Chocolate Ganache Tarts

[Kylie1969]

Ingredients

150 grams plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons caster sugar
60 grams butter
2 egg yolks
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

I doubled the mixture for these 12cm tart tins so I could have a thicker base

Sift the flour and salt together.
Add the sugar and rub in the butter with your fingers until the mixture resembled breadcrumbs (or pop into the food processor).
Add the egg yolks and vanilla and work into a dough. Knead pastry until smooth. Roll out the dough between two sheets of baking paper until you have the required thickness and line the greased tart tins
Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Meanwhile preheat the oven to 190 degrees.
Remove the pastry from the fridge and take away the plastic wrap.
Place a sheet of baking paper over the tins and fill with rice to blind bake.
Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the filling and bake a further 5 minutes or until the pastry is golden.
Allow to cool completely before filling with required tart filling.


Cream
300ml thickened cream
1 tbs caster sugar

Ganache
160ml cream
40g butter
180g dark chocolate, finely chopped

1 punnet raspberries


To make the ganache, place the cream and butter in a pan and stir over medium heat until butter has melted. Place chocolate in a heatproof bowl, pour over the warm cream, then stir until the chocolate has melted.

Whip thickened cream with sugar until soft peaks. Cover with cling film and refrigerate until needed.

Pour the chocolate ganache into the tart shells. Spread evenly with the back of a spoon or palette knife.

Top tarts with cream and decorate with raspberries.

Makes 4 x 12cm tarts

 

[chopper]

Thanks. These sound delightful! I bet it was just the right thing for ending Mum's birthday dinner.

 

[Kylie1969]

Your welcome Chopper

It was thanks Chopper, they were well received

 

[Snip 13]

Thank you Kylie My children will love these!

 

[Kylie1969]

Your welcome Snip...I hope they do

 

[vitauta]

i want to taste some of these chocolate tarts with berries and cream, yumm! BUT. it sure looks to be a huge project for a novice baker. gotta really love somebody to make these tarts, i'm thinkin'! and i do, so...kylie, please explain further the blind baking step with the rice? i'm drawing a total blank on this part.

 

[CWS4322]

Those sound great, Kylie. Does it make 4 tartlettes? Have you tried adding cocoa to the base? I have fresh pineapple...might have to make these to go with the roast beef...and top with fresh pineapple instead of berries...

 

[Kylie1969]

V, with the blind baking, once you have put the pastry in the tart tins, you cover them individually with some baking paper and fill them with baking beads/pie weights and cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

Once this is done, you remove the baking paper and the baking beads and stick them back in the oven till golden, usually about 5-10 minutes

Hope this helps

 

[Kylie1969]

Those sound great, Kylie. Does it make 4 tartlettes? Have you tried adding cocoa to the base? I have fresh pineapple...might have to make these to go with the roast beef...and top with fresh pineapple instead of berries...

Thanks CWS

Yes it makes 4 x 12cm tarts

No I have not tried the cocoa in the base...this was the first time I had made them, sounds good though...and yes, you could put anything on top of the cream, next time I am using strawberries and then another time I wil use grated chocolate for example

 

[vitauta]

so, the baking beads are there to what--secure the baking papers to the tarts? what else can be used for baking weights if you don't have beads? earlier, were you referring to dry rice as an anchor for the baking paper? sorry for all the ???--i don't do much baking, and pies never.

 

[Kylie1969]

V, not a problem, ask anything you like, I am here to help in anyway I can

The baking beads are there to weigh down the pastry so that it does puff up too much, as even though you are using plain flour, it still puffs up a bit without the weight on it

You can use rice instead but we found that it was not heavy enough unless you puts loads in and it gets messy...the beads are so much easier.

We ended up buying them as we make a lot of tarts and they are not too expensive, we bought them from a kitchen shop

 

[vitauta]

okay kylie, now it all makes sense, now that you explained it. thank you. do you guys ever eat up the pastry shells before they are ever made into tarts? i love pie crust--oftentimes it's my favorite part of the pie.

 

[CWS4322]

Vit--you can use dry beans instead. Once you have used them, let them cool and then store for the next time. You won't want to use the rice or the beans for anything else. Some pastry chefs let the beans or rice cool in the pan before removing them. I like tartlette pans that have a removable bottom.

 

[Kylie1969]

CWS, we too use the loose bottomed tart tins...they are the only way to go, so very easy to remove the shell once cooked

We have 12cm ones and also 8cm ones

V, your very welcome...you should be all ready to start baking now

No, we dont eat the shells before the filling is in them, but we do put some of the pastry aside and make a couple of biscuits with them, just sprinkle them with sugar YUM!!