These earl grey grapefruit tarts are the perfect marriage of earl grey infused pastry crust and flavorful grapefruit curd!
For years I have been in awe of citrus tarts but never built up the courage to actually make one from scratch. Having recently purchased the most beautiful ruby grapefruits, I knew now was the time to face my fear of making tarts. Much to my surprise, these earl grey grapefruit tarts were a breeze to make! More importantly, the earl grey tea infused tart crust and grapefruit curd filling were a match made in flavor heaven. Since earl grey tea naturally has citrusy notes, it worked so beautifully with the grapefruit curd making for the most incredibly scrumptious tarts!
(NOTE: The full recipe with exact measurements is down at the bottom of this post in the recipe card!)
How to Make Earl Grey Grapefruit Tarts
Earl Grey Tart Crust
Key Ingredients
- Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- Confectioners’ (Powdered) Sugar
- Unsalted Butter
- Egg
- Ground Earl Grey Tea Leaves
- Salt
To Make Earl Grey Tart Crust
- Whisk – in a small dish/bowl, add and whisk the egg.
- Pulse – add the flour, salt, confectioners’ sugar, earl grey tea, and butter into a food processor. Pulse ingredients together until a coarse mixture consisting of small pea-sized pieces of butter are present.
- Mix – with the food processor running, pour and mix in the whisked egg into butter-flour mixture. Stop food processor once mixture starts to form into a ball.
- Divide – carefully remove earl grey tart dough from food processor and divide between four mini tart pans. Alternatively, tart dough may be transferred to a standard 9 inch tart.
- Press – working quickly, press dough into tart pan starting at the sides/edges and moving in toward the center until the tart pan has an even layer of dough. Repeat process with remaining divided dough.
- Prick – use a fork to prick all over the bottom of the tart crusts.
- Freeze – gently cover tart pans with plastic wrap, transfer to a medium baking sheet. Freeze tart crusts for 60 minutes or until dough is firm to touch.
- Prep – during the last 15-20 minutes of freeze time, preheat oven to 375F(190C). Line tart crusts with a piece of parchment paper and fill with weights of choice (i.e. pie weights, dried beans/legumes or rice).
- Bake – tart crusts on baking sheet for 15 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights and bake tart crusts for additional 10-12 minutes. Tart crust is ready when it is light golden brown in color and the bottom of the crust(s) no longer looks wet/uncooked.
- Cool – remove tart crusts from oven and allow to cool slightly as the grapefruit curd is prepared.
- Reduce – oven temperature to 325F(165C).
Grapefruit Curd
Key Ingredients
- Grapefruit Juice
- Granulated Sugar
- Eggs
- Unsalted Butter
How To Make Grapefruit Curd
- Place – a fine-mesh strainer over a medium, heat safe mixing bowl/large measuring cup. Set aside.
- Whisk – in a medium heavy-bottom (non-alkalizing) saucepan, add the eggs and sugar. Whisk ingredients together to combine. Slowly whisk in the grapefruit juice into egg-sugar mixture.
- Cook – under medium-low heat, cook grapefruit curd mixture while stirring constantly with a heat-proof rubber spatula. As the curd mixture is stirred, make sure to scrape the base and sides of the pan to ensure that curd mixture cooks through properly. Grapefruit curd is ready once it starts to thicken up and registers between 167-170F (75-77C) on a digital kitchen thermometer, about 8-10 minutes.
- Strain – immediately pass grapefruit curd through fine-mesh sieve and whisk in the softened butter a little at a time. The resulting grapefruit curd should have a smooth, velvety texture.
Earl Grey Grapefruit Tarts
- Place – tart crusts on a baking sheet.
- Fill – each tart crust with enough of the grapefruit curd so that it reaches the top edge of tart crusts without overfilling.
- Bake – carefully transfer filled tart crusts to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of earl grey grapefruit tarts appears barely puffed but the centers have a slight jiggle when baking sheet is gently shaken.
- Cool – remove earl grey grapefruit tarts from oven and cool at room temperature for 60 minutes before removing the tarts from outer ring and refrigerating for 2-4 hours to set.
Swiss Meringue
Key Ingredients
- Egg Whites
- Granulated Sugar
- Vanilla Extract
How To Make Swiss Meringue
- Clean – thoroughly clean all tools that will be used to make swiss meringue including mixing bowl, whisk attachment, and digital kitchen thermometer (if using).
- Whisk – Add egg whites and sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients to combine. Place bowl with egg white-sugar mixture over a pot of simmering water under medium low heat. Take care to ensure that the base of bowl does not come in contact with simmering water.
- Heat – constantly whisk egg white-sugar mixture until all the sugar granules are dissolved and mixture registers between 167-170F (75-77C) on a digital kitchen thermometer.
- Transfer – heated egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk at high speed (8 on stand mixer) for 8-10 minutes until the base of mixing bowl is cool to touch and meringue has reached stiff peak stage, 8-10 minutes.
- Reduce – speed to medium low and whisk in the vanilla extract into meringue. Stop mixer once all of the vanilla extract in incorporated into meringue.
Bringing It All Together – Earl Grey Grapefruit Tarts
- Transfer – swiss meringue into a large pastry bag fitted with desired pastry/piping tip.
- Pipe – meringue either in a crescent design (like I did) or over the entire surface of the tarts. For different sized meringues, use different sized pastry tips. I used Wilton 8B, 6B, and 32 pastry/piping tips.
- Sprinkle – for added texture, sprinkle piped meringue with crushed pistachios or your favorite nut (optional).
How to Store Earl Grey Grapefruit Tarts
Earl grey grapefruit tarts are best eaten the day they are baked; however, leftover tarts tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container will last 2-3 days refrigerated.
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If you make this recipe, please make sure to let me know by tagging me @nourishedendeavors on Instagram or by leaving a comment in the comment section down below so I can find out how this recipe turned out for you! If you have any questions, ask away! I would love to answer your questions! Happy baking!
PrintEarl Grey Grapefruit Tarts
These earl grey grapefruit tarts are the perfect marriage of earl grey infused pastry crust and flavorful grapefruit curd!
- Prep Time: 2 Hours
- Cook Time: 60 Minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 4 Mini Tarts 1x
Ingredients
Earl Grey Tart Crust
- 1 1/2 Cups (188 g) Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1/3 Cup (42 g) Confectioners’ (Powdered) Sugar
- 1 Large Egg, Cold
- 1/2 Cup (4 oz) Unsalted Butter, Cold, Cubed
- 1 Teaspoon Ground Earl Grey Tea Leaves
- 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
Grapefruit Curd
- 3/4 Cup (180 ml) Fresh Grapefruit Juice (I used Ruby Red Grapefruits)
- 1/2 Cup (100 g) Sugar
- 4 Large Eggs
- 6 Tablespoons (3 oz) Unsalted Butter, Softened, Cubed
Swiss Meringue
- 2 Large Egg Whites
- 1/2 Cup (100 g) Granulated Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Assembly
- Pistachios, Finely Chopped, Optional
Instructions
Earl Grey Tart Crust
- In a small dish/bowl, add and whisk the egg. Set Aside.
- Add the flour, salt, confectioners’ sugar, earl grey tea, and butter into a food processor. Pulse ingredients together until a coarse mixture consisting of small pea-sized pieces of butter are present.
- With the food processor running, pour and mix the whisked egg into butter-flour mixture. Stop food processor once mixture starts to form into a ball.
- Carefully remove earl grey tart dough from food processor and divide between four mini tart pans. Alternatively, tart dough may be transferred to a standard 9 inch tart.
- Working quickly, evenly press tart dough into tart pans starting at the sides/edges and moving in toward the center until the tart pans have an even layer of dough. Use a fork to prick all over the bottom of the tart crust dough.
- Gently cover tart pans with plastic wrap, transfer to a medium baking sheet and freeze for 60 minutes or until dough is firm.
- During the last 15-20 minutes of freeze time, preheat oven to 375F(190C). Line tart crusts with a piece of parchment paper and fill with weights of choice (i.e. pie weights, dried beans/legumes or rice).
- Bake tart crusts on baking sheet for 15 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights and bake tart crusts for additional 10-12 minutes. Tart crusts are ready when light golden brown in color and the bottom of crusts no longer looks wet/uncooked.
- Remove tart crusts from oven and allow to cool slightly as the grapefruit curd is prepared.
- Reduce oven temperature to 325F(165C).
Grapefruit Curd
- Place a fine-mesh strainer over a medium, heat safe mixing bowl/large measuring cup. Set aside.
- In a medium heavy-bottom (non-alkalizing) saucepan, add the eggs and sugar. Whisk ingredients together to combine. Slowly whisk in the grapefruit juice into egg-sugar mixture.
- Under medium-low heat, cook grapefruit curd mixture while stirring constantly with a heat-proof rubber spatula. As the curd mixture is stirred, make sure to scrape the base and sides of the pan to ensure that curd cooks through properly. Grapefruit curd is ready once it starts to thicken up and registers between 167-170F (75-77C) on a digital kitchen thermometer, about 8-10 minutes.
- Immediately pass grapefruit curd through fine-mesh strainer and whisk in the softened butter a little at a time allowing the first pieces of butter to be fully incorporated into curd before whisking in more butter. The resulting grapefruit curd should have a smooth, velvety texture.
Earl Grey Grapefruit Tarts
- Place tart crusts on a baking sheet. Fill each tart crust with enough of the grapefruit curd so that it reaches the top edge of crusts. Take cake to not overfill tart crusts.
- Carefully transfer filled tart crusts to oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the edges of earl grey grapefruit tarts appear barely puffed but the centers have a slight jiggle when baking sheet is gently shaken.
- Remove earl grey grapefruit tarts from oven and cool at room temperature for 60 minutes before removing the tarts from outer ring.
- Refrigerate cooled earl grey grapefruit tarts for 2-4 hours to set.
Swiss Meringue
- Thoroughly clean all tools that will be used to make swiss meringue including mixing bowl, whisk attachment, and digital kitchen thermometer (if using).
- Add egg whites and sugar into a medium mixing bowl. Whisk ingredients to combine.
- Place bowl with egg white-sugar mixture over a pot of simmering water under medium low heat. Take care to ensure that the base of bowl does not come in contact with simmering water.
- Constantly whisk egg white-sugar mixture until all the sugar granules are dissolved and mixture registers between 167-170F (75-77C) on a digital kitchen thermometer. (In the absence of a kitchen thermometer, you can tell if egg whites are properly cooked by rubbing some of the mixture between your fingers (index and thumb). If mixture is smooth without any presence of sugar granules, you are good to go.)
- Transfer heated egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk at high speed until the base of mixing bowl is cool to touch and meringue has reached stiff peak stage, 8-10 minutes.
- Reduce mixer speed to medium low and whisk in the vanilla extract into meringue. Stop mixer once all of the vanilla extract in incorporated into meringue.
Assembly
- Transfer swiss meringue into a large pastry bag fitted with desired pastry/piping tip.
- Pipe meringue either in a crescent design (like I did) or over the entire surface of the tarts. For different sized meringues, use different sized pastry tips. I used Wilton 8B, 6B, and 32 pastry/piping tips.
- For added texture, sprinkle piped meringue with crushed pistachios or your favorite nut (optional).
Notes
- Earl grey grapefruit tarts are best eaten the day they are baked; however, leftover tarts tightly wrapped in plastic wrap or stored in an airtight container will last 2-3 days refrigerated.
- Earl grey tart dough maybe made in advance, pressed into tart pans and stored in the freezer for up to 1-3 months. Just make sure to properly wrap/store unbaked tart crust in a freezer safe container to help prevent freezer burn.
- Instead of making mini tarts, recipe for earl grey grapefruit tarts yields 1 large 9-inch tart.
- Leftover grapefruit curd stored in an airtight container will last up to 1 week in the fridge.
- In place of grapefruits, curd may be made with your preferred citrus fruit like lemons, oranges, or lime.
- To avoid ending up with leftover meringue, the entire surface of tarts maybe cover with swiss meringue and toasted for added flavor!
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Rhea
This looks absolutely gorgeous and delicious!
nourished endeavors
Thanks so much!! I had tons of fun making these tarts.