M: A Fancy Shmancy Citrus Tart

Oh you fancy huh? Yep, darn right. So, you might remember I mentioned an uber post-worthy citrus tart that I made up for the hubs and I for New Years Day dessert. Well, I figured I would let you in on this bad boy now.

I stumbled across this recipe in January’s Southern Living. I seriously can’t describe how much the hubs loved this dessert and how great it turned out. It was such a nice change from the super indulgent desserts we’d been having over the holidays.

This tart is assembled with a coconut crust (my favorite part!), a buttery orange curd, and assorted sliced citrus fruits on top. The combination is AH-mazing and really not nearly as hard as you might think. Honestly I could’ve stopped at the crust and just eaten that (LOL)

Ok, here goes:

Elegant (aka fancy shmancy) Citrus Tart

from Southern Living

1/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup powdered sugar

3/4 cup cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 tsp. coconut extract

Buttery Orange Curd (Recipe below)

Assorted citrus fruits (whichever ones your heart desires), peeled and sectioned

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake coconut in a single layer on a shallow pan 4-5 minutes, stirring halfway through. Cool completely.

2. Pulse coconut, flour, and powdered sugar in a food processor a few times until combined. Add butter and coconut extract, and pulse a few more times or until crumbly. With the processor running, gradually add 3 TB water, and process until the dough forms a ball. (I will be honest, I actually don’t have a big enough food processor that would do this job, so I just did it all with my bear hands and it worked out just fine!)

3. Roll dough into a 12 1/2 x 8 inch rectangle (or if you’re using a round tart pan like me, roll into a 10 inch circle) on a lightly floured surface. Press dough on bottom and up sides of your pan, trim excess dough, and discard.

4. Bake for 30 minutes. (FYI, before I baked mine, I poked some holes with a fork so the dough wouldn’t bubble up and crack). Cool completely on a wire rack.

5. Spread buttery orange curd over crust. Top with citrus sections (I used about 2 blood oranges, 2 navel oranges, and 1 big grapefruit)

Buttery Orange Curd

2/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 TB cornstarch

1 1/3 cups orange juice

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3 TB butter

2 tsp. orange zest

pinch of salt

1. Combine sugar and cornstarch in a 3-quart saucepan. Gradually whisk in OJ. Whisk in egg. Bring to a boil; boil, whisking constantly 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter, zest, and salt. Place heavy duty plastic wrap directly on curd so a film doesn’t form. Chill approx. 8 hours.

OK, now you must go try this! Just remember, you gotta make that fantastic curd ahead of time! There’s actually an orange panna cotta recipe in this issue too that I’m dying to try that uses this orange curd. hmmm…maybe next?? =)

So, the hubs really enjoys fruit desserts (i.e. banana cream pie is his fave, or berries with ice cream, fruit pies, etc) over the more indulgent/sweeter, chocolatey/brown sugarey/carameley desserts and cakes…What do you prefer?