Blood Oranges would have to be one of my favourite fruits, and each year I eagerly anticipate their arrival on the market. I love the way the beautiful blood red flesh contrasts with orange and their gorgeous pinkish juice.
When I received some beautiful blood oranges in my farmers boxes recently I couldn’t wait to put them to good use. Previously I’ve made blood orange sorbet, but this time I planned to make Dorie Greenspan’s Whole Lemon Tart and substitute beautiful blood oranges for lemons to make a Blood Orange Tart.
When I’d envisioned a Blood Orange Tart I pictured a beautiful pinkish tinged tart filling, so I was slightly disappointed that the filling turned out more orange than pink. Despite it’s appearance this Blood Orange Tart is absolutely delicious. In fact it could easily be my favourite of the tart’s I’ve made to date.
If you love oranges, and even if you don’t have blood oranges (just substitute regular oranges), do yourself a favour and make this Blood Orange Tart.
What is your favourite blood orange recipe?
Blood Orange Tart
Adapted from Dorie Greenspans Whole Lemon Tart from Paris Sweets: Great Desserts From the City's Best Pastry Shops book.
Ingredients
- TART DOUGH:
- 145 g of unsalted butter at room temperature
- 75 g of icing sugar sifted
- 1/4 cup of ground almonds
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 large egg at room temperature
- 245 g of plain flour all-purpose
- TART FILLING:
- 2 blood oranges about 200g, rinsed and dried, quartered and any pips removed
- 1 1/2 cups of sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 1/2 tablespoons of cornflour cornstarch
- 115 g of un-salted butter melted and cooled
Instructions
- TART DOUGH:
- To make the tart dough, place the butter in a large food processor bowl fitted with a metal blade. Process until smooth and creamy, scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed.
- Add the icing sugar and process until well blended.
- Add the ground almonds, salt, vanilla and process until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the flour and pulse the mixture until it just starts to form a ball and stop. Remove the mixture from the food processor bowl and place onto cling film and form into two flat discs. Wrap each disk separately and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Once chilled, remove 1 portion of dough from the refrigerator and roll out between 2 sheets of baking paper until 3mm thick.
- Carefully place the dough into a 24cm tart tin and press the dough against the bottom and edges of the tin to ensure it is well fitted. If the dough cracks or splits simply patch with additional pastry. Trim the top of the tart - the easiest way to do this is to roll the rolling pin over the top of the tart case which will trim the edges neatly.
- Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes and repeat with the second portion of dough.
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and line the tarts with baking paper and add dried beans or pastry weights and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until lightly coloured.
- Set aside while you make the filling.
- TART FILLING:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius (350 Fahrenheit) and add the oranges and sugar to a large bowl of a food processor and process until thoroughly pureed and smooth.
- Add the egg, egg yolk and melted butter and pulse to combine.
- Pour into the tart shells and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and lightly browned.
- Remove from the oven and cool for at least 20 minutes before removing from the pan.
- Serve at room temperature with whipped cream.
Recipe Notes
When working with the tart dough, if you find the pastry becomes too soft or sticks to the baking paper, place in the refrigerator for 10 to 15 minutes.
More from my site
Blood Orange Vegan Jelly with Toasted Almond Sorbet- Roast Beetroot Salad with Lentils, Fennel and Blood Orange in a Blood Orange Dressing
- Blood Orange Madeleines with Pistachio and Cardamom
- Coconut Sugar Blood Orange Cake
- Chocolate Orange Brownie Cookies filled with Blood Orange Curd
- Blood Orange Brulee Tarts
Do you add the orange skin in the tart as well?
Hi Hannah, yes, the whole orange (skin and all) is used in this recipe 🙂
Hey Jennifer – what are you talking about, the orange color looks fabulous. This tart has been baked perfectly, gosh! even the edges are all smooth. Till date I’m yet to bake my perfect tart, this one is definitely an inspiration. I wait for my favorite fruits/berries during summer myself, never tried blood oranges though, sounds intriguing. Needless to say, the crisp pictures with the lovely china makes it pop even more.
USMasala
Thank you for the beautiful compliments aipi 😀 I don’t agree that my tarts are perfect, but practice does help 😉
The blood oranges that I’ve seen this season have looked more like regular oranges. I remember those deep red almost magents ones. I wonder why? Still your tart looks divine! 😀
I love blood orange too. This tart is on my to do list. Beautiful clicks!
OMG this looks absolutely divine. Bookmarking this for a try soon!
Lemon desserts are a favorite of mine and using blood oranges instead is inspired! Citrus is so refreshing and fragrant, I always have lemons and oranges in my kitchen. Now I will look for seasonal blood oranges to try your tart recipe. Thanks for the enticing post.
I tried navel oranges tart this summer (but didnt post it ). It was so so delish..In desserts I always prefer oranges over lemons.I particularly like your recipe over mine coz you dont use heavy cream in the filling.bookmarked..will make soon! Lovely pictures Jen!
Thank you Tanvi 😀 I love orange desserts too, but I also love that tang from lemon as well.
What a beautiful tart! I love blood oranges, too, and I’m excited for them to be available at stores again. You are really a genius with citrus.
Thanks Nicole. 😀 I don’t know about being a genius with citrus…but I’ve had so much I’ve had to use and I just like finding different ways to use them.
Ive never made anything quite like this with oranges as the star, but I just adore orange as a flavour so know i would fall for this little tart! Gorgeous 🙂
How do you compensate for the bitterness of the cooked orange ?
Loïc (France)
Hi Loïc, there was no bitterness from the cooked orange in this tart, in fact it’s sweet (without being overly so) and delicious. 🙂
Thanks.
What a splendid tart! I love your choice of flavor. Blood oranges taste heavenly.
Cheers,
Rosa
What a super idea to switch the lemons up for beautiful blood oranges in this tart – we drove past a road side stall the other day selling blood oranges and now I wish we had stopped, I really need to try this recipe it looks to die for, yum!!
Oh I love the look of this tart! sounds delish – love the sliceon top for styling, very cute
Thanks Nic 😀
Gorgeous tart Jen! Can’t wait to dig right into it.
Gorgeous photos and those plates! Lovely! 🙂
We don’t have blood oranges here often, so I never thought of making something with them except for a fresh juice, but you inspired me to try something new 🙂
Thanks Nadia 😀 It’s always great to try something new.
Beautiful tart Jen! Love the styling, very elegant!
Thanks Sneh 😀