Salted Chocolate Tart with Almonds

Some time ago I posted a recipe for a dark chocolate tart. It was a recipe I made up that produced a great result, but nonetheless could use a little bit of refinement. So here is a new and improved version that is better than ever. I made this iteration for my test kitchen appointment over at Kitchensurfing. Here I went the extra step of making a chocolate tart shell to hold the filling. The addition of sliced almonds and coarse sea salt—along with some instant coffee and hazelnut liqueur—takes the flavor profile to a whole other level.

Chocolate Crust:

• 1 cup flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 large egg
• dry beans (for blind baking)

Procedure:

1. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. You can do this by hand or using a food processor. You should keep going until the largest pieces are no bigger than a pea.
2. Incorporate the egg until dough just begins to come together. If too dry, then add a few drops of cold water to the dough.
3. You can then use a fancy technique called fraisage to bring everything together, or you can just keep mixing until you see it forming a ball in the machine. Be careful not to work it too much.
4. Form the dough into a disc and place in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to rest.
5. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
6. This dough is fairly sticky, so a good tip is to roll it out between two pieces of parchment paper. Place in tart pan and fill with dry beans on top of a piece of parchment paper. Bake for 15 minutes.
7. Let cool and remove beans. You are now ready for the filling.

 

Salted Chocolate Tart Filling:

• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. Frangelico (hazelnut liqueur)
• 1 Tbsp. instant coffee
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds

Procedure:

1. Heat heavy cream on the stove until it just comes up to a boil. Pour over chocolate chips and stir to melt.
2. Separately, whisk eggs and sugar together until well blended. Stir in salt, Frangelico, and instant coffee.
3. Slowly add chocolate mixture to egg mixture. (This is called “tempering.” The warm ingredients are added to the eggs a little at a time so you don’t end up with chocolate scrambled eggs.)
4. Pour filling into cooled tart shell and top with almonds. Bake in preheated 350˚F oven for approximately 30 minutes. (You can check for doneness by giving the tart a shake to see if the filling still jiggles.)

The top photo from my time with the folks over at Kitchensurfing includes a coffee whipped cream, which was simply a mix of heavy cream, powdered sugar, and instant coffee. Over the summer I used a simplified version of this recipe to make a more kid friendly s’mores pie and it was a HUGE hit. For the s’mores pie variation I used a graham cracker crust; omitted the Frangelico, instant coffee, and sliced almonds; reduced the salt in the filling to 1/2 tsp; and topped with marshmallows. Yum, yum, and more yum!