Salted Dark Chocolate-Hazelnut Tart

This is unbelievable. Seriously. Without a doubt one of the best things I have ever made. I was unsure of how it would turn out as I was kind of making it up as I went along, but ohmygoodness did I luck out here. The best part: it is super-easy. It does take some time — both the crust and the filling must cool completely at separate times, but the hardest thing about this recipe is having to wait for it to be done! This is not super sweet as there is no sugar added to the ganache and dark chocolate tends to be a little bitter. Personally I like a subtly sweet-salty dessert, but if you like something sweeter substitute milk chocolate for the dark.

Another bonus: this recipe can be vegan with no compromise on taste or texture — just substitute Earth Balance or other equally good butter substitute for the butter in the crust and soy for the dairy milk in the ganache. Also, make sure that you read the ingredients on your chocolate, but any high quality dark chocolate should not contain milk fat and should be vegan.

Ingredients:

For the Crust:

– 1 c. flour

– 1/3 c. powdered sugar

– 1/4 tsp. salt

– 1/4 c. finely chopped hazelnuts (or other nut if you prefer)

– 1/2 c. cold butter (substitute)

For the ganache filling:

– 10 oz. dark chocolate

– 3/4 c. (soy) milk

– 1 tsp. vanilla

– Sea salt to top (1-2 Tbsp. according to preference)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F

2. Sift together flour, powdered sugar and salt

3. Mix in chopped hazelnuts

4. Cut in butter

5. Work butter into dry ingredients — can be done in food processor or with hands — until a dough begins to form

6. Work dough into cohesive ball

7. Press dough into a spring-form pie or tart tin. You can also use a shallow pie pan, but edges of crust should not come up more than 3/4”

8. Place crust in freezer for 10 minutes

9. Bake crust at 350F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown

10. Allow crust to cool completely

11. In a small saucepan warm (soy) milk over medium heat until it begins to simmer

12. Place chocolate into a large heat-proof bowl

13. Strain hot milk through sieve onto chocolate. Add vanilla. Whisk until all chocolate is melted and ganache is smooth and free of lumps

*If you have any trouble getting your chocolate to melt completely you can stick it in the microwave, but NEVER for more than 20 seconds at a time. One or two 20 second trips should be more than enough

14. Pour ganache into pie shell. Chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours.

15. Carefully remove tart from tin and transfer to serving plate. Top with sea salt according to preference and serve.

Pomelo-Coconut Tart with Candied Citrus

I love citrus desserts. It all started when I was pregnant. I was watching episodes of Dexter back to back and, in case you don’t watch the show, in Season Three, there’s this whole subplot where Dexter is trying to find “the perfect key lime pie” for a family friend on her death bed. Five months pregnant, bored out of my mind, lonely, and constantly starving, watching those episodes of Dexter was all it took to ignite the most hardcore craving for key lime pie in the history of ever. But it didn’t stop, and the key lime pie craving turned into a an insatiable hunger for all things sweet and citrus. Lemon meringue, orange sticky buns, blood orange sorbet….all were consumed in disgusting quantities….

Anyway, in the midst of my citrus dessert frenzy I started toying around with ideas about how to expand the classic key lime pie recipe to other citrus fruits….and although my daughter is 17 months old, I am just now moving out of the realm of fantasy into actually making it happen. *Sigh* there’s been a lot going on…and I am incredibly lazy.

This recipe calls for pomelos — which are more or less really big, slightly sweet grapefruits — but you could certainly use regular grapefruit (or lemon, lime, blood orange, or any other relatively sour citrus) in place of them. The crust is essentially a coconut shortbread, and the filling a revision of the classic key lime pie. Candied citrus 100% optional.

Ingredients:

Candied Citrus (needs to be done 1-2 days ahead of serving):

– 20-25 very thin (I recommend using a mandolin) slices of citrus, any kind

– 1 1/2 c. sugar

Crust:

– 1/2 c. sweetened coconut flakes

– 3/4 c. flour

– 1/2 c. cold butter

– 1/3 c. powdered sugar

– 1/4 tsp. salt

Filling:

– 2 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk

– 2 Tbsp. finely grated pomelo zest

– 1 cup freshly squeezed pomelo juice

– 4 large egg yolks

 

 

Directions:

1. Place sliced citrus in a large casserole dish. Cover each piece well with sugar. Toss to coat.

2. Cover and place in refrigerator. Let sit 1-2 days, tossing occasionally.

3. Preheat oven to 350F

4. Spread coconut over a sheet pan and toast, stirring occasionally until golden — about 10 minutes. Let cool.

5. Combine flour, coconut, powdered sugar, and salt in a large bowl

6. Cut in cold butter. Mix until dough just begins to form. (This can most easily be done by pulsing in a food processor, but I did it by hand and got the same result….with a bit more time and effort)

7. Form dough into a ball

8. Press dough into a tart or pie pan

9. Freeze until firm — about 10 minutes

10. Bake at 350F until golden  — about 25 minutes — then set aside and allow to cool completely

11. Whisk together freshly squeezed pomelo juice, zest, and egg yolks

12. Slowly add sweetened condensed milk, whisking all the while

13. Pour filling into pie crust (you will have some left over — I poured it into a tiny dish and baked it separately)

14. Bake at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until just set in the center

15. Let cool 30 minutes

16. Loosely cover and chill in refrigerator 8 hours or longer. Filling will set as it cools and bubbles in filling will disappear

17. Decorate with candied citrus. I also mixed together a little powdered sugar and water and coated the edge of my pie pan so that I could adhere toasted coconut for added decoration.

18. Serve chilled. Excellent with fresh sweet whipped cream…