Grape Tart with CBD Pastry Cream

A winter seasonal grape tart dessert made with CBD pastry cream for a relaxing end to a meal.

The holiday season is typically a heavy handed feature of bold desserts. And why shouldn’t it be? Warming winter spices, boozy soaked fruits and every holiday cookie imaginable are the ultimate contrast to summer berries and whipped cream. Every dish needs a foil (or at least for those of us who live somewhere with four seasons).

But in those moments of choking down one more rum ball, when your thoughts begin to turn towards something fresh and a bit lighter, this grape tart with pastry cream (infused with CBD) may be just what you’re looking for. Especially if the person shoving cookies upon you is a family member you really can only deal with once a year.

CBD oil is mixed into the vanilla pastry cream after cooking. Keep in mind, use an unflavored CBD oil (this will make a more robust, grassier taste) or select a pre-flavored variety that pairs well with dessert (perhaps lemon or something floral).

Since the initial layer of the tart is lemon curd, this acidic brightness helps balance out the rich cream.

Grape Health and Nutrition

While you could could swap out grapes for any other seasonal fruit during other parts of the year, grapes are a nice, winter available fruit not often used in desserts. With plenty of colors available, every option is a good source of vitamin K and polyphenols. Promising emerging research on grapes shows benefits for brain health, eye and skin health, as well as combatting cellular inflammation.

How to buy and store grapes

When shopping for grapes, look for plump grapes with pliable stems. If you see a powdery white coating on grapes, they’re good! That’s called ‘bloom’, which occurs naturally and protects grapes from moisture loss.

Always refrigerate your grapes (they’ll last longer-for up to 2 weeks!) and rinse before serving.

Can I make this ahead?

Both the tart shell and the pastry cream can be made at least a day in advance. But don’t compile the tart until a few hours before serving (or the tart will become a bit mushy and the pastry cream will weep.

Grape Tart with CBD Pastry Cream

INGREDIENTS

CBD Pastry Cream

1 1/2 cups whole milk, divided

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/8 cup cornstarch

1/2 Tablespoon flour

2 large egg yolks

2 Tablespoons butter

1 teaspoon high quality vanilla extract

45 Milligrams CBD OIL

Basic Tart Dough (From Bon Appétit w/ method modifications)

1 tablespoon sugar

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for surface

6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 large egg, beaten

Additional ingredients

lemon curd

grapes, cut in half lengthwise

simple syrup

DIRECTIONS

1. To make pastry cream: In a medium-sized saucepan, stir together 1 cup of the milk, sugar and salt. Heat to simmer, stir to dissolve sugar.

2. In a small bowl combine cornstarch, flour, and egg yolks with the remaining 1/2 cup milk.

3. Using a spoon, slowly add some of the heated milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture and whisk quickly (this is called tempering and keeps the eggs from scrambling). Do this several times.

4. Pour the egg yolk and milk mixture back into the remaining milk in the pan through a fine mesh sieve to remove any lumps. Bring to a boil, whisking constantly until the mixture thickens (bring to 165 F).

5. Create an ice bath (two nesting bowls, fill the larger one with ice and water and place the smaller one within).

6. Stir butter and vanilla into pastry cream and pour through a sieve again into the nested bowl in the ice bath.

7. Chill in ice bath about five minutes, stir in CBD oil and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cool (can be stored up to 4 days).

8. To make tart dough: Add sugar, salt, and flour to a food processor with blade. Add in chunks of butter and pulse until coarse.

9. Drizzle egg into food processor. Pulse until dough comes together.

10. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it forms a smooth shaped disk. Wrap and chill at least two hours but up to two days.

11. Preheat oven to 400 F. Remove dough from fridge and roll into a thin sheet, evenly divided into three sections to fit pastry tins. Place into tins and form to edges. Prick with a fork and blind bake for about 10 minutes or until tart is browned.

12. Chill tart shell. Fill with a small layer of lemon curd, then pastry cream and add grapes, starting in the middle and working around to the outside.

13. Brush with simple syrup (this sounds unnecessary, but by contrast the grapes really need additional sweetness with the pastry cream). Serve immediately, or chill for up to three hours and serve.