Flaky Blood Orange Tart

So sorry I'm just now posting this week! It's been a whirlwind of a week! Super busy, but in a good way. Work is busy, but good and I've had dinner with good friends Mon & Tues night and also made dinner for some friends that just had a baby. Crazy week, but a great one. Feels like it should be Friday night already! Hope you all are having a great week too! Now onto the tart!

Last week on my Facebook page, I mentioned that my good friend Jill took me to a sister store to Whole Foods, Harry's Famers Market (I'm pretty sure that was the name:)). And it was fabulous! So much fresh produce and fun varieties of meats and cheeses and nut butters! I restrained myself and all I allowed myself to buy were two blood oranges (trying to watch the budget). I've been wanting to try a blood orange for forever!! I tasted a tiny bit before I made this tart and they are fabulous!! Slightly sweeter than an orange and that gorgeous ruby color. I immediately googled and found a recipe for a Blood Orange Tart and knew that was just the ticket to make this fruit shine.

This tart had such a lightness about it, it was sweet but slightly tart. I actually forgot to dot the top with butter which would've made it even better, so don't forget that part like I did!:) I halved this recipe and made a small tart which worked perfect, so I tweaked the directions below for you to make two small tarts instead of one large tart. I also only had two blood oranges (the reason I made a small tart-haha!) and the original recipe called for 7, but I really feel like you could make two small tarts or one large tart with 4 or 5 blood oranges. This was super fun to make as I find cutting butter into flour very therapeutic. Enjoy & have a great day!

Oh and if you are looking for Easter Brunch recipes, I updated the side bar with some of my favorite brunch items.

Flaky Blood Orange Tart
Source: Smitten Kitchen Adapted from Zoe Nathan, via Food and Wine

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, the stick cut into 1/2-inch pieces and chilled
3 tablespoons ice water
4 to 5 blood oranges

1 large egg yolk mixed with 2 tablespoons of water

Powdered sugar for dusting

Directions:
In a large bowl whisk together 1 cup of flour with 2 tbsp. of sugar & the baking powder & salt. Add in the stick of butter and cut it into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter, until it is course and the butter is the size of peas. Add in the ice water and mix together with a fork until moist crumbs form (if it doesn't come together add additional tbsp. of ice water). Press dough together and knead a couple of times and then divide dough in half and pat each half of dough into a disk. Wrap each disk with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. (Alternatively you can do all of this in a food processor-there is just something great about cutting the butter in by hand!:)).

Sprinkle your rolling surface with powdered sugar (you can use flour if you prefer). Roll the pastry dough out to two 5 1/2 inch round disks (11 in. if making one large tart). Transfer the disk or disks to a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and chill for 15 minutes.

In the mean time, peel the blood oranges. Cut the top off so you have a flat surface and then peel vertically down the side until all of the pith is gone. Slice into thin rounds. Remove any seeds and set slices aside.

Remove the pastry from the refrigerator and place a quarter of the orange slices on top of each tart, leaving one inch around the edges. Sprinkle 1/2 tbsp. of sugar over each tart (1 tbsp. total). Curl the edges of the dough over and then top each disk with remaining oranges, divided equally, and sprinkle 1/2 tbsp. sugar over each tart (1 tbsp. total).

Slice remaining tbsp. of butter into small pieces and dot top of each tart with tiny pieces of butter. Brush each disk of pastry with egg wash and sprinkle each tart with 1/2 tbsp. of sugar over top of the dough (1 tbsp. total). Freeze tarts at least 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and postion a rack in the center. Put a baking sheet on the rack underneath to catch any juices. Bake tarts directly from freezer for 50-55 minutes (may need a little longer), until fruit is bubbly & tart is golden brown. Transfer cookie sheet to a cooling rack and let cool for 30 minutes. Carefully slide parchment onto cooling rack and let tart cool completely. Serve room temp. or warmed up with ice cream.