An elegant 11-inch tart with flavors of coconut and macadamia nuts, filled with a lemon mascarpone cream and a layer of pomegranate jelly.
By Amrita Rawat
While I rarely toot my horn about my own dessert creations, I have to admit: This one is pretty fantastic. 
I’ve enjoyed eating pomegranates my entire life. Shamefully, however, I don’t know how to skillfully extract the seeds from the fruit; the little ruby jewels were always handed to me in a bowl as a child, ready to eat. Alas, it looks like a lot of trouble.
Luckily, much to my delight, I recently discovered pomegranate jam: It’s wonderful and tartly sweet. I made macaron filling with the jam a while back and remembered that I still had half the bottle left over. So into the tart it went.
The crust was quite the happy accident. In December, I made a tart with a coconut-macadamia nut crust and froze the leftover dough. I definitely need to start labeling more diligently, because when I pulled this dough from the freezer, I was almost certain it was regular tart dough. Either way, the hint of coconut and the nutty texture went perfectly with the rest of the components.
For the filling, I decided to keep it simple by whipping mascarpone with lemon curd and adding a ¼ teaspoon of ginger for a slight kick, although I’m not sure you can ultimately taste it. I grated lemon zest over the top and splurged on some fresh pomegranate seeds for photography (as well as snacking) purposes. The tart went over very well with my friends – although my finicky seed-averse boyfriend insisted on flicking off the pomegranate seeds. Though we completely disagreed on that, this tart was undoubtedly a hit, and oh-so easy to put together for any special occasion.
Pomegranate-Lemon-Mascarpone Tart with Coconut-Macadamia Nut Crust
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 5 1x
Description
An elegant 11-inch tart with flavors of coconut and macadamia nuts, filled with a lemon mascarpone cream and a layer of pomegranate jelly.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup finely ground coconut
- 1 cup roasted salted macadamia nuts, ground
- 1/3 cup sugar
- Pinch salt
- 1¼ sticks chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tsp. ice water, plus additional as needed
- ½ tsp. coconut extract (optional)
- 1 cup mascarpone cheese
- ½ cup lemon curd
- ¼ tsp. ginger (add more to taste, if you prefer)
- ½ jar of pomegranate jam or jelly
- 1 lemon for grating as garnish
- ¼ cup pomegranate seeds, for garnish
Instructions
- First make the crust: Blend the first 5 ingredients in a food processor until fine. Next, add the butter and pulse lightly to combine.
- Add the egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of water (and coconut extract, if desired) and pulse until moist clumps form. If the dough is too dry, add more water, ½ teaspoon at a time, until it reaches the desired consistency.
- Turn the dough out of the food processor onto a clean, floured work surface. Gather into a ball and then flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 1 hour.
- Roll out the dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper until it is larger than an 11-inch tart pan. Invert the crust into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Trim the edges, and refrigerate for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Cover the pan with foil and fill with baking beads (or dry beans) and bake for 5 minutes.
- Reduce the temperature to 350 degrees and remove the tart from the oven. Remove foil and weights.
- Prick the crust all over with a fork (5 or 6 times) and put back in the oven.
- Bake until the crust is golden, about 15 to 18 minutes, and let cool completely before filling.
- Next make the filling: Beat together the mascarpone, lemon curd and ginger until smooth. Set aside.
- Smear the jam/jelly inside the cooled tart. Spread the mascarpone filling on top of the jelly, smoothing it out with a spatula.
- Grate the zest of 1 lemon over the top and/or sprinkle with fresh pomegranate seeds. Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 mins
