Chocolate Orange Tarts

You know fall is here when I have the patience and physical comfort to spend two days working on one recipe. This one is inspired by “Marmalade and Bittersweet Chocolate Tarts” from the cookbook Deep Dark Chocolate.

One of my foodie goals right now is to learn more and more about chocolate and this recipe taught me a fascinating way to naturally add orange flavour to chocolate in a way I had never considered. Warning though! Just as it took me a long time to make these, it may take a long time to get through this recipe. It is not hard, it just takes time. I promise.

Tart Shells

In a medium bowl whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, 3 tbsp sugar, 1 1/2 tsp grated orange zest and pinch of salt.

Add 1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp cold unsalted butter cut into pieces. I used a pastry blender to work into flour mixture but you can use your fingers. Just do not warm up the butter too much.

You want the dough to be crumbly with tiny pieces of butter remaining. Chill 30 minutes in the fridge.

Drizzle ice water over the flour mixture a tbsp at a time, mixing until the flour is moistened…

… and the pastry clears the side of the bowl.

Gather into a ball, flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill 1 hour. (I told you this takes a while to make.)

I don’t know about you but I can not find cute little tart shells anywhere and I am tired of using muffin tin to makes teeny weeny tart shells. So instead I used my large-r baking dishes. If you have those cute 4″ tart shells, cut into 8 wedges. My tart shells are closer to 6″ and I did not want to run out of dough so I sliced the dough into 4 wedges.

On a floured surface roll the dough into a ball, flatten into a disk and then roll it out so it will fit inside the container. Move into the baking dish, make it fit all the way to the bottom and trim off the overhang (I did not have a lot to trim).

I love how you can see the orange zest throughout the dough. So clever!

Refrigerate for 30 to 1 hour.

Prick all over the bottom of the dough with a fork.

I used parchment paper to line the pans and then filled with old brown rice as pie weights. Bake in the center of a preheated 375F oven until the edges turn golden, around 15-20 minutes. Remove weights, return to oven and bake 8-10 minutes more. Cool on a wire rack. Foodie Note: I baked mine for longer because they were bigger.

The Filling

The filling is very simple. You need 9 oz premium dark chocolate, 3/4 cup orange marmalade and 3/4 cup heavy cream.

In a small pan, warm the marmalade until it spreads out and starts to get a little runny.

Then sieve the marmalade.

Brush the bottom of each tart with some of the marmalade.

Chop the chocolate starting at the corners with a serrated knife until it is all nicely and roughly chopped.

Put the whipping cream into a small sauce pan and add 2 tbsp of the marmalade.

Heat the cream and marmalade on medium to medium high heat until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. You really do need the cream to be hot without boiling so keep an eye on it.

Pour over the chopped chocolate and let sit for a couple of minutes.

I like to start whisking in the middle and watch the magical process of the cream turning into chocolate. Keep whisking until everything is incorporated.

Fill the tarts with the naturally orange-flavoured ganache. OMG, yum! Let sit for at least 2 hours.

Foodie Results

Serve with some of the marmalade on top and fresh orange zest.

This honestly tasted like a giant chocolate truffle embraced in a stunning pastry. In fact it was so rich, Reg and I have been eating the tarts in quarters, LOL. There is no way I could ever eat a whole giant tart on my own so maybe using muffin tins would have been more practical but look, it is so pretty!

I learned so much making these, especially when it comes to chocolate. Using marmalade was so clever and now I am wondering, could I do the same with jam? Instead of spending extra money on specialty flavoured extracts, could I use raspberry jam to make a chocolate raspberry truffle?

The orange flavour was very prominent and I adore it when it is paired with chocolate. A very adult version of the famous chocolate orange treat. Definitely good enough for a fancy event that would impress any chocolate lover.