09 September 2010

Chocolate Tart

Needless to say, med school is intense.  My posts are going to be few and far between except for breaks... One thing I look forward to every week is our Thursday night "supper club".  There is a group of 7 that rotates cooking for each other every week... it's a nice thing to look forward to once a week.  For my week I made steak and blue cheese tacos and this amazing chocolate tart for dessert.  I didn't take many pictures because I was crunched for time.  I have to warn you, this tart takes a lot of time and patience! BUT, if you can get through it, the end result is sooo worth it!


I got this recipe from Tyler Florence, off of Food Network.  Please, serve with some cool whip and a large glass of milk!

Ingredients for crust:
2 cups all purpose flour
3T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cold, and chopped into squares
1 large egg, seperated
2T ice water, plus more if needed

Directions for crust:
1. Combine flour, sugar, and salt in large mixing bowl.  Add butter and mix with pastry cutter, until it resembles coarse crumbles.
2. Make a well in the middle of the pastry.  Combine the egg yolk with the ice water, whisk to blend.  Pour mixture into well and mix until it all comes together.  Squeeze a small amount together, if it is still really crumbly, add more ice water.
3. Form dough into disk, and refrigerate for at least 30 mins.
4. Roll out dough into a 12 in circle, that is 1/4in thick.  Carefully roll dough into tart pin.  Press dough neatly into all edges and then shave off the excess crust.  Place tart in refrigerator for 15 mins to let it relax.
5. Preheat oven to 350.  Place tart on a cookie sheet.  Layer the crust with aluminum foil and place pie weights (or I use uncooked red beans) on top of the crust.  Bake for 30 mins.
6. Remove the aluminum foil and weights.  Brush top of crust with a beaten egg white.  Bake for 8 more mins or until lightly golden in color.

Ingredients for Tart:
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
10 oz semi-sweet chocolate
2T sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs at room temperature

Directions for Tart:
1. Heat the cream and milk in a saucepan over medium-low heat until it simmers slightly along the edges.
2. Remove from heat, add chocolate and stir until it is all melted.
3. Add sugar and salt and whisk until incorporated.
4. Beat eggs in a small bowl, add them to the chocolate mixture, and whisk until incorporated.
5. Pour filling into a cooled tart pan and bake at 325 for 20-25 mins (mine took more like 40mins).  Stop baking when the filling is set and the top looks glossy.  If there are any cracks or many bubbles on the surface, take out the tart.
6. Cool and serve with whip cream!!!

Happy Baking!!

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