Cranberry Tartlettes

This is a cranberry sauce/filling recipe that I came up with. It's so simple and delicious! No thickeners needed.

These tartlettes were great for Thanksgiving, but you could make them for Christmas, too.  

I topped them with a cinnamon-sugar coated cranberry, but that was probably a bad idea, because uncooked cranberries are too tart for my taste.

Filling:

 1 (12-oz) bag fresh cranberries

 1 cup granulated sugar

 1 cup water

 1 teaspoon finely grated orange zest

 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

Tart dough:

 1 cup all-purpose flour

 1/4 teaspoon salt

 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

 2 tablespoons shortening

 3 tablespoons ice water 

Stir together cranberries, sugar, water, zest, and spices, in a large saucepan, set over medium heat. Bring mixture to a boil, and continue to boil until thickened, about 15-20 minutes. Cool and chill mixture completely. 

To make the tart dough, place flour and salt in a food processor. Add butter and shortening and pulse until evenly incorporated. Add ice water, gradually, and process until mixed, and dough comes together. Form the dough into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap, and chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

 Roll dough out onto a lightly floured surface, cut circles out using a cookie cutter, and fit dough into mini tart or muffin pans. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until dough is golden; Cool. 

Fill tart shells with cranberry filling, and serve.

Recipe Source: http://www.visionsofsugarplum.com/2007/11/cranberry-tartlettes.html