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Sablé Breton Tart with Cranberry Curd

By Joe Gitter

Published on October 13, 2020

Time

2 hours, plus 3½ chilling, and 1 hour cooling

Yield

Serves 6 to 8

Sablé Breton Tart with Cranberry Curd

Ingredients

Tart

1½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour ¼ teaspoon table salt 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened6 tablespoons (2⅔ ounces/76 grams) granulated sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Curd

6 ounces (170 grams/1½ cups) fresh or frozen cranberries ½ cup (3½ ounces/99 grams) granulated sugar 1 teaspoon grated orange zest plus 2 tablespoons juicePinch table salt 1 large egg plus 1 large yolk4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and chilled5 ounces (142 grams/1 cup) blackberries, halved lengthwise2½ ounces (71 grams/½ cup) blueberries Fresh mint leaves, tornConfectioners' sugar

Instructions

    for the tart

  1. Whisk flour and salt together in bowl; set aside. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and beat until just combined, scraping down bowl as needed. Press dough with spatula until dough sticks together in cohesive mass. Form dough into 5-inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes, before rolling. (Wrapped dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw completely in refrigerator.)
  2. for the curd

  3. Cook cranberries, granulated sugar, orange zest and juice, and salt in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until cranberries have softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Mash with potato masher until cranberries are completely broken down, then strain through fine-mesh strainer into bowl, pressing on solids with rubber spatula to extract as much puree as possible (you should have about ⅓ cup). Discard solids and refrigerate cranberry puree until cooled, about 10 minutes. Wipe saucepan clean with paper towels.
  4.  Return cooled cranberry puree to clean saucepan and whisk in egg and yolk. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until mixture is thickened and registers 170 degrees, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter until smooth. Transfer curd to clean bowl, press plastic directly on surface of curd, and refrigerate for at least 1½ hours. (Curd can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
  5.  Spray 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom with vegetable oil spray. Roll dough between 2 large sheets of plastic into 9-inch circle. Remove top sheet of plastic and gently flip dough into prepared tart pan. Press dough into even layer in pan to edge of pan, discarding remaining plastic. (Do not push dough up sides of tart pan.) Bake on rimmed baking sheet until puffed and golden, 50 to 55 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let tart cool completely on sheet on wire rack, about 1 hour.
  6.  Remove outer metal ring of tart pan, slide thin metal spatula between tart and tart pan bottom, and carefully slide tart onto serving platter or cutting board. Spread cranberry curd over top of tart, leaving ½-inch border around edge. Arrange blackberries and blueberries decoratively over top, sprinkle with mint, and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve.
Sablé Breton Tart with Cranberry Curd
Photography by Daniel J. van Ackere. Styling by Catrine Kelty.

Sablé Breton Tart with Cranberry Curd

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Time

2 hours, plus 3½ chilling, and 1 hour cooling

Yield

Serves 6 to 8

Ingredients

Tart

1½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons (2⅔ ounces/76 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Curd

6 ounces (170 grams/1½ cups) fresh or frozen cranberries
½ cup (3½ ounces/99 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest plus 2 tablespoons juice
Pinch table salt
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and chilled
5 ounces (142 grams/1 cup) blackberries, halved lengthwise
2½ ounces (71 grams/½ cup) blueberries
Fresh mint leaves, torn
Confectioners' sugar

Ingredients

Tart

1½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons (2⅔ ounces/76 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Curd

6 ounces (170 grams/1½ cups) fresh or frozen cranberries
½ cup (3½ ounces/99 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest plus 2 tablespoons juice
Pinch table salt
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and chilled
5 ounces (142 grams/1 cup) blackberries, halved lengthwise
2½ ounces (71 grams/½ cup) blueberries
Fresh mint leaves, torn
Confectioners' sugar

Ingredients

Tart

1½ cups (7½ ounces/213 grams) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
6 tablespoons (2⅔ ounces/76 grams) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Curd

6 ounces (170 grams/1½ cups) fresh or frozen cranberries
½ cup (3½ ounces/99 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon grated orange zest plus 2 tablespoons juice
Pinch table salt
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces and chilled
5 ounces (142 grams/1 cup) blackberries, halved lengthwise
2½ ounces (71 grams/½ cup) blueberries
Fresh mint leaves, torn
Confectioners' sugar

Why This Recipe Works

Sablé is French for “sandy,” and it's the shortbread-like cookies' sandy texture that sets them apart. It's become popular to bake sablé dough into a tart and serve it as an elegant composed dessert. Sablé doughs typically eschew whole eggs in favor of just the yolk, which minimizes the moisture content so that the granulated sugar in the dough doesn't fully dissolve—this is how the sandy texture is achieved. But when we tried baking the test kitchen's recipe for sablé cookie dough into a tart, we hit some obstacles: First, the very low-moisture dough was hard to roll out and press into a tart pan. Second, we couldn't slice the baked tart cleanly—sandy meant excessively crumbly! We switched to a whole egg, and the small increase in moisture allowed for much easier shaping while the additional protein from the egg white gave the dough just enough structure to achieve clean slices. However, we didn't want to lose the sandy texture, so to keep some of the sugar crystals dry despite the added moisture we didn't fully emulsify the egg into the batter—just a quick mix with the wet ingredients sufficed. A vibrant-hued cranberry curd was a lovely accompaniment to this cookie-tart hybrid; it cut through the buttery richness. Thanks to cranberries' high pectin content, they produced a thick, silky curd with half the eggs that are usually required, so the cranberry flavor remained bracing. We added a little orange to emphasize the bright, aromatic flavor of the berries. Halving the blackberries makes the fruit more homogeneous in size.

Instructions

    for the tart

  1. Whisk flour and salt together in bowl; set aside. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture, and beat until just combined, scraping down bowl as needed. Press dough with spatula until dough sticks together in cohesive mass. Form dough into 5-inch disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days. Let chilled dough sit on counter to soften slightly, about 10 minutes, before rolling. (Wrapped dough can be frozen for up to 1 month. If frozen, let dough thaw completely in refrigerator.)
  2. for the curd

  3. Cook cranberries, granulated sugar, orange zest and juice, and salt in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until cranberries have softened, 5 to 8 minutes. Mash with potato masher until cranberries are completely broken down, then strain through fine-mesh strainer into bowl, pressing on solids with rubber spatula to extract as much puree as possible (you should have about ⅓ cup). Discard solids and refrigerate cranberry puree until cooled, about 10 minutes. Wipe saucepan clean with paper towels.
  4.  Return cooled cranberry puree to clean saucepan and whisk in egg and yolk. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until mixture is thickened and registers 170 degrees, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, whisk in butter until smooth. Transfer curd to clean bowl, press plastic directly on surface of curd, and refrigerate for at least 1½ hours. (Curd can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.) Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees.
  5.  Spray 9-inch tart pan with removable bottom with vegetable oil spray. Roll dough between 2 large sheets of plastic into 9-inch circle. Remove top sheet of plastic and gently flip dough into prepared tart pan. Press dough into even layer in pan to edge of pan, discarding remaining plastic. (Do not push dough up sides of tart pan.) Bake on rimmed baking sheet until puffed and golden, 50 to 55 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let tart cool completely on sheet on wire rack, about 1 hour.
  6.  Remove outer metal ring of tart pan, slide thin metal spatula between tart and tart pan bottom, and carefully slide tart onto serving platter or cutting board. Spread cranberry curd over top of tart, leaving ½-inch border around edge. Arrange blackberries and blueberries decoratively over top, sprinkle with mint, and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve.

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