Cranberry & Orange Tartlets (or how to use up a few leftover Cranberries)

Still sizzling from the oven.  Yum!

This recipe is one of those happy little accidents that only happen when leftovers come together.

You see, I had some Cranberries left over from the Red Cabbage & Cranberries and although I'd used some in the Cinnamon Plums & Cranberries, I still had a fair amount left over.  They were taking up space in the fridge and were starting to look a bit sad, when lo and behold, I was left with half a block of shortcrust pastry left from the Cheese & Bacon Pasties (which you've yet to hear about).

I spent about half a day thinking about what combination of flavours I could use in a small tartlet, or maybe some turnovers (except that would really need puff pastry, so that wasn't such a good idea).

I knew I had a little of last summer's Rhubarb Jam in the fridge and thought that would make an interesting combination as the jam was very sweet and would be a good foil for the tart Cranberries.  However, upon further investigation, the Rhubarb Jam had died in the meantime and was threatening to grow fur - so that went into the bin.  Fortunately, it was only around a half a cupful, so no real harm done.

However, that had got my brain working along the lines of "juicy things that are already sweet" lines - and I remembered the orange marmalade.  It was a medium marmalade, so not too bitter, with some peel but not too much.  However, I didn't really think the marmalade on its own would be sufficient to sweeten the oh-so-tart Cranberry.  I didn't want to use granulated sugar, as it would have potentially roughened the texture too much.  I briefly pondered honey, but rejected that as being another flavour too many.  The answer, lay in the Golden Syrup pot.  Being smooth, sweet and relatively unflavoured, it was perfect.

So, I rolled out the pastry and cut out 12 little tart bases (hubby having turned the pan cupboard upside down, looking for the tart tray!).  I put the oven on to pre-heat and got a small saucepan out.

Cooled - and rather less dangerous to life & limb!

Into the saucepan, I put the cranberries (minus a few that were particularly suspect), two dessertspoonfuls of marmalade and a big dessertspoonful of golden syrup.  I heated the contents on a gentle heat until the cranberries just started to show cracks in their skins and the marmalade was all dissolved.

I felt it was important to partially cook the cranberries before putting into the tart cases, as they are hard little fellows and the 15-20 minutes cooking wasn't (potentially) enough to soften them sufficiently.

As it turned out - I was right.  I popped a spoonful of Cranberries into each tart case and followed up with a little of the orange sauce - but not too much, as I didn't want them to overflow everywhere and I knew that the Cranberries were very likely to release more juice as they cooked.  Into the oven they went, while I did the dishes.

15-20 minutes later and out they came.  The Cranberries were cooked perfectly and although the contents had overflowed a little, I had no problem getting the tarts out of the pan - so long as I didn't wait for them to cool down!  If you let them cool down, I suspect you'd need a jackhammer to get them out.

They are a gorgeous little mouthful.  Two bites big, they release their tart Cranberry flavours onto your tongue, whilst the slightly savoury note from the shortcrust pastry provides a stalwart backbone from which to launch.  Very quickly, the orange of the marmalade breaks through, followed by a hint of syrup.  By then, your mouth is watering and you're ready for the next one!

I have to admit that we didn't stop to do anything fancy with them by way of a dessert, but I know they'd be fabulous with ice cream, cream, creme fraiche, greek yoghurt or even custard.  Anything except a piece of stilton, I'd say!  Although, thinking on ....

CRANBERRY & ORANGE TARTLETS  (makes 12)

Ingredients :

250g shortcrust pastry
200g (approx) fresh cranberries
2 tbsp medium cut orange marmalade
1 tbsp golden syrup.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C/350deg F/Gas 4.

2.  Roll out the pastry fairly thinly and cut out 12 discs to fit inside your tart tins.  Press them in gently, making sure that no air bubbles remain underneath.

3.  Place the cranberries, orange marmalade and golden syrup into a small saucepan and heat gently, until the cranberries are showing signs of their skins cracking and softening a little.  Do not cook until they are soft & squishy - you want them to just demonstrate that they're starting to cook.

4.  Place a spoonful of cranberries (without sauce) into each tart shell, then go around and place a quarter of a tablespoonful of sauce into each tart shell.

5.  Put the tarts into the oven to bake for 15 minutes, then have a look at them.  If the pastry appears to be fairly pallid still, leave them to bake for another 5-10 minutes, but keep an eye on them as you don't want the cranberries to burn.  They are done when the pastry has turned a golden brown.

6.  Remove the tarts from the tin as quickly as possible while they are still hot - try not to get any of the sauce onto your fingers, as it is at an evil temperature and will burn - or they will weld themselves to the tart tin.  Place each tart onto a cooling tray and wait patiently until they're cool enough to handle safely!

7.  Fight off the ravening hordes, whilst attempting to serve.

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Cinnamon Plums with Cranberries - light and delicious!

You might recall that I'd been pondering what to do with the punnet and a half of large purple plums that were roosting malevolently in the fridge.

I'd originally bought these plums for Son & heir to take to school for a break time snack (one at a time - not all at once!), however he'd neatly circumvented this well-intentioned idea by taking a chocolate biscuit instead.  By the time we'd worked out that this was going on, we had a surfeit of plums that were past their best and had to devise a new home for the chocolate biscuits.

As for what to use the plums for, well, that was easy.  There were obvious choices such as plum crumble, or plum pie, or even a plum cobbler.  All very delicious - right up until you remember that I'm supposed to be off carbs as much as is humanly possible.  Now I do try to not be selfish, but I'll be blowed if I'm going to spend my time cooking a lovely dessert and not be able to eat any of it!

Now my Mum had prepared a lovely light dessert for when we visited last weekend.  She'd baked halved nectarines with honey and bay leaves, together with raspberries and blueberries - which was completely gorgeous and perfect for anyone conscious of what they're eating.  It was even suitable for diabetics, so long as the honeyed juices were left in the serving dish.

So that got me to pondering on my plums.  I'd bought a punnet of cranberries to use in Red Cabbage with Cranberries (due for dinner tomorrow, with the Corned Beef Pie) but it was obvious that I had way too many cranberries for just that recipe, so I could afford to use a few with the plums.

Bearing in mind the time of year - just coming up to Christmas, when I considered what flavourings to put with the plums, cinnamon sprang immediately to mind quickly followed by a pinch of mace for that sharper note.  I pondered for a moment or two on using a little spiced rum as well, but in the end, opted for taking a little zest from an orange and using the juice as the moisture base.  I thought that the citrus would match up well with the mace - and indeed I was right.  However, if you don't have any mace but do have some spiced rum - go ahead and use it, because I'm sure it would be fab.

The next problem was what to sweeten the whole with.  Bearing in mind the diabetes, I was loath to use plain old granulated sugar.  Remembering my Mum's recipe, I opted for honey.  Yes, it's all sugar - but honey is (apparently) better for diabetics and considering hubby is only just diabetic, as I say, so long as he keeps the sugary juices in the serving dish, he'd be fine.

Well, what a triumph this was.  Incredibly simple to prepare, lavish to look at and gorgeous on the palate - especially with a spoonful of creme fraiche.  I'll very definitely be making this - and ones like it with different fruit - again.  Better than a pot of (albeit very nice) yoghurt for dessert!

CINNAMON PLUMS WITH CRANBERRIES  (feeds 3-4)

Ingredients :

6 big fat purple plums
a handful of cranberries
half a tsp of ground cinnamon
a pinch of mace
zest & juice of one orange
3-4 tsp runny honey.

Method :


1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C/350deg F/Gas 4.


2.  Slice and remove the stone from the plums.  Place the slices, cut side up, into a baking dish.  Add the cranberries randomly around the dish.


3.  Sprinkle the fruit with the cinnamon & mace, then grate the orange zest over.


4.  Juice the orange into the dish - it doesn't matter if it washes some of the spices off - it will all add to the flavours.


5.  Drizzle the lot with the honey, then place into the oven for 30-40 minutes.


6.  When the time is up, check that the plums are soft but whole.  Remove and allow to cool slightly, then serve with a spoonful of creme fraiche.


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