Valentine’s Day ~ and Blood Orange Tart

It’s a silly holiday, really, Valentine’s Day. Cupid shooting us with an arrow to bring on googly-eyes? Silly. But God plays Cupid really well when we let Him.

Romance vs. Love

For a lot of young women, Valentine’s Day is the day her fella should shower her with flowers, chocolates and romance. Think of the pressure we put on each other to live up to some Hollywood ideal of love.

via GIPHY

God Plays Cupid Really Well

What if we stopped playing by fake rules and we accept our spouse for the man he really is? He isn’t a Hollywood actor and we’re not living in a romance movie. Valentine’s Day will be much more of a blessing if we remember that the love shared is soo much deeper than flowers that soon wilt (though, don’t get me wrong. Anytime Handsome Hubby wants to give me flowers, I will gladly accept).

God certainly knew what He was doing when He set Hubby before me and helped me realize I had all I’d ever dreamt of right before my eyes. Each day, Hubby and I try to show the other the love we feel. There’s something about him opening my car door for me each and every time we get in that makes my heart happy. When I catch him looking at me while I’m concentrating on something, I still get butterflies (we’ve been together 30 years so that’s saying something!). I don’t need a bouquet of roses to know that God paired me with my perfect guy!

Does that mean I like him all the time? Nope! On days when I want to wring his neck, I remember that on our wedding day, I stood before God and made promises of love and patience. Those vows are not to be taken lightly; they’re a covenant with God and my husband. The three of us are in this together. On days that I’m not particularly feeling lovey-dovey (and we all feel that way from time to time), I take it to God. I ask for that dose of patience. My promises to God are deeply important to me and I can’t choose to forget them just because I’m mad in the moment.

Love Your Spouse and Shower Them With Love

You stopped by today for a yummy recipe, didn’t you? Creating this tart for Handsome Hubby is a yearly treat as much for me as it is for him. He’s the only one in the family that eats it and with blood oranges only available a short time in late January, it’s easily the only Valentine’s present he’ll ever request.

Blood Orange Tart

Start with an easy sweet dough mixed quickly in a food processor. Prepare an orange curd flavored with orange zest and vanilla bean seeds. Top with sliced blood oranges and you have a masterpiece!

The sweet dough comes together quickly. You add all of your dry ingredients in the bowl of the food processor and pulse to combine. Cube your butter and add two eggs; pulse until ingredients form a dough and you’re done! Refrigerate for 30 minutes, roll out and fit into a tart pan. Refrigerate again, then bake. See? Easy.

The orange curd is just about as easy as the dough. Simmer milk until small bubbles form around the edge of your pan. Mix egg yolks in a bowl with a little sugar and flour. Temper (slowly add while mixing) your milk into your egg mixture, whisking the whole time. Return to your pan and whisk over medium heat until it thickens and boils. Whisk for one minute and you’re done! Move to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap (pressing wrap on curd to prevent a film from forming) and refrigerate until cold.

Line your baked, cooled tart shell with your cold curd and top with sliced blood oranges for a spectacular, delicious dessert! Your loved one will thank you, I promise.

Valentine’s Blog Hop

I am so honored to be participating with some of the best bloggers out there for a Valentine’s Day Blog Hop. Today and tomorrow, two groups of us are offering Valentine’s inspiration with recipes, crafts, devotions. Loads of great content for you to consider. Today’s posts are from:

• Brianne’s Heart-shaped heating pad at Homemade On Our Homestead
• Rachael’s Celebrating on a Budget at Australian Working Mama
• Amanda shared her Budget-friendly 3 Course Meal at Cozy Tasty Home
• Misty’s Devotional “Blueprint for Marriage” at Our Grace Filled Journey
• Lyndsy’s Salted Cashew Clusters at Treasured Oak Springs
• Kelly’s Cream Cheese Pie at The Willow Mama
• Amy is sharing at Essentially Handmade

Day 2 of the Blog Hop is tomorrow and will include these lovely ladies:

• Callie at This Corbett Life
• Jersey Farmhouse Basic Collection
• Anja at Our Gabled Home
• Julie from This Beautiful Farm Life
• Dana from St. Martha’s Lens
• Gabrielle at Life With The Correas
• Wendy from Little House Simple Living

Print

Blood Orange Tart

Ingredients

Sweet Dough

• 2 1/2 cups a.p. flour
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 8 tbsp butter unsalted
• 2 eggs

Orange Curd

• 1 1/2 cups milk 1%, 2% or whole
• 4 egg yolks
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup a.p. flour
• 1 tsp orange zest from blood orange
• 1 tsp vanilla bean seeds
• 4-6 blood oranges peeled, sliced

Instructions

Sweet Dough

1. Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of your food processor.  Pulse 3-4 times to mix.
   

2. Cube the butter into small pieces and add to the dry ingredients.
   

3. Add eggs to the dry ingredients and the butter.  Pulse until it forms a dough.
   

4. Wrap in plastic wrap or cotton tea towel and refrigerate 30 minutes.
   

5. Remove from refrigerator and roll out on lightly floured surface to fit a 10-inch tart pan.
   

6. Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit.
   

7. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
   

8. Remove from refrigerator and prick overall with a fork.  Line with foil and beans to prevent dough from puffing while baking.
   

9. Bake for 20-24 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool
   

Orange Curd

1. Simmer milk over medium heat in medium-sized pan.
   

2. In a bowl, combine yolks, sugar and flour.  Whisk well. 
   

3. Once milk has small bubbles around edge of pan, remove from heat.
   

4. Slowly add milk to yolk mixture, whisking the entire time.  This is tempering your yolks.  You’re slowly raising the temperature of the yolks to the temperature of the milk.  Mix thoroughly.
   

5. Add mixture back to pan and place over medium heat, whisking.
   

6. Bring to boil, whisking the whole time and boil for one minute.
   

7. Transfer to a clean bowl.
   

8. Stir in orange zest and vanilla bean seeds.  Mix well.
   

9. Cover with plastic wrap, pressing wrap onto surface of curd to prevent film from forming.
   

10. Chill.
    

11. When ready to serve, stir curd slightly.  Pour into tart shell.
    

12. Peel and slice oranges and arrange nicely over curd.
    

Recipe Notes

If only one or two servings are to be served, cut individual tart shell slices. Fill with curd only those pieces which are to be eaten to prevent bottom of tart shell from becoming soggy. Individually add curd to the cut slices of tart and top with one peeled, sliced blood orange.