Ginger Lemon & Bourbon Blood Orange Tart With Cardamom Almond Crust: A DIY Dessert event at 18 Reasons

Last month, for the DIY desserts event that I co-lead with Melanie Duve over at 18 Reasons, we decided that Citrus was the perfect theme. On the cusp of spring, the bountiful amounts of citrus fruit were overflowing at the markets and the bright flavors and colors made me want to just pucker up and kiss someone. For me, citrus usually means lemon, as I have tons of lemons from my very productive lemon tree in the backyard, but I wanted to kick it up a notch (I know, when do I NOT want to kick it up a notch?), so I made a tart using two different types of citrus, regular Eureka lemons and blood oranges. Thus I created my Ginger Lemon & Bourbon Blood Orange Tart With Cardamom Almond Crust.

The DIY Desserts evening, as usual, brought in some amazing desserts. My co-leader Melanie brought lovely grapefruit ice box cookies which she unvegan-ized from the book Vegan Cookies Invade your Cookie Jar. Is unvegan-ized a word? It is now. Either way, I loved them, helping myself to a couple AND bring a few home as well.

Heather from Souffle Days brought a beautiful Blood Orange Tart with Pasta Frolla Crust and blood orange curd. It was everything you want a blood orange curd to taste like, tart, sweet and vividly colored.

There was a pretty amazing Lemon Loaf adapted from a Pierre Hermé’s recipe, which came with a lemon ginger marmalade. Double lemon bonanza! Whoo hoo!

There were two citrus pudding cakes, a Lemon Pudding Cake that Charles brought that he was fearful didn’t turn out well (it did) and a Tangerine Cake Top Pudding that also came with an apologize that it was a little underdone (it tasted great).

Barbara brought an Orange Coconut Bread that had a wonderful flavor (I loved the addition of the coconut to the citrus) and Jo had brought the Orange Kiss-Me Cake (which had orange, raisins and walnuts in it), along with the 1950s cookbook it was made from as well as a citrus gratin and the photo torn from a magazine that it came from. Awesome.

And Samantha brought gluten free lemon almond cookies. They had that melt away texture that coated your tongue with crumbly delight.

Now my tart that I brought was originally labeled a Lemon Ginger and Blood Orange Creamsicle Tart because it was pretty creamy. In fact, since I had made the tart last minute, I was experimenting ended up with curd that was too creamy and less citrusy than I wanted it to be. The colors of the curd didn’t quite have the contrast that I was looking for and the flavors tasted a little muddy by the butter and cream I used in it. And though everyone was kind to me and told me they liked it, I knew I could do better.

So after a few more experiments after the event, I landed on this version. The colors pop more, the flavors are brighter and the overall tart was what I was looking for, a classic elegant dessert that is a showstopper. Too bad I hadn’t perfected it by the time the DIY Desserts came about. Oh well. There’s always next time!

Melanie, my co-leader for the DIY Dessert event, laughing at me using "air quotes".

The next DIY Desserts event at 18 Reasons is happening Wednesday, April 13, 2011. The theme this month is Boozy Delicacies! Bring a great dessert that has a little bit of alcohol in it, whether it’s vodka, irish cream, wine, rum or any other booze, come and have happy hour in dessert form! Hope to see you there!

Ginger Lemon & Bourbon Blood Orange Tart With Cardamom Almond Crust

Inspired by the amazing seasonal produce available in San Francisco, I originally developed a variation of this tart for a community event that I co-host at 18 Reasons in San Francisco, called DIY Desserts. The tart requires making three components, the tart shell, and two different curds piped into the tart shell. Though it seems labor intensive, it is just a few extra steps, resulting is a stunning dessert for a special occasion. You’ll notice that the recipe calls for arrowroot flour. You may be tempted to substitute out cornstarch but I recommend against that. Cornstarch doesn’t thicken in acidic conditions and might separate out in the freezer.

Cardamom Almond Crust
1 1/4 cups (175 g) all purpose white flour
1/2 cup (80 g) almond meal (preferably almond meal, not almond flour)
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated white sugar
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon (128 g) unsalted butter at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Crust Egg Wash
1 egg
1 pinch of salt

Lemon Ginger Curd
3 tablespoons (25 g) arrowroot starch (sometimes called arrowroot flour)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lemon juice
finely grated zest from 1 medium lemon
1 tablespoon of freshly grated ginger
2 tablespoons of white wine
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cold

Bourbon Blood Orange Curd
4 tablespoons (33 g) arrowroot starch (sometimes called arrowroot flour)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed blood orange juice
finely grated zest from 1 medium blood orange
2 tablespoons of bourbon
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
pinch of salt
3 tablespoons of unsalted butter, cold

Directions for Crust
1. In a large mixing bowl place the flour, almond meal, and cardamom. Take a whisk and vigorously stir the dry ingredients until uniform in color.

2. Place the sugar, butter and salt in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Cream the butter on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. Scrape down the sides with a large spatula and add the egg and vanilla. Mix on medium until incorporated.

3. Add all the dry ingredients to the butter and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.

4. Split the dough into two balls. Flatten each ball into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

5. Preheat oven to 325˚F. Place a fluted 10 inch tart pan with removable bottom on a pizza pan or baking sheet for easy removal from the oven.

6. Take one ball of dough out of the fridge and place on a generously floured flat surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, from the center to the outside of the disk. If the dough starts to stick, use more flour.

7. Carefully transfer the dough to the tart pan, trying not to stretch it (stretching it will cause the dough to shrink when you bake it). Fit it into the tart pan and trim and any excess dough off. This dough is pretty forgiving, so if you make any tears, feel free to patch it up by a little bit of extra dough that you might have.

8. Prick the bottom of the tart with a fork all over and place in the preheated oven to bake for 15 minutes. In the meanwhile make the egg wash by whisking the egg with the pinch of salt in a small bowl.

9. After the 15 minutes, pull the tart crust out, and brush the crust with the egg wash all over the bottom and sides of the crust. Place back in the oven for 3 minutes. Take the crust out and let cool on a wire rack.

Note: This makes enough for two crust, though you only need one crust for the tart. You can freeze the other crust for up to a month if you tightly wrap it in plastic wrap and then a freezer ziplock bag.

Directions for Lemon Ginger Curd
1. Fill a medium pot with an inch of water on the stove. Place a tightly fitted metal bowl (do not use an aluminum bowl as that will make the curd taste metallic) on top. Make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl – if it does, pour out some of the water.

2. Place the arrowroot starch, sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated ginger, white wine, eggs, egg yolks and salt in the metal bowl.

Place the 3 tablespoons of the arrowroot starch, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, lemon juice, lemon zest, grated ginger, white wine, 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and pinch of salt in the metal bowl.

3. Turn the stove on to high, until the water starts to boil. This shouldn’t take long, as you a small amount of water in the pot. Once it starts to boil, lower the temperature so the water only simmers.

4. Make sure the metal bowl is fitted tightly on top of the pot of simmering water. Take a whisk and continue to stir the content of the bowl as the curd cooks. You’ll notice the curd start to thicken as it cooks. Be sure to constantly stir as it does. You want to bring the curd to about 185˚F which should take about 7 or 8 minutes.

5. Once the curd has reached the right temperature turn off the stove and remove the metal bowl from the pot. Pour the curd into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 30 seconds to cool the curd. Then turn the speed to low and add one tablespoon of butter. Beat until it is melted and fully incorporated. Add the second tablespoon beating until it too is incorporated. Repeat with the final tablespoon.

6. Let the curd come to room temperature and pour it into a ziplock sandwich bag. Place the bag in the freezer for at least two hours or overnight.

Directions for Bourbon Blood Orange Curd
1. In the same medium pot that had the simmering water refill to replace any water that had boiled off. Place the same tightly fitted metal bowl on top (don’t worry about washing the bowl out, you can leave the lemon curd residue in it). Again make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl – if it does, pour out some of the water.

2. Place the arrowroot starch, sugar, blood orange juice, blood orange zest, bourbon, eggs, egg yolks and salt in the metal bowl.

Place 4 tablespoons arrowroot starch, 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar, blood orange juice, blood orange zest, bourbon, 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and a pinch of salt in the metal bowl.

3. Turn the stove on to high, until the water starts to boil. This shouldn’t take long, as you a small amount of water in the pot. Once it starts to boil, lower the temperature so the water only simmers.

4. Make sure the metal bowl is fitted tightly on top of the pot of simmering water. Take a whisk and continue to stir the content of the bowl as the curd cooks. You’ll notice the curd start to thicken as it cooks. Be sure to constantly stir as it does. You want to bring the curd to about 185˚F which should take about 7 or 8 minutes.

5. Once the curd has reached the right temperature turn off the stove and remove the metal bowl from the pot. Pour the curd into the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Turn the mixer to high and beat for 30 seconds to cool the curd. Then turn the speed to low and add one tablespoon of butter. Beat until it is melted and fully incorporated. Add the second tablespoon beating until it too is incorporated. Repeat with the final tablespoon.

6. Let the curd come to room temperature and pour it into a ziplock sandwich bag. Place the bag in the freezer for at least two hours or overnight.

Directions to Assemble the Tart
1. Take the curds out of the freezer. Snip a corner of each bag.

2. Pipe one stripe of lemon curd on the side of the tart shell. Pipe another stripe of blood orange curd next to it. Alternate stripes of curd until the tart shell is filled.

3. Taking an offset pallete knife or butter knife, smooth the curd out on the tart but running the knife across the curds, flat, in parallel strokes to the curd. After each run over the curd, wipe the knife with a damp paper towel to clean it. If the edges of the tart aren’t super clean, don’t worry about it, you’ll cover it up with powdered sugar.

4. Once the curd is smoothed out, turn the tart so the stripes are vertical as you look down on it. Take a toothpick and place it about an inch from the “top” of the stripes on the tart. Drag it across the tart, from left to right perpendicular to the stripes. Then move the toothpick down an inch and drag the toothpick perpendicular the other way across the tart. Repeat until back and forth, all the way down the tart.

5. Taking a sifter or mesh sieve, dust the edges of the tart with a generous amount of powdered sugar. The powdered sugar will cover up any of the edges that were hard to smooth out with the knife.

6. Serve the tart chilled or at room temperature.