- ¼ cup lemon juice, strained
- ½ cup cut hibiscus petals
Directions
- Start by par baking your crust until it’s almost cooked through and set aside to cool. Check the recipe for my sweet tart dough for the tart shell I used here.
- Preheat your oven to 325°F / 165°C (or lower the temperature to 325°F if you just cooked the tart shell).
- Zest 1-2 blood oranges until you have 1 tablespoon of zest. Slice or cube 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of butter. Add the zest and butter to a medium size pot or heatproof mixing bowl and set aside.
- Juice and strain 5-8 blood oranges until you have 1 cup, and juice and strain 1 lemon until you have about ¼ of a cup. Set aside.
- Add the 4 eggs and 2 egg yolks, ¼ teaspoon of salt, and 1cup of sugar into a medium saucepan, set over low heat and whisk together until smooth and the sugar has dissolved.
- Combine the blood orange and lemon juices and slowly pour into the egg mixture while whisking until fully incorporated. Add in the ½ cup of hibiscus petals and stir until they’re fully coated and submerged as much as you can.
- Cook on low to medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly, until the curd mixture coats the back of a spoon. You want to cook it until it registers between 165-170°F / 74-77°C on an instant-read thermometer. Normally this would only take a little over 10 minutes at medium-low heat, but I wanted to give the hibiscus more time to steep, so I kept adjusting the heat so that it took about 20 minutes to reach temperature.
- Once the curd is cooked, remove from the heat, and pour through a strainer over the reserved butter and blood orange zest. The cold butter will help stop the curd from cooking and melt into it. Use a spatula to press the curd through the strainer and get as much as you can.
- Whisk to combine until you no longer see any pieces of butter and the zest is well mixed without any clumps. Pour the curd mixture into the prepared tart shell and place in your oven on the center rack.
- The cook time will depend on your oven and how set or runny your curd is. Allow at least 18-26 minutes, but start checking around 15minutes in. It will be done when it no longer looks wet, and the outside looks a little puffy and the center wobbles like jelly (kind of like cheesecake). Remove from the oven when it’s ready and allow to cool to almost room temperature before placing in the fridge. Let it continue to cool and set for at least 3hours or overnight before decorating and serving.
- Once the tart has chilled long enough, you can remove it from the tart pan and decorate how you’d like and serve immediately.
Equipment Used
Notes
1) As mentioned before, you can completely omit the hibiscus if you wish. If you have trouble finding it in stores, this is what I bought online myself.
2)When placing the tart pan in the oven, set the pan inside of another dish. Set the pan inside of another dish. Set the pan inside of another dish. I repeat that because I learned the hard way when baking with a tart pan with a removable bottom: they’re very difficult to pick up when they’re hot and sitting directly on an oven rack. When par baking a tart crust, the ring broke off from the bottom when I tried to lift it up and I lost almost half the sides of my tart shell, and there’s no fixing that once it’s cooked. I used a round pizza pan with low sides for this recipe.
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 371kcalCarbohydrates: 40gProtein: 5gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 178mgSodium: 209mgPotassium: 116mgFiber: 1gSugar: 26gCalcium: 32mgIron: 2mg
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