Spiced Cranberry and Grand Marnier Torte

Merry Christmas! Today is the 2 year anniversary of my blog! AND the anniversary of me attempting to make this torte again. I saw this torte on the Bon Appetit website and FELL IN LOVE... unfortunately, my love was unrequited last year as the torte melted hours before we served it and forced my family to lie to me on Christmas Day (they're so nice, but I know that it sucked...see sucky recipe blog post here)

HOWEVER! I will not allow this torte to defeat me! I decided to change the frozen filling to a pastry cream this year, and followed the directions a little more carefully. I made a few changes, and so decided to put it up on my blog!

Ingredients:

Crust:

1 9 oz. package of Nabisco Famous Chocolate Wafers
1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp. sugar
7 tbsp. melted butter

Pastry Cream (I doubled this recipe):

2 1/2 c. whole milk
Zest of 1 orange
6 egg yolks
1/2 c. sugar
2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
5 tbsp + 1 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 tsp. Grand Marnier (**ps-I discovered that an airplane sized bottle of Grand Marnier is about 6-7 tsp.)

Topping:

1/2 c. port
1 tbsp. cornstarch
1 c. sugar
1/4 c. honey
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
5 c. fresh/frozen and thawed cranberries
White Chocolate Curls (**I used a bar of Ghirardelli White Chocolate at ROOM TEMP...cold makes it extremely difficult to curl)

Directions:

To Do The Night Before


Topping:

1) Whisk port and cornstarch in a skillet (no heat) to blend.
2) Add sugar, honey, and spices then bring to a boil.
3) Add half of cranberries, cooking until the mixture comes to a boil.
4) Immediately remove from heat and add remaining cranberries.
5) Allow to come to room temperature, then chill over night.

To Do the Morning of (at least 2 hours before assembly):


Pastry Cream:

1) Warm milk and zest over medium-low heat until steaming.
2) Meanwhile, whisk yolks, sugar, flour, and cornstarch until smooth.
3) Once milk steams, add half of milk-zest mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly.
4) Transfer egg yolk mixture back into the rest of the milk mixture, whisking constantly.
5) Increase heat to medium-high, and whisk cream until thick (coating the back of a spoon).
6) Remove from heat and whisk vigorously to prevent clumping.
7) Stir in vanilla and Grand Mariner.
8) Allow to come to room temperature, then chill until firm before assembly.

To Do Before Assembly (at least 1 hour):


Crust:

1) Blend wafers, chocolate chips, and sugar until fine.
2) Add melted butter and blend until wet crumbs form.
3) Transfer all but 1/2 c. of crust mixture into a pan with high sides and a removable bottom, pressing firmly to form crust.
4) Chill or freeze until firm.

Assembly:


1) Remove crust from pan.
2) Fill crust with pastry cream.
3) Top with reserved crust mixture.
4) Top with cranberry topping.
5) Top with white chocolate curls.

Merry Christmas!