dark chocolate

dark chocolate tarts

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While I had been sort of hoping to veganize my standard dark chocolate mini tart recipe, I sort of ran out of time and made the regular ones. I changed the recipe just slightly from the old one I’ve shared before.

I mailed some of these to an office where most of the employees are distributed, so a lot of employees miss out on the final results. One employee misread the label on these as “farts” rather than “tarts”, giving him a small chuckle – that was as sweet as my shared baking ended up being for him.

Dark chocolate tarts
Tart shells
1 ½ cups chocolate cookie crumbs (or 1 cup cookie crumbs and ½ cup ground hazelnuts).
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

The change I implemented here was simply throwing whole Oreo cookies into my food processor and making them into crumbs. I didn’t fool around looking for some other chocolate cookies or removing the middle filling of the Oreo. This might have made the final shells more structurally sound.

Preheat oven to 190C. Lightly spray muffin tins (regular size or mini ones, as I usually use) with nonstick spray (I usually do not use the spray because the mixture uses a lot of butter; I did use some non-stick spray this time because I was not sure that keeping the filling from the Oreos in the mix would not stick to the pan).

Mix the cookie crumbs (and ground hazelnuts, if you are using them – I did this time) with the melted butter and sugar. Press the mixture into the muffin tins. Bake approx. 5 minutes in preheated oven.

While baking, prepare the filling. Remove from oven and lower oven temperature to 160C.

Filling
10 to 10 ½ ounces of dark chocolate (at least 70% cocoa) – 280 to 300 grams
¾ cup heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
3 tablespoons honey (flavored honey can be nice here)
1 egg, beaten slightly

The difference this time is that I used only heavy cream and no milk in the exact same proportion (so 1 1/4c cream – minus all milk).

Over a double boiler (or glass bowl over a pan of boiling water) mix chocolate with milk and cream. Stir until chocolate is melted and fully mixed together with cream and milk (smooth consistency). Stir in honey.

Slightly beat the egg in a medium-sized bowl. Gradually stir a small stream of the melted chocolate mixture into the egg, whisking the egg and chocolate together the whole time (to temper to make sure the egg does not become like scrambled eggs). Do this with just some of the chocolate until enough chocolate has been mixed with egg to ensure that the egg will not cook. Then add the egg-chocolate mixture to the bowl of melted chocolate.

Spoon the chocolate mixture into the chocolate tart shells. Bake 25 minutes, cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from tin.

Two flavors that go together: Chocolate and peanut butter bundt cake

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Even people who claim not to like peanut butter can sometimes get behind a cake like this. The peanut butter’s intensity is softened by its being whipped with cream cheese and vanilla, and it takes on a soft cake-like texture once baked inside a very moist, dense and dark chocolate exterior.

Last week I made three of these cakes to take to the office and followed up with one more for one of my Thanksgiving guests. I finally managed to take some new pictures to supersede the ones I took years ago when I first attempted this cake – find the chocolate peanut butter bundt cake recipe by clicking the link.

Baked Goods in B2B: Mini dark chocolate tarts

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MINI DARK CHOCOLATE TARTS
TART SHELLS
Preheat oven to 375F/190C; lightly coat muffin tins (regular size or mini) with nonstick cooking spray.

1 cup crushed chocolate cookies (plain chocolate or even Oreos will work here)
1/3 cup ground nuts (or just 1/3 cup more cookie crumbs if you don’t like nuts)
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon sugar

Mix all ingredients together and then press into the bottom and up the sides of the prepared muffin tins. Bake for 5 minutes, cool on a wire rack.

TART FILLING
Preheat the oven to 325F/160C

10 ½ ounces (280g) dark chocolate (between 70-85 percent cocoa)
¾ cup whipping cream
½ cup milk
3 tablespoons honey (regular or flavored, e.g. raspberry, cinnamon or ginger)
1 egg, lightly beaten

Melt chocolate, cream and milk together in the microwave (3-4 minutes on full power) or in a double boiler on the stove. Stir, make sure chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth. Stir in honey.
Put egg in a separate bowl, beat lightly. Gradually stir hot chocolate mixture into the beaten egg (stirring constantly). Pour into the prepared tart shells.
Bake 25 minutes. Cool on wire rack for 30 minutes and remove from pan.