Chocolate Fruit Tartlets

Anyone who’s been reading this blog for any length of time knows I’m an unrepentant chocaholic, as it’s been a while since we posted a good recipe made with chocolate. Once again, I adopted one of my favorites from Jacqueline Bellefontaine‘s What’s Cooking, Chocolate:

Photo by: St John Asprey

Serves 6

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2/3 cups margarine
• 3 tablespoons superfine sugar
• 2 – 3 tablespoons water
• 1 3/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
• 1/2 cup mixed nuts toasted
• 12 ounces prepared fruit.
• 3 tablespoons apricot reserve or red currant jelly

Directions

1. Sift together the flour and unsweetened cocoa into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and rub it into the flour with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
2. Stir the sugar. Add just enough of the water to mix to a soft dough, approximately 1-2 tablespoons. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.
3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface and use to line 4″ tartlet pans. Prick the dough with a fork and line the pie shells with a little crumpled foil. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 F, for 10 minutes.
4. Remove the foil and bake for a further 5-10 minutes, until the pastry is crisp. Place the pans on a wire rack to cool completely.
5. Melt the chocolate. Spread out the chopped nuts on a plate. Remove the the pie shells from the tin pans. Spread melted chocolate on the rims, then dip in the nuts. Let set.
6. Arrange the fruits in thye tartlet shells. Melt the apricot preserve or red currant jelly with the remaining 1 tablespoon of water and brush it over the fruit. Chill the tartlets until needed.

— VARIATION —

If desired, you can fill the cases with a little custard cream
before topping with the fruit. For a chocolate-flavored filling,
blend 8 ounces chocolate hazelnut  spread with 5 tablespoons of Rich  Whip

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Chocolate Checkerboard Cookies

Some of my grandkids will be visiting today, I thought these would make a special treat:

(adapted from Jacqueline Bellefontaine‘s What’s Cooking: Chocolate)

Detail of photo from page 125

Yield: 18

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup margarine, softened (use butter if you prefer creamier tasting dairy cookies)
• 6 tablespoons confectioner’s sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or the grated rind of 1/2 an orange
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1oz dark bittersweet chocolate, melted
• a little beaten egg white

Directions

1. Lightly grease a cookie sheet. Beat the margarine and confectioner’s sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract or the grated orange rind.
2. Gradually beat in the flour to form a soft dough. Use your fingers to incorporate the last of the flour and to bring the dough together.
3. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces and beat the melted chocolate into one half. Keeping each half of the dough separate, cover and chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out each piece of dough to a rectangle about 3″ x 8″ inches long and 1 1/2 inches thick. Brush one piece of dough with a little egg white and place the other piece of dough on top.
5. Cut the block of dough in half lengthwise and turn over one half. Brush the side of one strip with egg white and butt the other up to it, so that it resembles a checkerboard.
6. Cut the block into thin slices and place each slice flat on a cookie sheet, allowing enough space to spread a little during baking.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 F. for about 10 minutes, until just firm. Cool on on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack with a spatula. Cool completely.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Chocolate Meringue Tart

Whenever I need a chocolate fix, I either turn to a fine chocolatier’s products (here and here) or to Jacqueline Bellefontaine‘s What’s Cooking Chocolate (here, here and here), or François Payard‘s Chocolate Epiphany (here and here) and others, for an incredible recipe featuring that delicacy as a main ingredient.

Last evening I made another of Pâtissier Payard‘s recipes, from his Chocolate Epiphany and, as expected,  it was superb… From page 136

Photo by: Rogerio Voltan – Chocolate Epiphany

Makes one 9-inch tart; serves 8-10

I created this tart with one of my childhood favorites in mind: lemon meringue tart. They obviously share technique rather than flavor; both are made with a buttery dough and a thick , fluffy meringue. The filling is simple, to allow the dark chocolate flavor to come through. In addition to the two methods for covering the filling with meringue described below, you can pipe it in nickel-size mounds, pulling the pastry bag straight up to form small peaks, as pictured.

Chocolate Filling

• 10 ounces 60% chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons (1 1/2 ounces), unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Swiss Meringue

• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large egg whites

Tart Shell

• One 9-inch tart shell made from Sweet Tart Dough***, fully baked and cooled

Make the filling: Put the chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Pourr the hot cream over the chocolater, and mix until smooth. Add the butter and stir until it has completely incorporated.

Make the meringue: Fill a medium pot one-third full of water and bring it to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
Whisk together the sugar and egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer. Reduce the heat to low and place the bowl over the pot, making sure that it is not touching the water. Whisk continuously until the mixture is hot and the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, place the bowl in the mixer, and fit it with the whisk attachment. Whisk on medium-high speed until the whites hold stiff peaks and are cool.

Assemble the tart: Pour the warm chocolate filling into the tart shell, stopping about 1/8 inch from the top. Refrigerate the tart until the chocolate is set, 15 to 30 30 minutes.
With a spatula, spread the meringue over the ganache , creating a slight mound. For a fancier finish, fill a pastry bag or a resealable plastic bag with the meringue. Cut a 1/2-inch opening in the tip or corner, and pipe the meringue in a spiral over the top of the filling.
Brown the top of the meringue with a small blowtorch, or by placing the tart in a preheated 500 F oven for 1 to 2 minutes.

–OoOX0XOoO–

***Sweet Tart Dough

This dough is also known as pâte sucree. It works with most tarts, since there are few things thatcan’t be complemented by its rich, buttery taste. Freeze it, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap., for up to one month, and thaw it out in the refrigerator. You can also place it in a tart shell, wrap it and freeze it in the tart shell. Make individual tarts by using small fluted tart pans (four-inch molds are perfect).

• 4 sticks (1 pound), unsalted butter (or unsalted margarine, for a parve version), at room temperature
• 1 cup, and 2 tablespoons sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 large egg
• 6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

Make the dough: Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until they are fully combined.
With the motor running, incorporate the egg yolks and the egg one at a time. Do not add an egg until the previous one is completely incorporated. Add the flou, and mix until everything is incorporated and the dough is smooth.
Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until it is completely chilled, at least 1 to 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Prepare a tart shell: Brush the sides and bottom of a fluted 9-inch tart pan with  removable bottom, with butter.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough in all directions until it forms a circle about 1/4 inch thick and 12 inches in diameter. Drape the dough over the rolling pan, and unroll it over the the pan. Gently press the dough into the pan, making sure it fits snugly. Roll the the pin over the top of the pan to remove the excess dough. Dock (prick)_ the dough with a fork. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, to let the dough rest.

Partially bake the tart shell: Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375 F.
Place a circle of parchment paper over the dough and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake the for 12 minutes, until the tart turns slightly golden and is about three quarters of the way done. Let it cool in the pan in a wire cooling rack.

Fully bake the tart shell: Place a rack in the center of the oven, and preheat the oven to 375 F.
Place a circle of parchment paper over the dough and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, remove the paper and the weights and continue baking for another 8 to 10 minutes, until golden brown. Let it cool in the pan on a wire cooling rack.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS

Italian Chocolate Truffles

I found this delicious, easy to make, recipe in Jacqueline Bellefontaine‘s What’s Cooking – Chocolate, I changed one ingredient (butter) to make it parve and it still tasted great, in fact these truffles disappeared in no time!

Photo by: St John Asprey - What's Cooking Chocolate, page 251

Yields: 24 truffles

Ingredients

• 6 ounces dark chocolate
• 2 tbsp almond flavored liqueur (amaretto) or orange flavored liqueur
• 3 tbsp unsalted margarine
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1 3/4 ounces grated chocolate

Directions

1. Melt the chocolate and the liqueur in a double boiler, stirring until combined.
2. Add the margarine and stir until it has melted. Stir in the confectioners’ sugar and the ground almonds
3. Leave the mixture in a cool place until firm enough to roll about 24 balls.
4. Place the grated chocolate on a plate and roll the truffles in the chocolate to coat them.
5. Place the truffles in paper candy cases and chill.

Cook’s Tip: These truffles will keep for about 2 weeks in a cool place.

Variation: For a dairy, sweeter, truffle use milk chocolate and sweet butter instead of dark chocolate and margarine. Dip the truffles into melted chocolate to finish, if desired.

Either variation goes great with coffee. Personally, I can’t wait to make the dairy variation. These truffles could then become a great breakfast, or dairy lunch (or dairy dinner) treat.

Enjoy, gentle reader, enjoy!

CS