Dark Chocolate Ganache and Hazelnut Praline Tart by Rachel

The reason why I love baking so much is because you can create such beautiful desserts if you put your mind to it.  Of all the desserts I've made, tarts are my favorite.  I love the way that tarts look they are really a very easy dessert to make.  Don't get scared off by having to make your own crust- you can do it!

I went home to North Carolina for Thanksgiving and my mom gave me a ton of Lindt chocolate that she happened to have (not sure why...), but I took it and turned it into a beautiful tart!  

Ingredients 

For the chocolate crust (8 inch tart pan)

10 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

1 pinch of salt

1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder

1 egg

1 tbsp ice water

- Whisk together the flour, sugar, salt and cocoa powder and set aside. 

- Cut your butter into small cubes and toss into the dry mixture.  Break up the butter into smaller bits using the whisk.  The mixture should look a little like dirt with the bits of butter still visible.  They should be the size of small pebbles.

- Using a spatula, mix in one egg and the ice water until the dough starts to come together.  

- Empty the mixture onto a large piece of plastic wrap and bring the dough together with your hands.  It should barely hold together.  Wrap up and place in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

- Remove from the fridge and roll the dough out to about 1/4 inch thick and place it into your tart pan making sure that the dough fills in all the edges tightly- press the dough into the pan.  Remove the excess dough that hangs off the edges of the pan.  Poke small holes into the bottom of the crust with a fork, poking even holes so that the crust has some ventilation.  No need to poke too hard or create large holes- this is baking!  Be gentle!

- Place the crust in the pan into the freezer for 30 minutes.

- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  

- Butter a piece of tin foil and place the buttered side down against the crust dough in the tart pan.  Press it down to make sure that the foil has good contact with the dough.

- Place into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes.  Take it out of the oven, remove the foil carefully and press down any parts of the crust that have puffed up.  Place back into the oven to bake for another 12 - 15 minutes.

- Remove from the oven and let cool for 30 minutes before pouring in the filling.

For the Ganache (tart filling)

200g of 85% cocoa dark chocolate

250g of chocolate chips

3/4 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup whole milk

- Add the heavy cream and milk into a medium pot and heat it until it's almost boiling.  You should start to see small bubbles forming on the edge.

- Reduce the heat to medium low and slowly add in the chocolate and whisk.  Don't stop whisking but work quickly.  If your chocolate "breaks" meaning that it's starting to form an oily layer on the top, you have heated the chocolate too much.  Remove it from the heat and let it chill out for about 10 minutes, then return it to the medium low heat and add in a little more milk.  Whisk like crazy and it should come back together.  You now have ganache! :)

mmmm so creamy <3

- Let the ganache cool for 15-20 minutes.  Whisk slightly to loosen the ganache up, then slowly pour it into the cooled tart crust, making sure not to overfill the crust. 

- Transport the tart to the fridge and chill for 4-6 hours.  Once it's been in the fridge for an hour though, it's safe to move it into the freezer if you need it to chill faster.

For the Pralines

A large handful of raw hazelnuts

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp water

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

- Spread the raw hazelnuts onto a baking sheet and put them in the oven for about 10 minutes.  Remove them and rub them to remove the brown husk on the outside of each nut.  Place them together on parchment paper to cool.

Naked hazelnuts!

- Add the sugar and water into a small sauce pan. Turn the heat on the stove to medium high and watch the mixture.  The sugar will start to boil- let it boil until the mixture turns a rich amber color.  Shake the mixture around a little to get even caramelization, then remove from the heat and pour over the top of the hazelnuts.  Shift the nuts around on the parchment paper to get the nuts coated.  Allow to cool until the coating is hard and cool to the touch.

- Before you serve the tart, crush the candied hazelnuts and sprinkle all over the top of the tart.

And you have a beautiful ganache tart!  I served mine with raspberries on the side.  It was a lovely, but rich dessert.  If you love chocolate though, this is the tart for you.