Dark Chocolate Ganache and Coconut Tart

Being in Australia, I missed out on all the foodie enjoyment associated with Thanksgiving-but that didn't stop me from making pie! I believe it's a Martha Stewart creation originally- and so simple, delicious and gluten free just as an added bonus. I love that only four ingredients are used to create this luscious silky dark chocolate tart. It's somewhat ganachy, with a gorgeous coconut crust-sort of like a giant, chocolate covered macaroon, really. It's impressive yet takes next to no effort or skill, and feeds an army due to its glorious richness. Could there be any more perfect a dessert for Christmas? Easy, quick, delicious, festive, impressive! Perfection.

DARK CHOCOLATE GANACHE & COCONUT TART (Adapted from Marin Mama Cooks)

4 tbsp butter, room temperature
2 cups dessicated coconut
350g dark chocolate
1 1/2 cups heavy cream

Preheat your oven to 180C.
Place one third of the coconut into a medium bowl with the butter and stir thoroughly to combine. using your fingers, combine the remaining coconut with the butter coconut mix.
Line a 9in pie dish with baking paper. Press the coconut mixture firmly into the base and then up the sides of the dish, leaving the top edge more loosely packed and fluffy. Lay a sheet of foil underneath your pie dish and draw a circle around it. Cut off the edges so that you have a foil cover the size of the pie. Fold this in half and cut a half circle about two inches from the edge. Unfold to reveal a "o" shaped ring of foil. Place this on the pie so that it covers the top of the edges. This will stop it from over browning. Place the pie in the oven. You will need to carefully watch the pie, as ovens vary hence does the cooking time. Also what you cook in (glass, tin, ceramic etc) will alter the browning time. I cooked mine in a tin and it took about 12-15 minutes to start tuning a golden brown. Then remove the foil and cook for a further 4 minutes until just golden on the edges. Be careful not to let the bottom get too brown. If one area is getting too brown, cover in a piece of foil to stop the browning process in that area.
Remove from the oven and set aside to cool. When the crust is cool, chop up the chocolate and place it in a medium sized heat proof bowl. Place the cream in a small saucepan. Over a medium-low heat, bring the cream just to the boil.  Pour the cream over the chocolate, and let it sit for 10 minutes undisturbed. Mix together until fully incorporated and smooth and glossy. Pour into the coconut base and smooth the top if you need to.
Refrigerate until the chocolate has set (this will depend on the the of chocolate you use, it can take from 2 to 24 hours)

Serves: 10-12 (slice small as this tart is very rich)

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:

Chocolate Custard Strawberry Cream Tart

Here's a really quick and easy dessert if you're in a hurry. I've been testing out all these instant pudding/mousse/jelly products from the stores, because I see so many recipes in America depend on them. While I find the flavour generally lacking in intensity, these sorts of instant mixes can be just perfect and you're time poor and need to whip something up in a flash. And it's always very popular with the kids. I for one would prefer to make my own mousse or custard from scratch, as I find it tastes better and you can up the flavour to your taste-bud's desire. So feel free to replace the store bought filling with your own chocolate custard or chocolate mousse, and then I believe this would really be one delicious dessert. Someone recently commented that every second recipe on here incorporates strawberries...can't you tell I'm addicted?

CHOCOLATE CUSTARD STRAWBERRY CREAM TART (A Lick the Spoon Original)

300g plain chocolate biscuits, crushed
5-6 tbsp butter, melted
1 packet Airoplane Brand Chocolate Wobble (or chocolate pudding or setting custard. Homemade recipe for chocolate custard here)
400g fresh strawberries
1 cup thickened cream, whipped

Combine the crushed biscuits with enough melted butter to get a damp mouldable base mixture. (you may not need all of the melted butter depending how absorbent your biscuits are.) Firmly press this mixture into a paper lined 20cm round spring form tin and up the sides a few inches. Refrigerate.
In a medium bowl, prepare the Airoplane Chocolate jelly mixture according to the directions on the back of the packet. When this mixture is unset at room temperature, remove the tart base from the refrigerator.
Cut the leaves off the strawberries along with a slither of the top of the berries, so that each berry stands flat with the pointed end upwards. Arrange the strawberries on the tart base so that they cover the surface with the ends pointing upwards. Pour the room temperate jelly mixture on top of the berries. Cover with cling-wrap and refrigerate until the chocolate mixture is set, approximately 2-4 hours.
Whip the cream and pipe on the top of the chocolate to decorate. Sprinkle with a little cocoa powder if desired. Serve chilled.

Apple Custard Tart of Roses

Here's a wonderful recipe translated from Bulgarian with some alterations on my part. I love finding these interesting and exquisite recipes that are not found in English, because there's a certain feeling of specialty that comes with it. If I ever travel overseas, it will be to Europe to try all the delightful foods that are not commonly found in English speaking countries. There's something so good about European food, the way they cook, and the unprocessed ingredients used. You have no idea how tired I am of hearing the words "cool whip", "canned scone dough" and so forth when I look for recipes on the web. What is this stuff? What's in it? (did you know you can even get canned crispy bacon, and canned cheeseburgers? Yummy?)
It's refreshing to be able to make everything from scratch that doesn't involve any over-processed consumables.
This apple custard tart is delightfully European. It's laced with sweet white wine, and has wonderful zesty orange hints throughout, and boasts a shortbread crust, and an arrangement of pinkened apple rosettes on the top. Brushed with jam and cooked to golden perfection, this lovely tart is best served warm with a drizzling of thickened cream.

APPLE CUSTARD TART OF ROSES (Adapted From Delicious With Jolien)

Pastry:
125g butter, softened
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange rind, grated
1 egg
100g ground almond (almond meal)
1 1/2 cups plain flour

Custard:
4 tbsp corn flour (corn starch)
6 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp orange rind, grated
3 egg yolks
400mls milk
100ml white wine (I used Moscato)

5-6 apples (I used Pink Lady apples)
1 tsp fruit jam (I used strawberry jam)

To make the pastry dough, place butter and sugar, vanilla and orange rind in a large bowl and incorporate briefly with the beaters. Add egg and almond meal and lightly beat again until the egg has broken down and is mixed through the butter. Add the flour and knead into a soft dough.
Spread into a greased and floured 24cm round flan dish. Using your fingers, press evenly into the base and up the sides of the flan dish. Refrigerate.
Meanwhile to make the custard filling, place the corn flour, sugar, vanilla and orange rind together in a medium saucepan. Add the yolks and a little milk and bring to a smooth, paste-like consistency. Place on a medium-high heat, and add the remaining milk and the wine. Whisking continuously, bring the custard to the boil and then for a further few minutes to thicken. (Custard will also thicken further in the oven).
Set the custard aside in a medium bowl to cool.
Heat the oven at 180C.
Take the apples and wash them. Using a potato peeler, make strips of apple form the peel and the flesh. The larger and wider the strips, the better.
When the custard has cooled, pour it into the base. Begin arranging the apple strips into rose shapes on the custard. (I found it helpful to start building the centre few layers of the rose in my hand before placing it in the custard, then building around it with larger strips. See photos below for a visual)
When the whole surface of the custard is covered in rose shapes, brush the top gently with a little warmed jam. Bake for 40-45 minutes, until the crust is golden and the apples have browned.

Serves 8-10

Building an apple peel rose:

 

 

Strawberries and Cream Mousse Pie

Buying fresh fruit and vege is one of my favourite foodie experiences. I love all the different fruity aromas that float around as you drift and sift through the piles of green and red, yellow and orange for the best of the best produce (I wonder how many others have handled the same fruit?) Of course there's the occasional paw paw that you bypass (I tend to think fresh paw paw smells a bit like vomit) but on the whole it's a thoroughly enjoyable experience for someone like me. Especially when you hit upon a super I-can't-go-past-that sort of bargain. Monster strawberries, 99c for 500g. Yes please!
Now I don't know if youre familiar with monster strawberries. 4kg of them later, I stood staring at them sprawled all over my kitchen bench, wondering what fabulous recipes there going to result from this bunch. Then it hit me. Why were they all so deformed, so gigantic? They're mutants! Would they sprout arms and bare teeth and start stomping around like something out of a Pnau video clip?
So I had to go and research them before they passed anyone's lips. Not that I didn't trust that they were edible, but I had to know the ins and outs of these massive red strawberries that had looked like they were joined to at least four others.
To my joy, it turns out that monster strawberries form simply out of a weather incompatibility, nothing more. They were delicious, mind you--fat, juicy and flavoursome, and just had to fill this heavenly tart--a light biscuit base, topped with airy strawberry cream mousse, finished off with a garnishing of fruit and lime jelly glaze.

STRAWBERRIES AND CREAM MOUSSE PIE WITH LIME JELLY GLAZE (Adapted from Martha Stewart)

8-10 Nice biscuits
3 tbsp. lime juice
2 3/4 tsp unflavoured gelatin
500g fresh strawberries
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
2 cups heavy cream, chilled

Lime Jelly Finish:

1/2 cup boiling water
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp unflavoured gelatin

Grease and line a 20x20 square glass or tin dish, leaving an inch or so of baking paper overhanging at the sides for easy removal of pie.
Lay the Nice biscuits on the base of the dish, breaking biscuits if necessary to cover the bottom evenly.
In a small bowl, place the lime juice and shower the gelatin over the top of it. Leave it aside to soften for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, place 400g of the strawberries in a food processor, and blend into a fine puree. Push the puree through a fine mesh sieve into a small saucepan, and discard the seeds. At a medium setting, heat the puree along with 1/2 cup sugar, stirring occasionally, until bubbles begin to form around the sides of the saucepan. Add the gelatin and cook until the gelatin dissolves, stirring continually. Remove from heat and transfer to a small bowl. Cool to room temperature.
In a large bowl, whip the cream and the extra 2 tablespoons of sugar for about 4 minutes until firm peaks form. Gently fold the strawberry puree into the cream with a spatula until well combined. Smooth this mousse mixture over the top of the Nice biscuit base. Slice the remaining strawberries lengthways and arrange on the top of the mousse as desired. Cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate until set.
To make the lime jelly finish, Place the boiling water in a small bowl with the lime juice. Shower the gelatin on the water and sit for a few minutes to soften. Stir occasionally to ensure the gelatine dissolves, then cool to room temperature. Pour onto the mousse pie and refrigerate until set. Serve.

HUGE!