Blood orange tart
Blood orange season is here and we should all be having this delicious vegan tart! It is simple to make so if you’re looking for some blood orange recipes I definitely recommend you try this dessert.
Hi! I hope you’re having a good week. Everyone who I know seems to be a bit better. I don’t know about where you live, but here in the UK today was sunny and quite warm and as I am writing this, which is about 5pm, it is still light outside! That makes so much difference. Although it is a bit weird too, because I can’t believe that it is already 5pm so I am a bit behind.
We are close to the end of blood orange season (but you have time until the end of March I’d say) so I would advice you to hurry up and make this tart quickly!
The coconut milk comes through a bit and it goes so nice with blood orange. Also, have you seen the colour? How amazing! And if you decorate it with slices of blood orange, it will be so gorgeous to look at. (Yes, I am one of those people who sometimes look at fruit and vegetables and think about how beautiful they are..)
If you’re scared of making the pastry - I understand.. It can be quite daunting to try for the first time (or second time) but every time you make it, you will get better at it and you will know how to work with it more. Just try not to knead it too much, otherwise gluten will develop too much and the pastry will be hard. The same goes for water - be careful with adding too much, if you add too much, it might be hard and it might shrink in the oven. Needless to say - even if the pastry is a bit hard it is still pretty good. And if you still don’t feel like making it, you can just buy it in a store.
Makes 20cm (8inch) tart tin.
Ingredients
Pastry
120g all purpose flour
25g icing sugar
60g vegan butter or coconut oil
2-3 tbsp ice cold water or vodka
pinch of salt
Filling
75ml blood orange juice (about 2 and 1/2 oranges)
zest from one blood orange
40g white caster sugar
300ml coconut milk
2tbsp cornstarch
1/2tsp agar agar powder
pinch of salt
Method
Pastry
Sift flour, icing sugar and salt into a bowl. Add butter and rub together until it resembles wet sand. Add ice cold water or vodka (tablespoon by tablespoon), I usually add around 3tbsp of water but it depends on flour you use. Combine dough gently, don’t knead. After every tablespoon try to press a small piece of the dough into ball and see if it holds together - if so, press all of dough together, wrap into cling foil and leave in the fridge for at least an hour (you can leave it over night). If it doesn’t hold together, add another tablespoon of water and try again.
Remove pastry from the fridge and roll out until around 4mm thick. It is easier if you roll it in between two pieces of cling foil or baking paper. Gently place pastry into a tart tin (it is easier to place into a tin if you roll it on cling foil and transfer it on the foil) and press it into the corners. Trim off any excess pastry and prick the base with a fork couple of times. Place again to the fridge, for about 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 200C/180C (fan), take pastry from the fridge, line the tart with baking paper and fill with baking beads (or dried beans, or uncooked rice, whichever you have at home)
Bake for 15 mins, then remove baking beads and bake for another 10-15 mins (I baked for 15mins but it depends on your oven so watch it and bake until it is golden brown.
Let the pastry cool down and once it is cold, start the blood orange filling.
Filling
Place orange juice, orange zest, caster sugar, salt and about 270ml of coconut milk into a small saucepan and bring to the boil.
Take the rest of coconut milk and whisk cornstarch and agar agar into it until it is completely dissolved.
Once the filling in a saucepan starts to boil, add the cornstarch and agar agar mix and whisk it in. Continue to cook on a medium heat for 4-5mins and stir it few times.
Pour into the tart shell, let it cool down for about an hour at room temperature and then transfer to the fridge. Leave it for about 2 hours and it’s ready! If you fancy, cut slices of blood orange to decorate it.