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Cranberry Linzer Tart

4.4

(10)

Image may contain Food Dessert Cake Confectionery Sweets Dish and Meal
Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski

Inside two layers of buttery, crumbly walnut crust hides a tart cranberry filling. This dough is too delicate to weave into a true lattice without breaking. Instead, arrange the strips in a crosshatch pattern, crossing over in a few places (it will look just as pretty).

Recipe information

  • Yield

    10 servings

Ingredients

Filling

1

lb. fresh (or frozen) cranberries

cups granulated sugar

1

Tbsp. finely grated peeled ginger

1

Tbsp. unsalted butter

Pinch of kosher salt

1

tsp. finely grated lemon zest

Dough and Assembly

cups walnuts

1

cup granulated sugar

2

tsp. finely grated lemon zest

tsp. ground cinnamon

½

tsp. kosher salt

¼

tsp. ground cloves

¼

tsp. freshly grated nutmeg

¼

tsp. baking powder

2

cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

14

Tbsp. chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

2

large eggs

Powdered sugar (for serving)

Special Equipment

Preparation

  1. Filling

    Step 1

    Bring cranberries, sugar, ginger, butter, and salt to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring often to prevent scorching and help dissolve sugar. Continue to cook, stirring often, until cranberries burst, mixture is syrupy, and pot is visible when a wooden spoon is dragged across the bottom (mixture should be reduced to about 1¾ cups), 10–12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon zest. Chill until cold, at least 1 hour.

    Step 2

    Do Ahead: Filling can be made 3 days ahead. Transfer to a nonreactive container; cover and chill.

  2. Dough and Assembly

    Step 3

    Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350°. Toast walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet, tossing once, until golden brown, 10–12 minutes. Let cool.

    Step 4

    Pulse walnuts, granulated sugar, lemon zest, cinnamon, salt, cloves, nutmeg, baking powder, and 2 cups flour in a food processor until nuts are finely ground. Add butter and pulse until largest pieces are pea-size. Add 1 egg and process in long pulses until dough forms a ball around the blade. Divide dough in half. Wrap one half in plastic, flattening into a ½"-thick disk. Press the remaining half into tart pan, working it across bottom and up sides with floured hands to create an even layer. Chill the dough in the pan and the wrapped dough until cold, at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

    Step 5

    Scrape filling into crust and spread into an even layer.

    Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski

    Step 6

    Unwrap remaining dough and roll out on a lightly floured sheet of parchment paper, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking, to a ⅛"-thick round.

    Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski

    Step 7

    Cut dough into 8 strips.

    • Image may contain Human Person Food Confectionery Sweets and Dough
    • This image may contain Food Bread Human Person and Pancake

    Step 8

    Arrange strips over top of tart in a crosshatch pattern (this dough is delicate, so don’t fuss with strips too much once they’re on the tart). Pinch off excess dough and press strips into edges to adhere. Chill 15–20 minutes.

    • This image may contain Food Dessert Cake Human Person and Pie
    • This image may contain Food Cake Dessert Human Person and Pie

    Step 9

    Beat remaining egg in a small bowl and brush over crust.

    Photo by Michael Graydon + Nikole Herriott, food styling by Rebecca Jurkevich, prop styling by Kalen Kaminski

    Step 10

    Bake tart until crust is golden brown around the edges and golden across surface and filling is bubbling, 45–55 minutes. Let cool.

    Step 11

    Just before serving, remove ring from pan and dust tart with powdered sugar.

    Step 12

    Do Ahead: Tart can be baked 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature.

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Reviews (10)

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  • This is really good! First time making anything like it. Would definitely make again - just altering the recipe slightly. I bake for 45 minutes at 350 as well. I used 1.5 bags of fresh cranberries to make one pound. Next time I would use at least both bags as I would like more filling. Also would keep a little more than half the dough as the bottom crust as that's a lot of dough for the top. I put the top dough in a big zip lock and rolled it out after I made it (then put it in the fridge). After adding the lattices to the top of the tarte I used the extra dough to add one more and an outer rim. I rolled that extra dough in a ball and rolled it out. It worked much better than the already rolled out straight from fridge dough so next time I'll keep the top dough in a ball in a zip lock in a ball and roll it out after I get it out of the fridge. Then I'll slice and add. Dough was never sticky (crumbly but not sticky). I refrigerated the dough and filling overnight. Perfect for Christmas!

    • Andrea Elizabeth

    • Brooklyn, New York

    • 12/24/2021

  • Yummy and so pretty! I thought the ginger was a welcome change from orange in its pairing with the cranberries. For the lattice, I rolled out the top between parchment after chilling and then gave it another good hard chill before slicing into strips. I could then run a thin knife under the strips and transfer to to top of the tart. That worked well! I also sprinkled with coarse sparkly sugar on top of the eggwash, in place of powdered sugar. Agree, some of the directions were a little imprecise, I also baked at 350.

    • Robin

    • Oregon

    • 11/20/2020

  • I followed the recipe to the letter, but I couldn't get the dough to roll out, it was way too sticky. I had to add extra flour to it and even then I couldn't cut it into strips, so I cut out stars with a cookie cutter and placed them over the filling. I like the filling a lot, and the dough itself does have a wonderfully crumbly, buttery texture and the walnuts add so much flavor. But I think I will be using this recipe to make actual linzer-style sandwich cookies instead of a tart. The dough just didn't cooperate for me with rolling out. Also it's not explicitly clear what temperature the oven needs to be at for baking the tart? I did 350 and the crust became a nice golden brown but the filling never really bubbled so maybe it needed to be 375?

    • Anonymous

    • Orange County

    • 12/2/2019

  • I have made this twice so far with excellent results and lots of compliments. I don’t have a tart pan so I used an 8” spring form pan and wanted a thicker filling so I increased the cranberries to 1 1/2 lbs, reduced the sugar to 3/4 cup, and added 1 peeled and grated apple. Although the dough is a bit challenging to work with, the strips forgivingly melt together in the oven. Thanks Claire!

    • Cake Lady

    • Providence, RI

    • 11/24/2019

  • Thumbs up from my Christmas guests! Made the filling and dough the day before. It was a tight fit in my food processor, but with care, made it work. Was surprised at the 10 servings, but glad I cut it that way, as it was quite rich. Filling is good and not too gingery as another review thought (that worried me, but I made it per the recipe). We all agreed other pies would be great with this crust. Made for nice breakfast the next day too!

    • TXHusker

    • Texas

    • 12/29/2018

  • The filling was delicious and excellent. However, this recipe, and the editing, was poorly written. The extra egg needed for the egg wash should not have been included in the original list for the dough and assembly. When people are making this recipe, they are probably quickly skimming when looking for how many eggs to put in. It would have been clearer to place one egg in another subheading for "Egg Wash" instead of including it all under "Dough and Assembly." This is especially true when looking at the magazine edition of this issue. Also, there could have been a clearer temperature for the actual baking of the tart because it was clear that the 350F was for the nuts, but not clear if it was also for the actual tart. Overall, the recipe is excellent and great and I would use again. However, recipe editing should be reviewed with a sharper eye for more intuitive recipes and instructions.

    • c.xiao

    • Durham, NC

    • 11/22/2018

  • Delicious recipe!!! I just practiced making this for thanksgiving and it was incredible. The dough is difficult to work with to create any kind of lattice but once you bake it the imperfections are not as obvious. The flavors are incredible and worth the effort!

    • Anonymous

    • New Jersey

    • 11/19/2018