Our love was impulsive, this hazelnut tart, and I. We sort of fell into it swiftly. I’m pretty sure I searched for dinner recipes, and this little sneak fell on the same page last week. This, my friends, is clearly not a dinner recipe. It’s more of a “delightful add on to an already debilitating dinner coma” type thing.
What I did, you see, was take the night off work so I could compile ingredients and dedicate my day to blanching, peeling, and toasting hazelnuts. In addition, I’ve been dying to make some heavenly meat pies from Lady and Pups, so I went about doing that too. It made for good timing, alternating between recipes and pulling together a delicious, and ridiculous dinner.
It’s funny that I decided to make a chocolate tart because I usually have little interest in chocolate. Whatever the reason, yesterday I busied myself making this. Honestly, my favourite part had to be when the tart crust was browning in the oven. The smell of roasted hazelnuts filled the kitchen – heaven. While I made the filling I kept getting distracted, because Bob had come up alongside me and began tucking filling into meat pies. Split attention span. Thankfully, my tart was easy to finish up, and I could partake in the fun folding Bob was getting into.
Soon, I busied myself making meat pies, eating them, and savouring our semi-sweet dessert afterwards.
It’s a tough life.
Shan
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- TART SHELL
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- ¼ cup plus 2 tbsp hazelnuts (toasted & skinned)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 stick cold, unsalted butter (cut into ½" cubes)
- 1 large egg
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
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- CHOCOLATE GANACHE
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- 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70% dark), chopped
- 1½ cup heavy cream
- 1 cup hazelnuts (toasted, skinned, & chopped)
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- Spread hazelnuts on baking sheet, toasting about 10-12 minutes until golden, and skins are blistered.
- Let cool, then place hazelnuts in an old kitchen towel, and rub off skins.
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- TART SHELL
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- Combine hazelnuts, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a food processor, and process until fine.
- Add processed hazelnuts, flour, salt, and 3 tablespoons of sugar into the bowl of your stand mixer.
- Mix with the paddle attachment, until combined.
- Add butter, mixing at low speed until incorporated.
- Add egg and vanilla, mixing until a soft dough forms.
- Scrape dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and flatten into a disk.
- Wrap and refrigerate 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Spray a 9-inch fluted tart pan (with removable bottom), with non-stick cooking spray.
- Roll out cooled dough between 2 sheets of parchment paper, into a 12-inch round disk.
- Place the dough in the tart pan, pressing to the edges.
- Using a rolling pin, roll over the tart pan to remove excess dough.
- Refrigerate tart shell for 10 minutes.
- After 10 minutes, remove the tart shell, and line with pachment paper, and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
- Bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove parchment and pie weights/beans, continuing to bake another 15 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.
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- CHOCOLATE GANACHE
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- Place chopped chocolate in a heatproof bowl.
- In a small saucepan, add cream, and bring to a simmer.
- Pour heated cream over your chocolate, and let sit for 5 minutes, then whisk until smooth.
- Pour chocolate & cream mixture into the tart shell, top with chopped hazelnuts, and refrigerate until firm, about an hour and a half.
Recipe from Food & Wine.
