Chocolate Nut Tart With Dried Fruit Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 450°F. Press pie crust onto bottom and up sides of 10-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom; trim edges, if needed. Pierce crust all over with fork. Bake until deep golden brown, about 12 minutes. Cool. Spread preserves over bottom of crust.
• Bring cream to simmer in heavy medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low; add chocolate chips and stir until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in nuts, fruit, and coarse salt. Spread chocolate mixture in crust. Sprinkle toffee bits over tart. Chill until set, about 2 hours. Serve cold or at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Whisk flour, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt together in a bowl. Cut in 1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons butter using a pastry cutter or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Mix in egg and egg yolk until dough comes together.
• Roll out the dough on a lightly floured work surface. Transfer to a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom.
• Bake in the preheated oven until dry to the touch, about 25 minutes.
• Meanwhile, prepare the pastry cream. Bring milk to a simmer in a medium saucepan.
• Whisk eggs, sugar, and flour together in a large bowl until smooth. Whisk in hot milk, a little at a time, until custard is smooth. Pour custard back into the saucepan; add lemon zest. Cook, whisking constantly, until pastry cream thickens and comes to a boil, 5 to 7 minutes. Remove from heat, discard lemon zest, and let cool.
• Remove tart crust from the oven and let cool to room temperature, about 20 minutes.
• Unmold crust and fill with cooled pastry cream. Pile cherries in the center. Arrange peach slices in a ring around the cherries. Arrange kiwi slices in a ring around the peaches.

Steps:

• Roughly chop the chocolate on chopping boards with a large sharp knife - chopping rather than breaking it into squares will help it to melt nice and quickly. Get someone to help if necessary. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.
• Put 2 heatproof mixing bowls over pans half-filled with water - make sure that the base of the bowls doesn't touch the water. Add the chocolate, then leave to melt over a gentle heat. Once it starts to melt round the edges of the bowl, stir gently just once or twice, then leave to melt again. Remove from the heat.
• Take care, as the bowls will be hot. Using a teaspoon, spoon the melted chocolates onto the paper in round shapes as evenly sized as possible - you need 16 of each type of chocolate. Leave a teaspoon of the white chocolate in the basin for later.
• To decorate the white chocolates, chop the raspberry flakes, then scatter on half the rounds and top with 2 almond halves. Put a pecan on the rest, then swirl over a little of the chocolate left in the bowl. Sprinkle with cocoa.
• To make the dark chocolates, scatter half the rounds with the candied peel and the other half with the chopped cranberries and sugared cashews. Or try a combination of them all.
• Leave the chocolates to set and harden for about 3 hours (the dark chocolate will set before the white), then pack carefully into a box. They will keep for a week.

Steps:

• Line small baking sheet with foil. Melt chocolate chips in medium bowl over saucepan of simmering water, stirring until melted and smooth. Pour melted chocolate onto foil, spreading with offset spatula to thickness of scant 1/4 inch. Scatter nuts and dried fruit over chocolate. Sprinkle with ginger. Sprinkle with fleur de sel. Chill until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. Peel off foil. Cut chocolate into irregular pieces. Serve bark slightly chilled.

Steps:

• In a saucepan simmer dried fruit and cider, covered, stirring occasionally, until cider is absorbed, about 10-minutes. Cool fruit mixture and chop coarse. In a bowl stir together fruit mixture, walnuts, butter, and 3/4 cup sugar.
• Preheat oven to 375°F.
• Roll out 1 pastry sheet into a 13-inch square and transfer to an 11-inch round tart pan with a removable fluted rim. Trim overhang to 1/2 inch and fold toward center of tart, pressing gently against edge of pan. Spread fruit filling evenly in shell.
• Roll out remaining pastry sheet into a 10-inch square and with a saw-toothed pastry wheel cut into 10-by 1/2 inch strips. Weave pastry strips into a lattice pattern over tart and trim overhanging ends to 1/4 inch, tucking them between pastry edge and filling. Brush lattice with egg wash and sprinkle with remaining tablespoon sugar. Bake tart in middle of oven 40 minutes, or until crust is golden brown, and cool in pan on a rack.
• Serve tart warm or room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.