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Cranberry Cream Tart – No-Bake Cookie Crust Holiday Dessert

There is never enough time in the day and that’s 100x more true around the holidays. To help you out today I’m sharing a recipe for a no-bake Cranberry Cream Tart.

A sweet & tart no-bake Cranberry cream tart with a chocolate cookie crust is the perfect make ahead dessert

I made this cranberry dessert for Thanksgiving this year. It’s an easy, no-bake holiday dessert that comes together quickly and holds well in the fridge.

Last year I actually made a much more complicated version with chocolate ganache and stabilized whipped cream. Lucky for all of us this tastes just as good and takes way less time.

This tart was made in a non-stick tart pan with a removable bottom. I’m really weird about cooking with non-stick in the house because I have a parrot so I’ve never actually baked in the pan. It does make really nice no-bake tarts though!

The easiest way to get a fine cookie crumb for your crust is to chop up the cookies in a food processor. Toss about 1/2 the cookies in to start and add the rest through the shoot as they grind down to make room. Check a few times for lumps! You want the crumbs smooth as possible.

A sweet & tart no-bake Cranberry cream tart with a chocolate cookie crust is the perfect make ahead dessert

When you add the melted butter it’s going to look really wrong at first. Like you have too much cookie and not enough butter but keep folding it over until it all looks wet.

Then when you smoosh it down the heat from your hands will help the butter stay pliable and you’ll think you have too much butter. Let it set in the fridge and it’s all going to work out in the end.

I actually made my cranberry sauce a few days before I got to the pie, I just threw in the fridge in a covered pyrex bowl and forgot about it until I needed it.

Multi-tasking is a necessity during the whirlwind of holiday baking so I actually made this, the Brie with Pear, Honey & Rosemary, the Eggnog Icebox Cake and the Christmas Crack Bites all in one day! My fridge was full of a very strange combination of things for a while.

Yield: 12

Cranberry Cream Tart

A sweet & tart no-bake Cranberry cream tart with a chocolate cookie crust is the perfect make ahead dessert

A sweet & tart no-bake Cranberry cream tart with a chocolate cookie crust is the perfect make ahead dessert

Prep Time 20 minutes
Additional Time 1 hour
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 35 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 bag Cranberries, pick out bad berries
  • 2 T White Sugar
  • 26 Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
  • 6 T Butter, Melted
  • 1 C Whipping Cream
  • 1/4 C White Sugar

Instructions

  1. Combine Cranberries, 2 T of sugar and a splash of water in a small saucepan over medium heat
  2. Cook and stir frequesntly until berries are burst, sugar is dissolved and the fruit gets very thick
  3. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature
  4. Crush cookies in a food processor or using a plastic bag and rolling pin
  5. Stir together crushed cookies and melted butter
  6. Squish cookie mixture evenly across the bottom of the pan and up the sides. Place in fridge to harden
  7. Whip cold cream in a cold bowl, gradually adding in sugar, until stiff peaks form
  8. Fold cooled cranberries into whipped cream and spoon into cookie shell
  9. Store in the fridge

Notes

This dessert is on the tart side, I'm not a huge fan of super sweet desserts. If you want a sweeter result add extra sugar when you cook the cranberries. 

Check out my Desserts page for more ideas or start here:

Whip up a batch of eggnog pudding and squish it between layers of cookies before throwing it in the fridge overnight for a delicious eggnog icebox cake

Kristin Novotny

Friday 8th of December 2017

I’m glad you’re feeling better! This dessert is gorgeous, and looks so delicious!

Dawn Nieves

Friday 8th of December 2017

Oh my yum!!! This looks so good! And the colors are so pretty too!!!

Corinne

Friday 8th of December 2017

This looks amazing and so unlike any of the other holiday treats that we normally make. I can't wait to try your recipe! Thanks for sharing it.

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