Salted Chocolate Tartlets Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to an 1/8-inch thickness. With a 3 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut dough into 24 rounds (reroll scraps if necessary), then press into 24 standard muffin cups (dough should come 3/4 inch up sides). Freeze until firm, 10 minutes (or up to 1 day).
• Bake until shells are golden, 18 minutes. Let cool completely in pan.
• In a medium heatproof bowl, combine chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon salt. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a bare simmer over medium-high. Immediately pour over chocolate, add vanilla, and let sit 1 minute. Stir gently until mixture is completely smooth. Pour chocolate into cooled shells and refrigerate until set, 20 minutes. To serve, sprinkle with coarse salt.

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine cookie crumbs and butter; press onto the bottom and up the sides of a greased 9-in. fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes., For caramel, in a small saucepan over medium heat, combine sugar and water. Cook, shaking pan occasionally, until sugar is melted and mixture is almost clear (do not boil). , Increase heat to medium high; bring to a boil, without stirring. Cover and boil for 2 minutes while tightly holding lid of pan down. Uncover; shake pan. Cook 1-2 minutes longer or until mixture is amber, shaking pan several times., Remove from the heat; stir in cream (mixture will bubble) until smooth. Stir in butter (mixture will bubble) and salt until blended. Pour into crust; refrigerate for 15 minutes., Place chocolate in a large bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream just to a boil. Pour over chocolate; whisk until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Let stand for 20 minutes. , Pour chocolate mixture over caramel. Sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate for at least 3 hours. Remove from the refrigerator about 45 minutes before serving.

Steps:

• For the base: Snap the oreos into pieces and drop them into the bowl of a food processor. Do likewise with the chocolate, then blitz them together until you have crumbs. Add the butter and salt, and blitz again until the mixture starts to clump together. If you're doing this by hand, bash the cookies in a freezer bag until they form crumbs, finely chop the chocolate and melt the butter, then mix everything, along with the salt, in a large bowl with a wooden spoon or your hands encased in disposable gloves.
• Press the mixture into a 23-centimeter/10-inch deep-sided, loose-bottomed flan or tart pan. Pat down on the bottom and up the sides of the pan with your hands or the back of a spoon, so that the base and sides are evenly lined and smooth. Put into the fridge to chill and harden for at least 1 hour, or 2 hours if your fridge is stacked. I wouldn't keep it for longer than a day like this as the Oreo crust tends to get too crumbly.
• For the filling: Finely chop the chocolate. Put the corn starch into a cup and whisk in the milk until smooth. Pour the cream into a heavy-based saucepan into which all the ingredients can fit and be stirred without splashing out of the pan, then add the finely chopped rubble of chocolate, the sieved cocoa (or just sieve it straight in), espresso or instant coffee powder, sugar, vanilla paste or extract, olive oil and smoked salt. Place over a medium to low heat and whisk gently--I use a very small whisk for this, as I'm not aiming to get air in the mixture, I'm just trying to banish any lumpiness--as the cream heats and the chocolate starts melting.
• Off the heat, whisk in the corn starch and milk mixture until it, too, is smoothly incorporated, and put the pan back on a low heat. With a wooden spoon, keep stirring until the mixture thickens, which it will do around the 10-minute mark, but be prepared for it to take a few minutes more or less. Take the pan off the heat every so often, still stirring, so that everything melds together, without the cream coming to a boil. When ready, it should be thick enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, and if you run your finger through it (across the back of the spoon) the line should stay.
• Pour the mixture into a wide measuring jug or batter jug (it should come to about the 600 milliliter/2 1/2 cup mark). Now run a piece of baking parchment or greaseproof paper under cold water, wring it out and place the damp, crumpled piece right on top of the chocolate mixture, then put the jug into the fridge for 15 minutes. The mixture will still be warm, but will be the right temperature to ooze into the base without melting it.
• Pour and scrape the mixture into the cookie-lined tart pan and put it back in the fridge overnight. Don't leave it longer than 24 hours, as the base will start to soften.
• Take the tart out of the fridge for 10 minutes before serving, but unmould straight away. Sit the tart pan on top of a large tin or jar and let the ring part fall away, then transfer the dramatically revealed tart to a plate or board. Leave the pan base on.
• Slice modestly--this is rich and sweet, and people can always come back for more--and serve with creme fraiche; the sharpness is just right here. Leftovers will keep in the fridge for 4 to 5 days, but the base will soften and the sides crumble a bit. That will not detract from your eating pleasure too much, but I still like to give it its first outing at optimal stage!

Steps:

• Make the tart shell:
• Preheat oven to 300°F. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse almonds until finely ground; remove and set aside. Add butter, sugar, and vanilla to food processor and pulse to combine well. Return ground almonds to food processor along with flour and salt and pulse briefly until a dough begins to form. Transfer dough (it will be crumbly) to a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the crumbs into the bottom and up the sides, using your knuckles to spread it as evenly as possible. Chill until firm, at least 30 minutes. Prick dough all over with a fork and bake until just golden brown, about 45 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack and let crust cool completely.
• Make the caramel:
• Place a pastry brush in a cup of water near the stove. In a medium saucepan, stir together the sugar, water, and corn syrup. Cook over medium-high heat, swirling gently but not stirring, and occasionally using the pastry brush to wash down any sugar crystals from the sides of the pan. Continue to cook until caramel reaches a dark amber color, swirling frequently as it darkens, 15 to 20 minutes total. Remove from heat and carefully add the cream all at once (it will bubble up). Add the butter, vanilla, and salt, and when the bubbles die down a bit, whisk caramel until smooth. Pour into tart shell and set aside to cool for 20 minutes. Then, refrigerate until chilled, at least 1 hour, or up to one day ahead.
• Make the ganache:
• After the caramel-filled tart has chilled for at least an hour, melt the chocolate gently in a bowl set atop barely simmering water in a saucepan. Stir until smooth and set aside to cool slightly. Stir the crème fraîche into the chocolate, followed by the butter and corn syrup. Stir to combine well. Spread over the cooled caramel tart and refrigerate until set, at least 30 minutes (or up to 3 hours). Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before serving, and garnish with flaky salt, if desired.

Steps:

• Prepare chocolate dough: In bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, confectioners' sugar and cocoa. Beat until smooth. Add egg yolk and vanilla, and beat until blended.
• Sift flour into dough mixture. Beat on low speed until combined. Press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of a 10-inch tart pan. (You can use a 9-inch pan, but the crust will be thicker and the caramel may take longer to set in step 4.)
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line tart with foil, and fill with dried beans, rice or pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove foil and weights, and bake until pastry is dry and set, another 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
• Prepare caramel filling: In a large saucepan, bring sugar, water and corn syrup to a boil. Stir or swirl the pan occasionally, until mixture is a medium amber color, about 12 minutes. Remove from the heat. Caramel will continue to cook and darken off of the heat. Carefully but quickly whisk in the butter, cream, creme fraiche and salt until smooth (mixture will bubble up). Pour hot caramel into tart, and allow to cool and set, at least 1 hour.
• Prepare chocolate glaze: Place chocolate in a bowl. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a boil. Pour hot cream over chocolate and whisk until chocolate has melted and mixture is smooth. Pour glaze over tart, tilting tart for even coverage. Refrigerate until tart is set, at least one hour, then sprinkle with a few granules of fleur de sel. Keep refrigerated until serving.

Steps:

• Crust:
• Whisk cocoa, sugar, salt, and 1 2/3 cups flour in a medium bowl. Add butter and toss to coat. Using your fingers, smash butter into dry ingredients until it nearly disappears (you shouldn't see any large bits) and mixture holds together when squeezed-you're working it more than you would pie dough. Make a well in the center and add yolk and milk. Using a fork, gradually incorporate flour mixture until you've got a shaggy dough. Knead a couple of times in bowl until no dry spots remain and dough is smooth. Flatten into a 3/4"-thick disk, wrap tightly in plastic, and chill until firm, about 2 hours. (You can make the caramel filling during this time.)
• Preheat oven to 350°F. Let dough sit 5 minutes to soften slightly. Roll out on a lightly floured surface to a 14" round about 1/8" thick, dusting with more flour as needed to prevent sticking. Lift dough on one edge and throw a pinch of flour on surface. Slide bottom of tart pan under dough, positioning it roughly in the center. Fold in edges of dough so it's resting fully on insert; place inside tart ring and unfold edges so they gently slump against sides of pan and excess dough is hanging over the edges. Press dough firmly into bottom of pan with floured hands, then use a straight-sided measuring cup to firmly press sides of dough into grooves and up sides of pan. Roll pin over top edge of pan to shear off excess dough flush with pan. Reserve dough scraps for patching any potential cracks later. Prick bottom of dough all over with a fork and chill in freezer until very firm, 10-15 minutes.
• Place tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and line with a sheet of parchment paper or foil. Fill with pie weights or dried beans and bake until edges of crust are set and starting to look dry, 12-15 minutes. Carefully lift parchment with weights. Patch any visible cracks with reserved dough. Return crust to oven and bake until firm and dry all over, 18-22 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.
• Filling:
• Bring sugar, cream of tartar, and 1/3 cup water to a boil in a large saucepan over medium-low, stirring with a heatproof spatula until dissolved. Cook, swirling pot often but not stirring, until mixture turns deep amber and wisps of smoke rise from the surface, 8-10 minutes. Remove caramel from heat and immediately stir in butter a piece at a time until smooth (be careful; mixture will sputter). Gradually stir in cream, then add salt. Transfer caramel to a heatproof measuring glass (you should have about 1 1/2 cups). Let cool until warm.
• Pour caramel into cooled tart shell. Chill until caramel is set, at least 1 hour.
• Ganache:
• Place chocolate, cream, and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water (bowl should not touch water). Stir with a heatproof spatula until ganache is smooth, about 5 minutes. Let cool until thickened enough to hold an indentation from a spoon.
• Remove tart from refrigerator and scrape ganache over caramel. Using a spoon, gently work ganache over surface, creating decorative swooshes and swirls. Sprinkle with sea salt; let sit until ganache has lost its sheen, 10-15 minutes.
• Do Ahead
• Dough can be made 2 days ahead; keep chilled. Crust can be baked 1 day ahead. Store tightly wrapped at room temperature. Caramel filling can be made 3 days ahead; cover and chill. Microwave in 20-second intervals, stirring in between, just until pourable. Caramel-filled tart can be made 1 day ahead; once it's set, cover and keep chilled. Tart can be assembled 1 day ahead. Chill until ganache is set, then cover loosely. Let sit at room temperature 15 minutes before slicing.

Steps:

• To make the pastry, whizz the hazelnuts in a food processor until finely ground. Add the flour, icing sugar and butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg yolk and 1-2 tbsp cold water, and pulse until the dough comes together. Tip the dough out and flatten into a disc, then wrap in cling film and chill for 30 mins.
• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. On a floured surface, roll out the pastry to line a 23cm loose-bottomed, deep tart tin. Trim the edges and prick the base with a fork, then line with baking parchment and fill with baking beans. Bake for 20 mins, then carefully remove the baking beans and parchment and bake for a further 5-10 mins until light golden. Allow to cool.
• Meanwhile, make the salted caramel. Tip the sugar into a small pan, add 1-2 tbsp water and heat gently to dissolve the sugar. Increase the heat and cook until the sugar turns to an ambercoloured caramel. Reduce the heat and add the butter, cream and golden syrup, and stir until the sauce is smooth and thickened. Remove from the heat and add the salt. Allow to cool for a few mins, then spread onto the tart base. Scatter with chopped hazelnuts and set aside.
• For the chocolate filling, melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir until smooth, then remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, egg yolk and caster sugar for about 6 mins until thick and pale. Fold in the melted chocolate and cocoa, then pour into the tart case. Transfer to a baking sheet and cook for 20-25 mins or until set and the top has formed a crust. Allow to cool to room temperature before serving in slices.