Sea Buckthorn Tart
Hey my dudes!
If you’re looking to impress your guests with a dessert that’s as beautiful as it is delicious, look no further than a Sea Buckthorn Tart. With its bright, tangy filling and toasty Swiss meringue topping, this tart is sure to be a crowd-pleaser.
But what is sea buckthorn exactly?
This bright orange berry grows on shrubs and is native to regions of Europe and Asia. It’s typically in season from late August to early October, though the exact season can vary depending on the location. In Sweden, where it’s commonly used in cooking and baking, it’s often found in forests and along the coast.
What does sea buckthorn taste like?
Well, the flavor is hard to describe, but it’s often described as tart, fragrant, and even a bit exotic. It reminds be a little bit of passionfruit. They are both yellow/orange, both fairly sour, both have black seeds and both have a sort of tropical taste.
The tart itself
As with any good tart, the crust is an important component. This recipe uses a combination of all-purpose flour, almond flour, powdered sugar, and vanilla sugar to create a crumbly, vanilla-scented crust.
The sea buckthorn curd is basically lemon curd but I subbed some of the lemon juice for sea buckthorn juice. I also added a touch of gelatin to help it set up better in the crust.
On top goes the Swiss meringue topping. This is made with sugar, egg whites, and lemon juice, and is toasted under the grill function of your oven until it’s golden brown and toasty.
While this tart may seem complicated at first glance, it’s actually quite simple to make. With a little patience and attention to detail, you’ll have a beautiful and delicious dessert that’s sure to impress. And if you can’t find fresh sea buckthorn in your area (look for it online or in specialty stores), don’t worry – you can substitute passionfruit juice/puree 1-1. Make sure it is pure passionfruit juice/puree that has nothing added to it, no extra water, sugar, nothing.
Sea Buckthorn tart
Ingredients
Tart Dough:
- 166 g AP flour
- 104 g almond flour
- 44 g powdered sugar
- 5 g vanilla sugar*
- 2 g salt
- 1 g baking powder
- 75 g butter
- 10 g milk
- 1 ea egg
Sea Buckthorn Curd:
- 75 g SBT juice or passion fruit juice
- 50 g lemon juice
- 130 g sugar
- 3 ea eggs
- 3 g gelatin I use sheets
- 225 g butter
Swiss Meringue:
- 100 g sugar
- 60 g egg white
- 15 g lemon juice
Instructions
Tart Dough:
- Add all your dries and the butter to the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Mix until sandy.
- Add the egg and the milk.
- Mix until crumbly
- Knead by hand until a dough forms
- Wrap in plastic and let chill at least one hour.
- Roll out and line your tart shell
- Prick with a fork and freeze for at least 30 minutes
- Bake at 150C/300F until golden brown (depending on your oven and the thickness of the dough this will take between 15-30 minutes)
- Once baked. Let cool completely.
- *you can substitute vanilla extract for vanilla sugar, but add the extract to the milk/egg, don’t add it to the dries
Seabuckthorn Curd:
- Take juice, sugar, eggs to 83C/181F.
- Once at temperature immediately pull off the heat and stir in the gelatin
- Strain immediately.
- Put plastic on contact and let sit until between 45-50C/113-122F
- Stir whisking in the butter about a tablespoon at a time
- Once all the butter is in and there are no lumps pour the curd into the pre baked tart shell.
- Let chill in the fridge for at least 3 hours but preferably overnight.
Swiss Meringue:
- Add all ingredients to the VERY clean bowl of your stand mixer.
- Place over a pout of simmering water and start whisking immediately.
- Whisk until all the sugar has dissolved, text this by dipping your fingers in the mix and rubbing them together, if you can feel sugar granules, keep cookin’.
- As soon as the sugar is dissolved pop the bowl into the stand mixer and start whipping on high speed.
- Whip until the meringue holds a stiff peak.
- Spread the meringue over the top of your chilled tart.
- Turn on the grill function of you oven and set it to the highest temperature.
- Place an oven rack in the top third of the oven.
- “Grill” your tart until the meringue is toasted, this took about a minute in my oven.
- Grate some lime zest over your tart and enjoy!