06.13.2010 tarte au chocolat - creamy chocolate tart with toasted cashews
Ahhh....silky smooth creamy chocolate tart with a slight crunch of toasted cashews. What could be more decadent? A chocolate tart is my year round go to dessert. Sometimes I make it with the nuts, sometimes without. My daughter doesn’t like nuts so if I am making one with cashews, I usually bake her a little ramekin of just plain chocolate with the leftover filling. Normally, I recommend that a 10 inch tart will serve 8 people, however, due to the richness of this tart, it easily serves 10 or even 12 people with a little bit of freshly whipped cream on the side.
While in Paris we noticed that most pastry shops decorated their chocolate tarts with a delicate shaving of edible gold. It was beautiful...truly gilding the Lily! There are endless possibilities on how to creatively decorate a chocolate tart. Sometimes I would lay a stencil of a fleur-de-lis on the tart and sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar. Others times I would decorate with fresh raspberries lining the edges. The sky is the limit....be creative!
Every December, I had a standing order from a customer who would send 100 chocolate tarts to his clients and colleagues. I became a quick study on how to simplify this recipe. Originally, I was chopping pounds and pounds of fine quality bitter-sweet chocolate, and then I played around with it a little and discovered that the use of Ghirardelli bitter-sweet chocolate chips tasted amazing and no more chopping. I like this recipe also because there is no double-boiler needed to melt the chocolate. I heat cream and milk together and then stir in the chocolate chips....again much simpler and less specialty equipment required. Now we’re talking.
This recipe was inspired by Tyler Florence’s chocolate tart. Thank you, Tyler.
Creamy Chocolate Tart with Toasted Cashews
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup milk
10 ounces Ghiradelli bitter-sweet chocolate chips
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 eggs at room temperature
2 tablespoons chopped toasted cashews
1 recipe pâte sucrée dough pre-baked in a 10” tart pan (Click here for dough recipe)
Preheat oven to 325 degrees
On medium-low heat, heat the cream and milk together until it slightly bubbles. Turn off the heat and stir in the chocolate chips and continue stirring until smooth. Mix in the sugar and salt. This should make the mixture even smoother. Finally, crack the room temperature eggs into a small bowl and beat them. Slowly pour the beaten eggs into the chocolate mixture stirring vigorously all the while. Pour the chocolate filling into the 10” pre-baked tart shell being careful not to overflow. If there is any remaining filling pour into a ramekin and bake for a little happiness to give a loved one! Sprinkle the top with the toasted cashews and bake for 15-20 minutes. Watch the tart closely and pull out of the oven right before the center is set. It will continue to cook up after it is out of the oven. Let cool on a wire rack. Cover with plastic wrap and chill.
Reader Comments (1)
Lisa, we spent some time on your blog and love it!!!! Very cool. Can readers order from you or is it just for fun? Anne