Why it works: Cranberry and sugar work together. They rank in the top 25% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 374 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Prune Tarts
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the filling
Scald the prunes, remove the stones and kernels.
Combine the prunes and kernels with cranberry juice and sugar.
Simmer for about 10 minutes.
Fill and bake
Once cooled, use the mixture to fill the tarts.
Bake according to your short-crust pastry recipe.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Photo for illustrative purposes only · Contact us to use it
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Cranberry + sugartop 25% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together374 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Prunes
- Provide the main body, flavour and sweetness of the filling as they soften during simmering.
- Cranberry juice
- Adds liquid and tartness to balance the sweetness of the prunes and sugar.
- Sugar
- Adds sweetness and helps create a glossy, thick texture in the cooked filling.
- Short-crust pastry
- Forms the tart case that holds the filling and bakes to a crisp, golden base.
The step that matters
Let the filling cool before filling the tarts. A hot filling softens the raw pastry and can melt its fat before baking sets it, leading to a soggy base. Cooling keeps the crust crisp and the filling in shape.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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