Salted Caramel Tart

Salted caramel tart with bittersweet chocolate ganache, trust me it tastes about as decadent and luxurious as it sounds. crunchy crumbly chocolate pastry shell, encasing a velvet smooth rich caramel levelled perfectly with fleur de sel (or sea salt, harvested from France), and finished with a blanket of bittersweet chocolate ganache.  

Sounds technical doesn't it? And it is in some respects, but also very very achievable, especially if you've already mastered the art of pastry making in my other tart recipes. Read tips before following the recipe at the bottom of this blogpost. 





PASTRY 

Pastry can be made by hand, rubbing the butter and flour together to form a breadcrumb-like texture, before gently working in the egg and water. Or by simply popping the butter and flour into a food processor, mixing briefly, then using the 'pulse' feature to add the egg yolk and liquids. By using the latter method the pastry only needs a minute or so of light kneading, before wrapping and chilling in the fridge. 

Pastry must always be chilled before rolling. This makes it more likely to stick to itself, and not your bench or rolling pin. Also, just as you dust the bench with flour, do the same to your rolling pin. And if you don't have a rolling pin - a wine bottle will suffice. When rolling be sure to rotate the dough frequently, adding a dust of flour as necessary, this makes sure that it is rolling evenly, and not sticking to the bench. 

Once you've rolled the pastry to the desired thickness and size gently fold it over the pin to help you transfer it to the dish. Then once it is pressed into the dish, simply roll the pin over the top of the tart or pie dish to cut the edges evenly. Baking Blind is a technique using baking beads or uncooked rice which holds the pastry in place while it begins to bake, without it the butter in the pastry can cause it to ooze down the sides of your tin - not so pretty!

CARAMEL 

This was actually my first time making authentic caramel. Usually I do the 'cheat' version of sweetened condensed milk with butter and golden syrup. Today I made the real deal, and trust me the flavour result is well worth the effort. Before heating the sugar I brought the cream, butter and salt to the boil (obviously omit the salt if you want plain caramel), then removed it from the heat to set aside. 

Next, I mixed the water and sugar over a high heat till dissolved then left, without stirring for 8 - 15 minutes (depending on the heat of your element). Here it bubbles up, and will eventually turn a deep golden colour, that's when it is ready. At this point, remove it from the heat, and carefully, slowly add the melted butter and cream mixture while whisking. It will create quite the reaction and bubble up, but persevere, the result will be silky smooth. 

I like to pour the caramel into the tart case while still warm, otherwise you risk it getting to firm to easily work with. 

CHOCOLATE

Melting chocolate is easy right? Well, not always, and is very sensitive to high heat, over heat it, and it becomes grainy and unpleasant. The easiest way I find to melt chocolate is to keep an eye on it, in a double boiler. A metal or glass bowl, rested upon a small saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the water does not touch the bottom of the bowl. 

I put the cream for the ganache into the bowl, and when it begins to warm, add the cubes of chocolate. I stir this for a minute or two, then turn the element off and leave it for a few more minutes. Now whisk or stir well, and the chocolate will continue to melt with the heat of the cream. Eventually becoming silky smooth. Again work with it while it's still warm (not hot as it may melt the caramel). 

Ingredients (serves 16): 

Pastry 

• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1/4 cup of cocoa
• 1/4 cup of icing sugar 
• 180 grams cold butter, diced
• 1 egg yolk
• 3 tbsp chilled water

Caramel 

• 3/4 cup of cream 
• 90 grams of butter
• 300 grams of white sugar
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2-1 tsp fleur de sel, sea salt

Chocolate Ganache 

• 1/2 cup of cream
• 150 grams Whittaker's Dark Ghana 72% Chocolate

Method: 

Make the pastry: 

Put flour, cocoa,  and icing sugar into the blender, pulse a couple times, to 'sieve' and combine. 

Add diced butter, pulse till it resembles breadcrumbs. 

Add egg yolk, and 1 tbsp water, pulse. Continue adding two more spoonfuls of water until it starts to come together into a ball (You may only need two spoonfuls depending on the size of your egg yolk). 

Tip pastry onto a floured board and gently knead for a couple of minutes so that it feels smooth. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes. 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees celsius and grease a 30 cm fluted tart tin, or 8 mini fluted tart tins. Remove pastry bake to the floured board, or a piece of greaseproof baking paper. Roll the dough out to form a circle slightly larger than your tin, about 5 mm thick. Use the pin to transfer the dough to your greased tin, press gently and roll over the top to cut the excess from the edges. 

Cover the pastry with a piece of greaseproof baking paper and fill with baking beads or uncooked rice. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove the paper and baking beads/rice and cook for a further 15 minutes (10 for mini tarts). 

The pastry should be pulling away from the sides of the tin. Remove from the oven and cool in the tin while you make the caramel. 

Make the caramel:  

In a small saucepan, measure cream, salt and butter. Heat till nearly boiling, and butter is completely melted. Set aside to cool slightly. 

In another heavy based saucepan, measure water and sugar. Bring to the boil on a high heat, stirring until the sugar is completely melted. Continue boiling without stirring for approximately 10 minutes till it turns a golden caramel colour, it will also start to smell delicious. 

Once the colour has changed, remove from the heat and carefully (it will boil up like a crazed science experiment - fun for the kids to watch), whisk while slowly adding the melted cream and butter. Keep stirring till you get the silky smooth caramel. Taste to check the salt, you may wish to add more, you want the salt to balance with the sweet of the caramel so that you taste both, but neither overpowers the other. 

Let the caramel cool a bit, so it's still warm and flowing, but not hot. Pour it into the tart shell and tilt to spread evenly. Chill in the refrigerator to set for at least two hours. 

Make the chocolate ganache: 

Create a double boiler (see above), and pour the cream into the bowl. Allow to heat then add cubed chocolate. When chocolate begins to melt, turn the heat off, and leave the bowl sitting over the hot water for a few minutes. After waiting stir/whisk till the chocolate is completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat, and just like the caramel, allow to cool a little. Gently pour over the caramel, and return to the fridge for at least 30 minutes to cool completely. 

To serve, use a hot knife (rest it in a mug of boiling water) to slice the tart into pieces. 

If you liked this recipe, you may also like: Chocolate peppermint tart, Banoffee Tart, Rhubarb Frangipane Tart, Pina Colada Tart

Rhubarb Frangipane Tart

Pina Colada Tart

Banoffee Tart

Chocolate Peppermint Tart

Walnut Chocolate Brownies

The new year is often a time for resolutions and healthy feel good goals, which are usually too extreme to maintain, like no junk food - yeah right. As far as I'm concerned there is no good or bad food. Sure some things we should eat more of than others, but restricting something is only going to make you want it more!! 

I don't think I know anyone who doesn't like chocolate brownies  - except maybe me. However for some reason I had a craving, and the only way to satisfy a craving is to have the thing which one craves, these brownies are rich and chocolates, the addition of walnuts adds a delightful crunchy texture and the subtle aroma of olive oil cuts through the sweetness. Making these chewy chocolates morsels quite devine. They're also rediculously easy to prepare.

Ingredients (makes 12 - 16):

• 220 grams dark chocolate
• 170 grams walnut pieces
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 eggs
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence 
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/2 tsp baking powder 

Method

Grease a 20cm square baking dish and line with baking paper. Preheat oven to 170 degrees Celsius. 

Over a double boiler, gently melt the chocolate. Set aside to cool slightly. 

Use an electric beater to beat eggs with sugar and oil. Slowly poor in the melted chocolate while still beating. Doing this slowly makes sure that you don't scramble the eggs in the residual heat of the chocolate. 

Next sift the dry ingredients, flour, cocoa, and baking powder over the chocolate mix. Use a large metal spoon to gently fold together till combined. Finally fold in the walnuts. 

Spread into the prepared baking dish and bake for 35 minutes. The top will start to crack a little. 

Cool in the tin, before removing and gently peeling off the baking paper. Cut and serve with cream or ice cream. 

Lemon and White Chocolate Muffins

One of my goals this year was to stop eating junk food. What I mean when I say junk food is processed food. Which means, that if I want treats, I have to make them myself, or a friend. So long as it doesn't come in a packet. My only exception to that rule is chocolate - Whittaker's Chocolate - Quality Chocolate. 

So I created these muffins for our Friday morning tea... The tartness of lemon mixed with the sweet chocolate flavour is a match made in heaven. Even better, these don't take long to whip up and get into the oven. 

Ingredients: 

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 cups flour 
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp lemon rind 
• 1/2 cup Whittaker's white chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 3/4 cup milk 
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil - something lightly flavoured like rice bran or canola
• 1 egg 
• 12 squares of Whittaker's white chocolate for the top

Grease a 12 hole muffin tin and preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. 

As per usual muffin recipes, sift the dry ingredients: sugar, flour, and baking powder. Stir in the lemon rind and chopped Whittaker's white chocolate. 

In another bowl beat the lemon juice with milk, vegetable oil and egg till well mixed. 

Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. While turning the bowl, use a wooden spoon to fold the dry and wet together, till just combined (a few floury bits are ok here, it will sort itself out while cooking). 

Place in the hot oven for 20 minutes till a skewer comes out clean. 

Once removed, place a square of Whittaker's white chocolate on the top of each muffin. Allow this to soften for a minute and very gently press it down onto the muffin a little to make sure the chocolate is secure (I find this method 'pretties' them up, without all the fuss of making icing, plus you get more of the chocolatey goodness!).

After 5 - 10 minutes remove from the tin to cool completely. 

Keep somewhere cool in an airtight container for up to 4 days, or, wrap and freeze muffins individually for up to three months. 

After Dinner Mint Tart

Are you a lover of mint slice biscuits? After dinner mints? Whittaker's Dark Ghana 72% peppermint chocolate? 

If so, then this is the tart for you. 

Yes, it looks mightily impressive, and tastes even better. Even though there are a few steps involved, it is actually ridiculously easy to prepare: Especially if you have a food processor to take the hard work out of the pastry. If you don't have a food processor just rub the butter into the sifted ingredients using your fingers. 

Do make sure you have plenty of time up your sleeve though. You need to wait for the pastry to chill, bake, chill, then for each layer of ganache to set. Ideally, you want to prepare this the night or morning before you want to eat it. 

Ingredients (serves 12-16): 

Pastry

• 1 1/2 cups of plain flour
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 1/4 cup of icing sugar 
• 180 grams cold butter, diced
• 1 egg yolk (reserve white for brushing) 
• 3 tbsp chilled water
• greaseproof paper
• baking beads or rice 

White chocolate ganache 

• 200 g white chocolate 
• 100 ml cream 
• 2 tsp peppermint essence

Dark chocolate ganache 

• 200 g good quality dark chocolate - Whittaker's 72% is perfect for this
• 140 ml cream 
• 3 tsp peppermint essence

Step 1: Make Pastry

Sieve flour, cocoa and icing sugar together. Put into your food processor with the diced butter and pulse for a few minutes till all of the butter is mixed in and it becomes a breadcrumb texture. 

Next add the egg yolk and chilled water. Pulse again. When it begins to come together, tip out onto a lightly floured board and lightly knead until you have a smooth dough. 

Flatten into a 15cm disc. Cover in cling film and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Pastry is much easier to work with when it is cold. 

Step 2: Bake Pastry 

Preheat oven to 180 degrees celcius. Grease a 30cm loose-based fluted tart tin with butter. 

Remove pastry from the fridge and roll out on a piece of greaseproof paper large enough to fit the tart tin. 

Gently lay the pastry over the tin and press into the edges. Use the rolling pin to roll across the top of the tin to cut off any excess pastry. 

Place the greaseproof paper over the pastry and fill the tin with baking beads or uncooked rice (less than a kilo of rice will fill it - reserve the rice afterwards for using again the next time you bake pastry). This holds the pastry in place and stops it both puffing up and from sinking down the sides. Chill again for 10 minutes. 

Place in the hot oven and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove tart from oven and take off the baking paper and rice. Return to the oven for another 15 minutes to finish cooking through. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool. 

Step 3: White Chocolate Ganache 

Once cooled, you can make the white chocolate ganache. In a small saucepan, gently heat the 100ml of cream. Just as it begins to boil, remove it from the heat and add the white chocolate. Leave it to sit for a few minutes. Then stir till all of the chocolate is melted in and you have a smooth mixture. Add 2 tsp of peppermint essence. 

Once cooled to nearly room temperature, pour into the pastry tilt to spread evenly. Leave it in the fridge, uncovered, to chill for an hour or two. I left it overnight and finished it off the next day. If you want to smooth it more, wait till it is completely chilled first. Then heat a large metal spoon in a glass of boiling water. Dry the spoon off (make sure it is dry - water and chocolate are not friends) and use the back of it to gently smooth out any rough areas of chocolate. 

Step 4: Dark Chocolate Ganache 

Make the dark chocolate ganache, as you did with the white chocolate ganache, heat the 140ml cream to nearly boiling point. Add the chopped chocolate and leave for two minutes. Stir till smooth. Add peppermint essence. Once cooled pour over the white chocolate ganache. Leave in the refrigerator to set for 2 hours. 

Step 5: Share and Devour

Remove the tart from the fridge 15-30 minutes before serving. Fill a mug with boiling water and heat a small sharp knife in the water. Dry the knife on a clean cloth and gently cut small wedges of the tart, reheating the knife as required. 

Heating the knife will give you clean cuts and avoid the chocolate cracking. 

Depending how decadent you are feeling you'll easily get 12 - 16 slices out of this tart as it's rather rich. 

Serve with lightly whipped cream if desired. 

Dark Chocolate Ginger and Orange Oaties

This is my twist on a kiwi classic, the ANZAC biscuit. Traditionally made with oats, coconut, and golden syrup, and without eggs so that they would keep for a long time whilst in transit. 
My version however, has a few of my favourite things: Dark Chocolate, Ginger and Orange. 

Delicious little morsels. I used Whittaker's 72% Dark Ghana, because it's the best. Always look for at least 50% cocoa solids in any dark chocolate, and if you can, use Whittaker's.

If you're a big spice fan, feel free to add more ginger, 2 tsp wasn't quite enough kick for me. 


Ingredients (makes 25 - 30 cookies): 

• 150g butter, melted
• 2 tbsp orange juice
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup of plain flour
• 2 tsp ground ginger
• 1 cup of rolled oats
• 1 cup of coconut 
• 2 tbsp orange rind
• 1/2 cup of quality dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 tsp baking soda 

Method: 

Preheat oven to 180c and line to baking trays with baking paper. 

Melt butter and mix in orange juice. 

Sift flour and ginger in a large bowl, stir through oats, coconut, orange rind and dark chocolate. 

In a small bowl mix 2 tbsp boiling water, with baking soda and add this to the butter. Stir butter into the dry ingredients. Mix well. Mixture will be a little crumbly. 

With wet hands, roll small handfuls of dough and and place on the tray, leaving room for the cookies to spread. 

Bake 20-25 minutes till golden. Leave on the tray to cool. They will harden as they cool. 

Store in an airtight container up to a week... If they last that long. 

Mexican Chilli Chocolate Cake with Candied Pepitas

I originally got this recipe from a Dish magazine, but have made it so many times now that it's become a household favourite, of those who love chilli and those who don't so much. This makes a decadent dessert or morning tea treat. Best served small, but more than likely to have you going back for more. 

I only add half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper to the dish, but it's enough to give a subtle chilli kick. Married with the intensity of  72% Whittaker's Dark Ghana it makes a smooth welcoming flavour, not to be missed. 

Pepita is Mexican for 'little seed of squash' or as we would call them, Pumpkin Seeds. Having the candied pumpkin seeds is optional but given that the cake has a soft fudgey texture, the crunch of the pumpkin seeds adds a really nice contrast. 

This can keep in the fridge up to a week, but probably won't get past a day or two by the time people get a taste for it. With only 2 tbsp of flour, this recipe is really easy to make gluten free. Feel free to use any type of flour, plain, gluten free, almond or coconut flour etc. 

Mexican Chilli Chocolate Cake 

with Candied Pepitas

Ingredients 

• 200g Whittaker's Dark Ghana 72% Chocolate 
• 200g butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp vanilla extract 
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon 

To Dust: 1 tbsp each of icing sugar, cocoa and cinnamon. 

Candied Pepitas 

• 1 egg white
• 1/4 sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon 
• 70g pumpkin seeds

Don't forget lightly whipped cream to serve with it. 

Method

Grease and line the base of a 20cm round or square cake tin. 

Preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius. 

In a double boiler* melt the butter and chocolate, stirring gently. 

Remove from the heat and stir in vanilla and sugar. Set aside to cool for 10-15 minutes. 

Meanwhile prepare your candied pepitas**. Lightly whisk egg with a fork - you do not need to get the egg to stiff peaks, just whisk 30 seconds or so to aerate it. Stir in sugar, cinnamon and pepitas. 

Lay non-stick baking paper on a baking tray and spread pepita and egg white mixture in a thin layer.

Pepitas Before

Pepitas After

Bake at 170 degrees for 5 -7 minutes, turning once. Once cooked, remove from oven and leave to cool. 

They will become crunchy once cold. Remove from tray, breaking up any large chunks. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks. 

The chocolate should now be cool enough to add the beaten eggs. Stir them in then stir in sifted flour, salt, cinnamon and cayenne pepper. 

Pour into the baking tin and bake for 20 - 25 minutes, till a skewer comes out clean. Leave it in the tin to cool, it will deflate and set. 

Before serving with whipped cream and candied pepitas dust with icing sugar, cocoa and cinnamon. 

Candied Pepitas

*A double boiler can be achieved by placing an inch of water in the base of a saucepan on a medium to low heat. Rest a bowl on top of the saucepan (make sure the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water). Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl and the steam from the water will gently heat it. 

**Pepitas is the Mexican term for little seed of squash, or more commonly known as pumpkin seeds.