Chocolate and Caramel Tart

I have already professed my affection for tarts so when Veronica and Patricia unveiled this month’s Daring Baker challenge featuring the heavenly combination of chocolate and caramel, it was love at first sight. Their luscious selection from Eric Kaysers Sweet and Savory Tarts is made with a chocolate shortbread crust, caramel filling, and a layer of chocolate mousse. Bettina (Steven’s little sis) and I had planned to make it together, but things kept coming up and pretty soon she was getting ready to leave for college again. It was the last week of August and Steven said, “Hey... don’t you have to do your Daring Baker thing soon?” I’ve been feeling a little under the weather lately but managed to set aside some time to make the tart just yesterday. If youve been checking out all the beautiful tarts made by my fellow DBs (you can find them here, you’ll notice that there are a few things wrong with my tart but hopefully I will answer all your questions.

You can find the complete recipe on Veronicas or Patricias blogs.

Part 1: The Crust
The original recipe made enough for three 9 1/2 in square tarts or 10 in round tarts. I decided to make some little tartlets so I made 1/4 of the original recipe (it was easier to scale down by 4 than by 3). One thing that struck me as rather odd was the addition of cinnamon in the crust, and quite a bit of it too. I had never heard of combining cinnamon, chocolate, caramel, and hazelnut. Luckily Veronica said we could omit the cinnamon, which I chose to do because I’m not the biggest fan of it and many DBs felt the flavor was just way too overpowering in this case. Here are the ingredients I used for the crust:

Chocolate Shortbread Pastry
4 Tbsp butter
1/4 C + 1 1/2 tsp powdered sugar
2 Tbsp ground hazelnuts (I toasted some at 350F, rubbed the skins off, and ground them in the food processor)
1/2 beaten egg (I beat an egg and measured out half)
1 C + 2 Tbsp cake flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon (I omitted this)

In a food processor or stand mixer cream the butter.
Add the powdered sugar, ground hazelnuts, and cinnamon if using, and mix.
Beat 1 egg and measure out half of it, add it the food processor or stand mixer and mix it into the butter.
Sift in the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder, and mix well.
Form the dough into a ball and chill overnight.
Preheat the oven to 325F. Roll out the dough and line the pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Another thing you’ll notice is that although it’s suppose to be a chocolate shortbread crust, the amount of cocoa powder the recipe calls for is very tiny (original recipe called for 1 1/2 tablespoons and for the proposes of my scaling, I rounded down to 4 teaspoons). I scrounged around the pantry for the cocoa powder I rarely use and it looked absolutely ancient, must have been a few years ago. I didn’t trust the quality of the cocoa powder to use it so as a result, my crust is pale blond and not the pretty shade of chocolatey brown like it should be.

After the chill overnight, I went to roll out my dough. While it was very easy to roll out, when it came time to lift the dough into my tartlet plans, it cracked and broke into pieces. Not pretty. I was able to use a bench scraper to lift the dough into the tartlet pans and push together the pieces of the crust. I can only imagine the nightmare this dough caused when attempting to lift the whole thing into a larger tart pan.

Part 2: The Filling

Caramel Filling
1 C sugar
1 C heavy whipping cream
4 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 Tbsp flour

Although I only made a quarter of the dough recipe, since I was going through all the trouble, I made the full caramel filling recipe. Plus, extra caramel is an added bonus. The caramel making was a bit of a fiasco but in the end it turned out okay - it wasnt a complete failure. I started by taking my butter and cream out of the fridge so they could warm up to room temp. I poured the sugar into a saucepan and placed it over medium heat. There are two ways to make caramel, the dry method, which is just sugar in a pan (method called for in the recipe), and the wet method, which is sugar with some water and corn syrup. The dry method is more difficult because the sugar can burn easier, whereas the water and corn syrup in the wet method helps to stabilize the sugar. I didnt have any corn syrup on hand, so I decided to try my luck with the dry method. I really had no idea what I was doing. I started to panic, “Oh no what if the sugar on the bottom is burning, I better stir it!” and as soon as I stirred it, the sugar clumped up and stuck to my spoon, to the sides and bottom of my pot; it was a mess.

I kept the pot over low heat and slowly it began to change colors. However, I thought the sugar was getting too dark, and I panicked again. “Oh no, I think the sugar is getting too brown, should I add the cream? But not all of the crystals have melted yet.” So to prevent the sugar from get any darker, I added the cream and the whole thing immediately seized. At this point what I had was very light brown colored cream with crystallized sugar stuck to the sides of the pot and caramelized sugar stuck on my spoon and floating in the cream soup like pieces of amber glass.

Again I kept the mixture over low heat and the sugar was slowly starting to melt into the cream. Maybe the light was playing tricks on me but I thought now the cream was getting too brown. Cue panic attack 3. “Oh no maybe I should add the butter, maybe I should just strain what I have into the flour and egg mixture.” So I added the butter, turned the heat up to medium low so the caramel was barely bubbling. At this point, it had already been 45 minutes into the caramel making process and my patience was wearing thin but now things started to take a turn for the better! The caramel started to thicken up really nicely, the sugars on the bottom and sides of the pot started melting, and after what seemed like an eternity, I had relatively chunk-free, thick, gooey caramel. The strange thing is, it didn’t look very dark anymore, rather, it looked a bit too light. As I let it cool, I slowly sifted and whisked the flour into the eggs. When the caramel was cool enough, I tasted a spoonful and my god this stuff was delicious (well with a whole cup of sugar and cream and half a stick of butter what wouldn’t taste good?). I whisked the egg mix into the caramel and then poured the mix into the baked tart crusts half full (ended up using only half the caramel mixture) and baked them at 325F. The filling firmed up quite nicely in the oven after about 10 minutes.

Part 3: The Mousse

Chocolate Mousse
1/2 C heavy cream
3 1/2 oz. milk chocolate

Uh oh... I don’t have milk chocolate! Because I wasn’t feeling well that day, I didn’t want to go down to the store just for some chocolate. I know we weren’t suppose to use dark chocolate (I’m sorry Veronica) but I used the bittersweet chocolate in my pantry and that explains why my mousse is such a dark brown. I melted the chocolate and while it was melting I whipped the cream to stiff peaks. I was afraid my chocolate was too hot and would deflate the cream so I waited for it to cool. I waited... and waited... and waited... and by the time I finally added the chocolate to the cream, I had waited too long. As I began to fold it into the cream, the chocolate solidified into chunks and streaks in the cream and the mousse became very grainy and weird. I spread it on top of the caramel filled tarts and after an hour or so in the fridge, the mousse solidified into a thick, grainy, chunky mess. It definitely didnt look like the light brown, airy mousse in the picture from the cookbook. I had originally planned to pipe some decorative stars on the tart, but the mousse was so stiff and gross, it wasn’t pipeable at all; luckily it still tasted good. Ironically, I completely screwed up the easiest part of the tart.

As for the sugar decorations on top, I melted some more sugar and this time I resisted the urge to stir it (just the occasional gentle swirl) and it melted into an even amber color without any crystallizations.

The Verdict:
In the end, I don’t think I did proper justice to the tart because I totally failed at making the mousse. The crust was a little difficult to work with but it was tasty and I liked the subtle hazelnut flavors. I should have bought some new cocoa powder for it. I panicked multiple times about burning the sugar, but I don’t think I caramelized my sugar enough because the filling didn’t have enough caramel flavor. When I sliced into the tart, it looked a little light compared to the darker, richer hues of other DB’s caramels. Lastly, I really shouldn’t have used dark chocolate for the mousse because the intense chocolate flavor completely overpowered the very light caramel flavor of my filling. Perhaps if my caramel had a stronger and more developed flavor then it could properly stand up to a dark chocolate mousse. In the end the tart was still really delicious. I was able to make 4 6 in tartlets and we gobbled them up so quickly there’s only 1 left! I will most definitely make the caramel filling again and try my hand at the mousse again too.

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Raspberry Lemon Cream Tart

Whoops! Only had 2 minutes to take pics and forgot to take the tart out of the pan.

Short and sweet recipe post today! I still had some cream cheese leftover from the wedding and the giant 3 pound Costco tub was taking up valuable fridge space. I was trying to do something with it but couldnt manage to use all of it. Then I made way too much filling for one tart shell so now not only is the gargantuan tub still sitting in the fridge, but I also have a container of whipped filling taking up even more room. Crap! Now Ill have to think of something else to use up the whipped filling but honestly Ill probably just end up eating it with some fresh fruit.

Too bad I didnt get a photo of the sliced tart because the hidden layer of raspberry jam is a nice surprise-an idea I took from Dorie Greenspans Hidden Berry Cheesecake. Speaking of which, I bet this recipe would work just as well with blackberry jam and fresh blackberries.

Raspberry and Lemon Cream Tart
1 Prebaked Sweet Tart Crust
2 oz. cream cheese
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 C heavy cream or whipping cream
1/4 C lemon curd
1/4 C raspberry jam, preferably seedless
1 C fresh raspberries

I scaled the recipe down to make enough filling for one tart. Depending on the sweetness of your lemon curd, you may want to use less sugar. I was using store-bought lemon curd (Trader Joes makes a good one) and its very sweet so I used 2 tablespoons of sugar. Homemade lemon curd is more tangy so you may need to use 3 tablespoons of sugar.

With a whisk attachment, using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the cream cheese and sugar on medium high speed until fluffy. Slowly drizzle in the whipping cream and whip until stiff peaks form. Fold in the lemon curd.

Spread the raspberry jam on the bottom of the baked tart shell. Then add the lemon cream cheese mixture. Top with raspberries and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before serving.

Prebaked Flaky Pate Sucree
for an 8 or 9 inch pan

1 C flour
1/3 C confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbsp cold butter, cut into 6 pieces
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp cold milk or ice water
1/2 tsp of vanilla

Add the flour, confectioners sugar, and salt together in a food processor and pulse once or twice to combined. Add the pieces of butter and pulse until the butter pieces are no bigger than a pea. Alternatively use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in the butter, or freeze the butter and coarsely grate it then use your fingers and rub the pieces into the flour. It is very important to keep the butter cold otherwise it will melt and make the crust greasy and youll lose all the flaky layers.

Mix the egg yolk, milk, and vanilla together. Drizzle the mixture over the butter and flour mix in the food processor. Pulse again until the dough start to form large clumps. If it looks too dry add a little more milk.

Scrape the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press the clumps together to form a disc. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and chill at least an hour up to overnight. Or store it in the freezer for as long as you want.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Lightly flour a work surface and rolling pin and roll out the dough to into a large circle. Move the crust around often to make sure it doesnt stick to your work surface.

Transfer the dough to an 8 or 9 inch tart pan. To make this easier, drape the dough over the rolling pin and lay it over the pan. Lift the edges of the crust and gently press the dough down into the pan. Roll over the top of the pan with a rolling pin to trim any overhanging dough.

Prick the surface of the dough with a fork. Press a sheet of aluminum foil onto a crust and add pie weights, beans, or clean pennies on top. I like using pennies because they are the best heat conductor. Bake on the middle rack for 25 minutes. Remove the foil and baking weights (be careful the weights will be very hot!) and return the crust to the oven to bake for another 10 or so minutes until it is golden. Cool to room temperature before filling

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Lemon Cream Tart

My fellow Daring Baker, Mary, said "If the Daring Bakers were a Girl Scout/Boy Scout troop, then our manual with badges would be Dorie Greenspans "Baking from My Home to Yours". Mary, I agree with you completely! Before I started food blogging, I am so embarrassed to admit that I was oblivious to this life changing book and didnt even know who Dorie Greenspan was. *blush blush* But after reading post after post from other DBs, I quickly did my research and set myself straight. As a baking newbie, there are only 2 baking cookbooks on my bookshelf and Dories book recently joined them. This book was everything I thought it would be and more - its simply amazing! In the last few weeks Ive owned this book, Ive made more recipes from it than my 2 other books combined.

Dorie writes that she learned this lemon cream recipe from none other than the king of pastry, Pierre Herme. I know Im bad to fiddle with a recipe like this one. Why mess with a good thing you know? But hear me out! Since my tart pan is 8 inches, I had to scale down the recipe which was originally for a 9 in tart pan. So 4 eggs became 3, and the 3/4 cup of lemon juice became a 1/2 cup. After appropriately scaling down the sugar, I also decreased it a bit because I tend to use less sugar in my recipes and prefer my curds more tangy and tart, so 1 cup of sugar scaled down to 3/4 cup but I only used a 1/2 cup. Finally, (here comes the biggest departure) the original recipe called for roughly 2 and a half sticks of butter which scaled down to 2 sticks. As much as I love butter, I just couldnt bring myself to add the full 2 sticks. Butter is the key ingredient that transforms an ordinary lemon curd to "the most extraordinary French lemon cream" because instead of melting like in ordinary curds, it emulsifies into something light and dreamy. But I just couldnt do it! In the end, I only added 1 stick of butter. I cant call this an extraordinary lemon cream, only an ordinary lemon cream, but boy was it the best lemon curd/cream I have ever tasted! I can only imagine how astronomical it would been if I had added the rest of the butter.

Notes:
- The recipe can generously fill an 8 in tart but can also be stretched to fill a 9 in tart.
- To stay true to the original recipe, use 2 sticks of butter.


Lemon Cream
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan

1/2 C sugar
Zest of 3 lemons
3 eggs
1/2 C lemon juice (roughly 3 lemons)
1 stick of butter, cut into one tablespoon pieces
1 premade tart shell

Youll need an instant-read thermometer, a fine mesh sieve, blender or food processor. I didnt have a thermometer so I guesstimated.

Bring some water to a simmer in a saucepan. Meanwhile, in a heatproof bowl big enough that you can set over the saucepan, rub the zest with the sugar, off heat. Then whisk in the eggs and then the lemon juice.

Turn the heat down so that the water is barely simmering, and set the bowl over the saucepan. Whisk and cook the cream until it reaches 180 degrees F.

As soon as it reaches 180 degrees F, strain the curd into your blender or food processor. You can discard the zest thats left behind in the sieve. Let the curd cool until it is 140 degrees F, stirring occasionally. This will take about 10 minutes.

Put the cap on the blender and turn the blender on high. Add the butter 4 tablespoons at a time. Keep blending for another 3 minutes. If the machine gets too hot, you can do it at 1 minute intervals, resting the machine in between.

I was expecting the curd to whip up in the blender, but instead the thick curd was as thin as soup after blending! *panic panic!!*

Pour the cream into a bowl or container and press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface. Refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight (I would recommend the latter). After a night in the fridge, the completely soupy cream magically thickened into the best lemon curd/cream I have ever tasted! I didnt need to panic, I should have known that a Dorie recipe wouldnt fail me.

Assemble the tart just before serving. Spoon the cold cream into the tart shell and serve immediately.


P.S. Who says you need a tart shell. Its delicious on toast in the morning or *ahem* with a spoon. ;D

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