Classic Chocolate Tart for the Chocoholic

I know! The holidays have just passed and we are all sick of chocolate, right? Well not in our house. Reg is always in the mood for chocolate and to be honest, with this cold weather I say let’s keep the comfort food coming. 

FYI, this recipe takes some time thanks to dough chilling, blind baking… Took me most of the weekend to put this one together so only make this is you want to spend the weekend making this on and off. For me it was the perfect crummy weekend distraction.

The Recipe

For the crust you will need 1/2 cup unsalted room temperature butter, 1/3 cup sifted icing sugar, 1 large egg yolk, 1/2 tsp salt, 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour and 1 to 2 tbsp evaporated skim milk (or whatever milk you have on hand). 

The Crust

This crust is great for those who are nervous about making a pie pastry base because it is more like a cookie!

Cream butter until smooth and then add icing sugar. Cream together and then add egg yolk. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add flour and salt. Cream together briefly and then add some milk until the dough comes together. Put on plastic wrap and shape into a disc. Chill for at least one hour. 

Let the dough sit out at room temperature for a while and then roll out to fit your tart pan. I used an 8″ tart pan and made sure the dough was over an inch wider than the pan.

Move dough over to the greased and floured tart pan. Push it into the bottom and up the sides. Cut off the excess with the weight of a rolling pin.

Dock the bottom of the dough with a fork. 

Chill the crust for half an hour. Add parchment to the top and add pie weights. I used dried chickpeas. 

Bake in a preheated 350F oven on a baking sheet for 15 minutes. 

Remove parchment paper and weights, put crust back into the oven for 7-10 minutes until baked through and golden. Cool completely.

The Filling

The quality of this simple tart relies solely on the chocolate. Do not cheap out with your chocolate!

You will need 3.5 oz of chopped milk chocolate. 

You will also need 6 oz of good quality dark chocolate. I picked up two Lindt dark chocolate bars for this recipe. 

Make sure all chocolate is broken down into small pieces so it will easily melt. 

You will also need 2/3 cup heavy cream and 2 tbsp unsalted butter which you heat up over medium heat until the butter melts and the cream just begins to simmer. 

Pour hot cream and butter over the chocolate and let sit for a minute. Do not touch it for the first minute!

From the centre slowly begin to whisk the chocolate cream mixture. Once it starts to get going, you can whisk more aggressively and widely until everything is incorporated. 

Add 1 tsp of vanilla extract and…

A pinch of salt. Remember, you can add whatever extract you want to make this tart your own: hazelnut, almond, orange, coconut, rum…

Pour into the baked tart shell and smooth the top with a spatula. 

Let sit at room temperature to set. Then serve. 

Foodie Results

Look at that creamy ganache filling! And that perfect cookie crust. 

Because it is quite cold here right now, the filling became quite hard so if it is cold where you are I suggested adding a little more hot whipping cream to your chocolate to make it a little less dense. That said, if it was the summer this would probably be perfect as is.

Yes, time consuming but what a showpiece! Add some whipped cream and chocolate shavings and this dessert would be a great addition to a dinner party. Personally, I thought it looked super cute on my kitty plate. If this had been a tart just for me I would have added orange or hazelnut extract but this treat truly was for my sweetheart who is a chocolate purist.

Happy baking and have fun with this recipe!

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