Chocolate Mint Ganache Tart

There's an insane quantity of chocolate right here. When hubby went to pick up the three blocks of Lindt Excellence Mint, and two Cadbury Dream whites, the check-out-chick must have thought he was out on a weekend binge-or his wife was having an emotional breakdown of catastrophic proportions. Despite being made with five blocks of chocolate, I made two tarts with this quantity, and both measured about 15cm in radius. So that's one giant 30cm tart coming right up! (or a thicker 28cm or 25cm tart, whatever you have on hand in this size range would be fine. I highly recommend using a springform tin if you have one) It will feed an army, and it will be gone before you can look twice at it.

Ever had the pleasure of sinking into one of those delightful Choc mint slice biscuits? They're moreish. And this is just like a giant choc mint slice biscuit, but made by Lindt. And laced with creme de menthe to take it up a notch. 

There is no substitute for good quality chocolate, and I recommend only using the very best for this tart. It will be well worth the money. Also, don't go out and spend up on a bottle of creme de menthe, unless you have it handy already in your liquor cabinet. A little peppermint or mint essence/flavouring will be a budget friendly alternative, and a lot of the mint flavour comes from the top layer of ganache any way. So go lightly on the essence if you use it-the subtle flavours in this made it a heavenly experience for the taste buds.
When you let that splade glide down through the layers, you'll pass through a thick, dark minty lindt layer of fudgy, smooth chocolate ganache, through to a pale green filling made with white chocolate and creme de menthe- finishing off with a thin crust of chocolate shortcrust pastry.

 

 CHOCOLATE MINT GANACHE TART (Adapted from Australian Good Taste - January 2012 , Page 84)

Pastry: 

1 2/3 cups plain flour 
125g butter, chilled and diced
1/3 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp dark cocoa powder 
1 egg yolk
1 1/2- 2 tbsp cold water (I used a little more, to get a smooth texture)

White Chocolate Ganache:

150ml (2/3 cup) heavy or thickened cream
300g white chocolate, roughly chopped (I used about 1 1/2 blocks of Cadbury Dream Chocolate)
2 tbsp creme de menthe liqueur (or about 1/2 tsp mint or peppermint essence/extract)

Dark Chocolate Ganache:

250ml (1 cup) heavy or thickened cream
3x 100g Lindt Excellence Mint Intense Dark Chocolate blocks


Grease your  spring form round tin (I used 2 15cm tins to make this recipe. To make one tart, use a tin any where around 25cm) To make the pastry, process the flour, butter, icing sugar and cocoa powder until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (feel free to use your hands!) Add the egg yolk and enough chilled water so that the mixture starts to form  a soft dough. Kneed until smooth, then form into a disc shape and wrap in plastic wrap. Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 10 minutes to firm up. 
Remove from refrigerator and place between two sheets of baking paper. Roll to fit into your desired tin, ensuring the pastry comes up the sides of your tin. Trim any excess. Place in the refrigerator for a further 20 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Place the tin on a baking sheet and blind bake for 10 minutes. (this is done by placing pastry weights in the tin, or placing a piece of baking paper inside the tin with rice on top of the paper to weigh it down)
Remove the weights. Bake for a further 10 minutes. If any cracks appear, smooth them over with a little egg white. Set aside in the tin to cool.
To make the white chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it begins to boil, remove from heat and add the white chocolate. Stir until the chocolate melts and mixes in well with the cream. Add the creme de menthe and incorporate.
Pour this over the cooked pastry and chill for 1 hour to set.
To make the dark chocolate ganache, place the cream in a small saucepan and bring to the boil. As soon as it starts to boil, remove from heat and stir in the Lindt chocolate until melted and well combined. Pour over the set white chocolate ganache and smooth. Chill for three hours before serving.

Notes: Run a knife under boiling water before cutting for a smooth cut. This tart freezes well, so it's great to make ahead! Once the tart is set, wrap in plastic wrap, ensuring the wrap is close against the ganache. Then wrap again, or place in an airtight container and freeze. Thaw by placing on bench top or in refrigerator for several hours.


How to blind bake without pastry weights: