“Also known as death by chocolate, this tart always reminds me of Ferrero Rocher. I love the simplicity of a tart where you can surprise people with the different flavours in the mixture,” – says young Irish chef and rising star Adrian Martin
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
For the chocolate tuiles:
2 eggs whites
90g caster sugar
55g plain flour
1 level teaspoon cocoa powder
55g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
For the shortcrust pastry:
225g plain flour, plus a little extra for dusting
Pinch of caster sugar
100g butter, cubed, at room temperature
1–2 tablespoons milk
For the chocolate tart mix:
50g toasted hazelnuts
450g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
4 eggs
85g caster sugar
230ml cream
120ml milk
To serve:
Chocolate and hazelnut ice cream
Method
You can make the tuiles a day or two in advance. Line a baking tray with a silicone liner. Put the egg whites and sugar in a bowl and lightly beat with a fork. Sift in the flour with the cocoa powder and stir to mix well. Add the butter and stir until evenly blended.
Using a palette knife, spread a few thin strips of the tuile mix on the liner. Bake for 7–8 minutes until they are brown around the edges with a matt appearance. Leave to cool for a minute or two. While they are still pliable, lift each tuile with a palette knife and twist to resemble a pair of wings. Leave to cool and set. They will become crisp and brittle. Use all the mixture to make extras as these break really easily. The mixture normally makes 10–15. Store in an airtight container until ready to serve.
When making the pastry, try to be confident and bring it together as quickly as you can. Don’t knead it too much or the heat from your hands will melt the butter. A good tip is to hold your hands under cold, running water beforehand to make them as cold as possible. That way you’ll end up with a delicate, flaky pastry every time.
Sieve the flour from a height into a clean bowl and mix the sugar with it. Using your hands, work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar by rubbing your thumbs against your fingers until you end up with a fine, crumbly mixture.
If the pastry is too dry, add the milk to the mixture and gently work it together until you have a ball of dough. Flour it lightly. Don’t work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short. Flour your work surface and place the dough on top. Pat it into a flat round, flour it again, lightly, and wrap it in cling film. Put it into the fridge to rest for at least half an hour.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
Roll out the pastry and line six mini loosebottomed tart tins with it, then line the pastry with some scrunched-up parchment paper or heatproof cling film. Fill with either baking beans, rice or dried marrowfat peas. A top tip is to fill the pastry to the brim, otherwise the sides will shrink. Bake the pastry blind for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven and take out whatever you used to line it during blind baking. Return the tartlet tins to the oven and bake the pastry for a further 5–10 minutes in the oven until crispy. Take out and allow to cool.
For the chocolate filling, start by pulsing the hazelnuts in a food processor until they are coarsely chopped. Place the chocolate, cocoa powder, eggs and sugar in a bowl.
Boil the cream and milk together. Pour the hot milk–cream mix over the chocolate mix and whisk until smooth, then pass through a sieve. Once sieved, add in most of the hazelnuts – keep a small amount back for decoration.
Pour this mixture into the pastry cases and bake at 90ºC for 30–40 minutes, or until there’s a slight wobble in the centre. Leave to cool, then place into the fridge until ready to serve.
To serve, set an individual tart on a plate and top with a sprinkle of toasted hazelnuts and a tuile. To finish, add a neat scoop of chocolate and hazelnut ice cream to the side.
Recipes are from Create Beautiful Food At Home by Adrian Martin, which is published by Mercier Press in April 2019. Photography by Rob Kerkvliet. For more information, please go to: https://chefadrian.ie
READ MORE: Little Chocolate Pots by Melissa Hemsley
