Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart

We’ve had an amazing run of blood oranges at our local supermarket. So after a few weekends of watching my husband squeeze ruby red fresh juice out of them, I had to make a move. I’ve been holding onto a recipe from a German cooking magazine for blood orange tartlets. Consequently, I pulled it out of my files and created this Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart.

Pairing vanilla bean with blood oranges was a no brainer. This Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart contains a healthy dose of vanilla bean paste in the crust. Additionally, the filling has flecks of vanilla bean as well as pure vanilla extract.

To create this Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart, bake the crust separately. Then, the blood orange vanilla bean pudding is created and cooled. Fill the baked shell with the pudding, garnish with thinly sliced blood oranges and you’re done. In addition, sprinkle some vanilla sugar on top of the blood orange slices garnish. Consequently, this adds an extra pop of sweetness and flavor.

In addition, make your own vanilla sugar

In Germany packets of vanilla sugar are easily found in the baking sections of all supermarkets. Additionally, they are also extremely reasonable in price. In the USA vanilla sugar is mostly absent from most large supermarket chains. On the other hand, you can buy them online. However, it’s extremely easy to make it yourself. Place empty vanilla bean pods and white granulated sugar in an airtight container and leave it in your pantry. After a few weeks, the sugar will take on a vanilla fragrance. I use vanilla sugar in a lot of recipes. For instance, sprinkling it over this Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart.

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Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart

Course Dessert

Cuisine American, German

Keyword Blood Orange

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Chill Time 1 hour

Total Time 40 minutes

Servings 8

Author Lora Wiley-Lennartz

Ingredients

For the tart crust:

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste

For the blood orange vanilla filling:

• 7-8 blood oranges (enough to squeeze out 1+1/2 cups of juice with one whole blood orange left over.
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/3 cup vanilla pudding powder
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar

Instructions

Make the vanilla bean tart crust:

1. Whisk together the flour, 1/3 cup sugar, and salt.
2. Beat the egg separately with a fork, add to the mixture, add the butter and knead until combined.
3. When the mixture forms a smooth dough, keened in the vanilla bean paste.
4. Wrap the dough in plastic cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes
5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. Grease and flour a 9” tart crust
7. Remove the dough from the fridge and roll it out into a circle on a lightly floured surface.
8. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan, pressing it in on all sides.
9. Cover the inside with parchment paper.
10. Place pie weights on top of the parchment paper or fit a springform pan inside the tart pan.
11. Place in oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the edges start to turn golden brown.
12. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Make the blood orange vanilla bean filling:

1. Juice all but one of the blood oranges,
   
2. Measure out 1 + 1/4 cups of juice and strain the juice into a saucepan.
3. Beat the egg yolks together with the water and the pudding powder until smooth. Add the vanilla extract.
4. Place the measured out juice in a saucepan over medium heat and bring to a boil.
5. Temper the mixture into the egg mixture. briskly whisk the egg mixture while drizzling a small amount of the hot orange juice into the bowl. Add the rest slowly while whisking. When everything is mixed together, strain it back into the pot.
6. Cook, stirring until it comes to a boil. Let cook for 1 minute and remove from heat.
7. Whisk the butter into the mixture. Whisk in the vanilla bean powder.
8. When the butter is fully melted and combined, cover the pot with aluminum foil and let cool completely. Place in the refrigerator if making ahead.

Assemble the tart:

1. Peel the remaining blood orange and cut the pith (white part) off on all sides.
2. Slice the blood orange into thin rounds.
3. Remove the baked crust from the pan and place on a serving plate.
4. Fill the crust with the cooled blood orange vanilla bean cream.
5. Arrange the blood orange slices on top and sprinkle the slices with the vanilla sugar.
6. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Like this pretty Blood Orange Vanilla Bean Tart? Try some of these other sweet and scrumptious tart recipes: