While this tart looks and tastes impressive, its preparation is simple. We started by making a pat-in-pan crust with melted butter. It came together quickly and required no rolling or chilling. After baking, the crust was flaky and tender yet still sturdy enough to hold the curd.
To capture the subtle floral notes of grapefruit in the curd, we used fresh juice and stirred in a large amount of zest. We also used a mix of whole eggs and yolks (instead of just yolks) to prevent the tart from tasting too eggy. And we added lemon juice for brightness.
A few drops of food coloring gave the curd a pink hue reminiscent of fresh ruby grapefruits. After we baked and chilled the tart, we topped it with whipped cream, which mingled with the smooth curd to create a creamy, luxurious bite.
Grapefruit Tart
Serves 8
For the crust:
1 1/3 cups (6 2/3 ounces) flour
5 tablespoons (2 1/4 ounces) sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) sugar
3 large eggs plus 4 large yolks
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon ruby red grapefruit zest plus 1 cup juice (2 large grapefruits)
3 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled, cut into 10 pieces
6 drops red liquid food coloring
For the topping:
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
For the crust:
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add melted butter and stir with spatula until dough forms.
2. Using your hands, crumble two-thirds of the dough over the bottom of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press dough to an even thickness in the bottom of the pan. Crumble remaining dough and scatter evenly around edge of pan, then press crumbled dough into fluted sides of pan, pressing so dough rises about 1/8 inch above sides and making sure dough is pressed into corner around base of pan.
3. Place pan on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until tart shell is golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking. Let the tart shell cool on the sheet while preparing filling.
For the filling:
1. Whisk sugar, eggs and yolks, cornstarch, and salt in a medium bowl until smooth.
2. Bring grapefruit juice and lemon juice to simmer in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Whisking constantly, slowly pour hot juice mixture into egg mixture and whisk until smooth; transfer mixture to now-empty saucepan.
3. Cook egg mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly with rubber spatula, until mixture clings to spatula and registers 165 to 170 degrees in multiple places, 3 to 5 minutes. Off heat, stir in butter and food coloring until butter is melted and fully incorporated. Strain curd through a fine-mesh strainer into a medium bowl, gently pressing on solids to extract curd. Whisk in grapefruit zest.
Eat. Watch. Do.
4. Pour filling into tart shell (shell needn’t be fully cooled). Bake tart on sheet until edges are set and center 5 inches jiggle slightly when nudged, 16 to 19 minutes. Let tart cool completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour. Refrigerate, uncovered, until filling is well chilled and firm, about 2 hours. (Tart can be refrigerated for up to three days; after tart is well chilled, cover with an inverted bowl. Blot away any accumulated moisture with a paper towel before decorating and serving.)
5. When ready to decorate, remove the outer metal ring of the tart pan, slide a thin metal spatula between the tart and pan bottom to release, then slip tart onto a platter.
For the topping:
1. Using a stand mixer fitted with whisk attachment, whip cream and sugar on medium-low speed until foamy, about 1 minute. Increase speed to high and whip until stiff peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes.
2. Transfer whipped cream to a pastry bag fitted with a pastry tip. Pipe decorative border around perimeter of tart as desired. Transfer any remaining whipped cream to a small serving bowl. Cut tart into wedges and serve, passing extra whipped cream separately.
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