Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Tart

This Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Tart is beautiful and fairly simple to make. 

We are heading into the festive season, which means many of us are looking around for new and festive dessert ideas. I tried a version of this Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Tart at a restaurant and immediately started dissecting it. Not only is it crazy pretty to serve, it is fairly simple to make. And tweakable: don’t like the idea of orange marmalade? How about lemon curd? Or a little whipped mascarpone? Or even a thin spread of pastry cream (here’s an easy recipe from Martha Stewart)?

Being a lover of all things cranberry-orange, and also a sucker for shortbread, a Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Tart might be my perfect dessert. Sweet-tart and buttery, it’s both delicious and beautiful. A winning combination in my book!

Cranberry-Orange Shortbread Tart

For the crust:
1 ¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into 1-inch pieces
2/3 cup powdered sugar

For the cranberries:
1 pound cranberries, fresh or frozen
Finely grated zest and juice from one orange
½ cup sugar

Assembly:
¼ cup orange marmalade

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 14-by-4 ½-inch tart pan with a removable bottom (or a 9-inch diameter round tart pan) with nonstick cooking spray. Pulse the flour, salt, and butter together in a food processor until you have pea-sized crumbles. Pulse in the sugar until the dough comes together but is still crumbly. Use your fingers to press the dough into the bottom and sides of the prepared pan. Use a fork to poke several holes in the bottom of the crust. Bake on the top shelf for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool completely. 

In a medium saucepan, stir together the cranberries, orange zest and juice, and sugar. Cook over medium heat for about 15 minutes, until the cranberries barely begin to pop. Remove from the heat and cool completely, at least 1 hour, or refrigerate up to a day ahead. 

Spread the crust with the marmalade. Using a slotted spoon, pile the cranberries on top of the marmalade, filling the crust. Garnish with more orange zest.