Method

I’ve made this tart with gluten free pastry but if you are not avoiding gluten it works just as well with regular shortcrust. I serve this with lightly whipped cream flavoured with a little fresh vanilla and garnish it with a sprig of fresh redcurrants.

Roll out the pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin and line a 23cm loose bottomed tart tin with it. Cover with baking parchment and weigh down with baking beans or uncooked rice (this stops the pastry from bubbling up during the ‘blind baking’ process which follows) Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 170°c bake the pastry case for 15 - 20 minutes or until it is a very light golden brown and no raw spots remain on the base. Remove the paper and baking beans (save the beans and use another time).

Make the filling by placing the cranberries, orange juice and zest and sugar in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Cook for around 10 minutes or until all the cranberries have popped and are soft. Allow to cool for 10 minutes. Place the cooled mixture into a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Pass through a sieve into a mixing bowl. Whisk in the butter followed by the eggs. Place the mixture in a saucepan and cook on a low heat, stirring all the time, until the mixture begins to thicken. Do not let this boil and remove from the heat for a few minutes if it gets too hot, stirring all the time.

Pour the thickened curd mixture into the prepared pastry case and bake on the middle shelf for around 10 minutes. The tart should have a slight wobble in the middle as it will continue to set after it is removed from the oven.

Allow to fully cool before decorating with the chopped walnuts and a dusting of icing sugar.