Christmas orange curd tart

Christmas is around the corner and sweet desserts are a must. Along with the classic panettone and pandoro, we suggest a simple tart that is easy to make and everyone will like its fresh and citrusy flavor. We pair it with a Moscato dello Zucco Cusumano, a fragrant and creamy passito.

The dosages are for a mold with a 24cm diameter that will serve eight people.

Ingredients:

For the crust: 250g flour, 100g butter, 80g sugar, a pinch of salt, 2 egg yolks, the grated peel of a ¼ organic lemon and powdered sugar (optional).

For the orange curd:  35g flour, 35g potato starch, 400ml milk, 150g sugar, 4 egg yolks and the grated peels and juice of 2 organic oranges (around 100ml).

Directions:

For the crust: create a mound with the flour and add in the butter cut into small pieces, sugar and salt and then the eggs and grated lemon peel. Quickly knead everything together to obtain and solid and compact dough.

Make a ball out of the dough and let it sit for around 30 minutes covered in plastic wrap.

For the curd filling: wash the oranges and grate off the peel. Squeeze the juice out of the oranges using a juicer and, if necessary, filter the juice.

Warm the milk and aromatize it with the grated orange peel.

Whip the eggs and sugar in a bowl then add in the sifted flour and continue whipping until everything becomes homogenous and smooth without any lumps. Slowly blend in the aromatized milk and orange juice.

Heat the curd at a medium heat and continue to stir while bringing it to a boil. Reduce the heat to minimum and continue to stir for around 5 minutes as it become denser.

Remove the curd from the heat and let it cool, covered with plastic wrap to keep the surface from hardening.

Assembling and baking: Dust a working area with flour and put the ball of dough at the center. Divide the ball into two pieces, one twice the size of the other. Keep the small part aside for later.

Use a rolling pin to flatten the dough to a thickness of around 4mm.

Butter the bottom and sides of a 24cm pie mold, preferably one where the sides open. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Lay down the dough in the mold, removing any dough that comes out at the top (adding it to the smaller dough ball). Use a fork to poke holes in the bottle of the curst to keep it from rising or bubbling up while baking. Add the curd into the mold and level out using the back of a damp spoon.

Flatten the remaining dough and cut out decorations, preferably of a Christmas theme, and place them on top of the tart.

Place the tart in the oven and lower the heat to 180°C and bake for around 45 minutes.

Remove the tart from the oven when done and let it cool for several hours. If you want, you can dust the tart with powdered sugar.