Rather decadent, but deliciously easy, this Chocolate Tart with Cranberries, Orange and Pistachios is great as an alternative to Christmas pudding or perfect for a Christmas party.
Where do you stand on Christmas pudding? Do you love it or loathe it? Do you ever have room for it on Christmas day?
I personally love it and usually try to have it several times over the Christmas period, but I know lots of people who can’t stand it and, in any case, there are lots of pudding occasions over the festive season – and even I don’t want to have Christmas pudding every time!
I wanted to come up with something that was quick and easy, could be made any old time, Christmas or not, BUT that was also really festive and Christmassy.
A tall order, until I remembered my Easter chocolate tart. This was a fun tart that I invented one Easter when everyone had gone quite mad over creme eggs and I wanted to get in on the act too, but without the fuss and palaver that some of the bakes took (I’m just not that patient). So I created my Easy Peasy 5 Ingredient Creme Egg Chocolate Tart. And at the time, I had planned to make the tart again.
And actually I did! I made a lovely summer version covered in berries, which I served to my brother and sister-in-law when they were here. And being a busy day, I quite forgot to photograph it, so it never made it to the blog…
But it is such a lovely easy tart, that I really wanted to make a Christmas version of it – so I threw cranberries, orange zest and pistachios at it and it really, really worked – imagine a posh version of Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut crossed with a dark Terry’s Chocolate Orange and it’s kind of like that but better, and looks fancier, and takes approximately 10 minutes to make, and is just perfect for all those events where someone asks you to bring a pudding and you quite frankly haven’t got the time because, well it’s Christmas and you’re stupidly busy and stressed out enough already…
Well… make this for them and enjoy the oohs and aahs and smile smugly and hide the packet that the ready-made pastry case came in and no one will ever know – except me and I promise not to tell 😉
If you want to drink wine with this – and, well, why not? It is Christmas after all! I am a huge fan of dessert wines and it makes me sad they are not drunk often enough. This would be brilliant with a Maury (sweet Grenache-based red wine from Roussillon in SW France) or a Tokay (sweet wine from Hungary) or one of my all-time favourites: Brown Brothers Orange Muscat & Flora from Australia.
If you like this recipe…
…you might also like:
Chocolate Tart with Cranberries, Orange and Pistachios
Ingredients
- 300 ml cream
- 50 g butter
- 200 g 70% dark chocolate I used Lindt, broken up into squares (ish)
- 75 g dried cranberries
- 75 g pistachio kernels
- Zest of 1 orange
- 1 all-butter sweet pastry case I used Tesco Finest
Instructions
- Put the butter and cream in a pan and heat on a very low heat until the butter has just melted. (Don’t allow the cream to boil).
- As soon as the butter has melted, remove the cream and butter mix from the heat and add in the broken up chocolate pieces and stir vigorously until it is smooth and glossy and all the chocolate has melted.
- Add two thirds of the cranberries and pistachios and roughly half of the orange zest and stir to mix thoroughly.
- Pour the chocolate filling into the pre-made pastry case and smooth over with the back of a spoon.
- Decorate with the remaining cranberries, pistachios and orange zest.
- Once you’ve decorated your chocolate tart, you need to leave it for about an hour to set. If you are going to eat this relatively soon (within an hour or two), you can leave it to set at room temperature. If you are making this ahead of time, I would pop it in the fridge. (It does lose its shine a bit when refrigerated, but still tastes delicious!)
Notes
- Not suitable for freezing.
- Nutrition information is approximate and meant as a guideline only.
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Corina says
What a lovely alternative to Christmas pudding. I love Christmas pudding and always want it on Christmas day but whenever my husband’s family have Christmas with us I always end up getting a chocolate tart for them! This looks so much better than the ones I usually buy, as I just don’t have time to make everything!
Eb Gargano says
I know how you feel! I often buy in things I could perfectly well make myself. Sometimes there just isn’t time!! But this tart is a great compromise – the ready-made pastry tart makes a big difference in terms of dramatically reducing how long this takes to make – and making the filling is a total doddle. Also the whole thing can be done the night before if need be. Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Nico @ yumsome says
Wow, wow, wowwwwwww! How fantastic does this look, Eb? I love it! I also love Christmas pudding but this is a real showstopper!
Such gorgeous photos too. <3
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Nico! I love it when a recipe looks good, as well as tasting good. It’s so frustrating when you make something that tastes amazing, but you just cannot get that across in the pictures! Throwing cranberries, pistachios and orange zest all over the tart (and the table) in this case does rather help! Eb x
Bee | Better than busy says
This looks seriously delicious! I love chocolate cranberry combos. yum!
#brilliantbogposts
Eb Gargano says
It’s a good combo, isn’t it? And with the orange and the pistachios too – just gorgeous. Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Alison (MadHouseMum) says
I love Christmas pudding (once a year) but need an alternative for a family do this year and this will hit the spot – thank you 🙂 Alison x #Brilliantblogposts
Eb Gargano says
A pleasure, Alison! Glad you like the idea. I must admit I am a huge fan of Christmas pudding, but you can’t have it for every pudding and anyway, this would be much more practical for a party! Do let me know how it goes if you try it!! Eb x
Twin Pickle says
The cream egg is totally naughty, love it! #brilliantblogposts
Eb Gargano says
Oh I know, isn’t it just? I’m sure each slice must be about a zillion calories…I daren’t even try and count!! Eb x
ohmummymia says
Oh I love it it’s everything here what I like I need to try to make it by myself
#brillblogposts
Eb Gargano says
Thanks! Do let me know how you get on if you try it 🙂 Eb x
lucy grace says
Wow! This looks delicious… and what a versatile recipe?! Saving it for future reference so thank you!xxx #brilliantblogposts
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Lucy! It really is a fabulously versatile recipe. Got to get my thinking cap on for how I can transform it for Valentines’s Day, now! 🙂 Eb x
Mandy says
Oh Eb this looks amazing! I think these are some of your best photos yet and the flavour combination sounds divine. Thanks for joining in with #CookBlogShare this week X
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Mandy!! That’s such a kind thing to say. I was really pleased with how these photos turned out, but even more pleased with today’s recipe (the prosciutto wrapped turkey)…I actually looked at them and thought they looked a bit like the ones you see in a magazine (though I’m sure not to a professional photographers trained eye, but to me they did!!) I have been working so hard on my photos this year. I know I am not ‘there’ yet (nor will I ever be as I will always want to improve, that’s how I am wired!!) but I am so pleased with how some of my Christmas photos have turned out. I have been pretty much making a recipe and photographing it every day for about a month and it is amazing how much progress you make when you photograph every day…not that I could sustain that long term, I am exhausted now – but I did my last Christmas photo shoot yesterday (there was a happy dance!) so now I can slow down a bit (and hopefully get to bed before midnight!!). Thanks for your lovely kind comments. Eb x
Midgie says
This looks lovely! and so easy to adapt to make it freefrom def going to have to give it a go this xmas as noone here can eat xmas pudding! I may even share it! LOL!
Eb Gargano says
Ooh I would be very interested to hear about how your free from version goes. If it goes well, let me know and I will amend this to share how others can make it free from too! Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Midgie says
All you would have to do to be honest is switch out the cream for coconut or soya cream and butter for dairyfree marg because essentially you are just making ganache and its the chocolate that sets it not the cream if that makes sense!! Same quantities would work too x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Midgie 🙂 Eb x
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain says
Ooh boy, that looks soooooo good Eb! Just like you I love Christmas pudding, but I would be a verry happy bunny to have a slice of this over the festive period. The colours, flavours and ease to make it really does make it perfect. And the idea to top the ganache filling with fresh berries in summer sounds divine!
Angela x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Angela, it really is a good one. And so quick to throw together – a great emergency pudding! (Because sometimes there are pudding emergencies!!) The berries one worked really well too – the tartness of the berries was a great contrast to the dark chocolate ganache. And it looked so pretty. My pastry case was a bit broken (I think it got dropped!) so I disguised it by tumbling the berries out of the tart, which looked lovely 🙂 I am rather sad I forgot to take a photo. I will have to recreate it next year!! Eb x
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins says
Oh my!!! This looks amazing it would go down an absolute treat here! A must make recipe. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Eb Gargano says
Thanks Kirsty!! Let me know how you get on if you make it 🙂 Eb x
Monika Dabrowski says
This looks simply stunning! Very Christmasy with the nuts and the cranberries, maybe not great for the waist but there’ll be time to worry about that after Christmas!
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Monika! No it’s definitely not my healthiest recipe…not by a long shot. I try to eat healthily most of the time, but I do like the odd treat now and again – especially when it tastes as fab as this one!! And I guess with all the nuts and fruit I am getting a bit of goodness in there too, right? 😉 Eb x
Jacqui Bellefontaine says
Yet another of your dishes looking so tasty and so I want to make that!
Eb Gargano says
It is lovely…and insanely easy – a great last minute, throw together pud that looks like you’ve been slaving away for hours!! Thanks for your kind comments 🙂 Eb x
Kate - gluten free alchemist says
As soon as I saw this, I knew it was your chocolate creme egg tart filling. So shiny!
Christmas pudding is something I can take or leave, although I do quite like it occasionally. A little goes a long way. x
Eb Gargano says
Haha – it always come up that shiny…just like magic every time – love it!! And it’s so easy to adapt…the creme egg version was fun to do, but I much prefer this slightly more grown up version for Christmas 🙂 Eb x
Charlotte Oates says
This would make a lovely festive dessert – I like Christmas pudding but I’d happily push that to one side to eat this instead!
Love the photography too – you’ve captured such beautiful shine on the tart.
Eb Gargano says
Aw, thanks Charlotte 🙂 I would be quite tempted to eat both on Christmas Day! (But probably won’t have the room to fit in either!!) Eb x