Monday, March 15, 2010

My Tuesday with Dorie: Soft Chocolate, Raspberry and Cherry Tart



Welcome everyone from TWD, new readers and of course my MIH fans! I am excited to get to share with you, my pick for Tuesdays with Dorie! Soft Chocolate, Raspberry and Cherry Tart on page 354 of Baking From My Home To Yours. I know you all will want this recipe, so I'll get right to that first. =) (sorry if blogger messes up the format of the recipe)

Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart
See more at "Mommy? I"m Hungry!".
After this tart has baked and cooled just a little the chocolate filling take on the lovable characteristics of pudding, becoming soft and creamy and seductively slithery, and the flavor of the berried intensifies. I use a mixture of dark and milk chocolates because I think a milder blend is better with berries. If you prefer, you can make it with all dark chocolate; using all milk chocolate would set the balance askew.
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
2 ounces premium-quality milk chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 cup (6-ounce container) fresh raspberries
1 9-inch tart shell made with Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts (page 444 & below), fully baked and cooled

Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Put the tart pan on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Set a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, add the bittersweet and milk chocolates and heat, stirring occasionally until the are melted. Remove the bowl from the heat.

Meanwhile, bring the cream, and butter just to a boil. Pour the cream-butter mixture over the chocolate and let it stand for 30 seconds. Working with a whisk or a rubber spatula, gently stir the liquid into the chocolate-start stirring in the center of the bowl and work your way out in ever-widening circles. When the mixture is smooth, stir in the sugar, then the eggs and finally the yolk. Rap the bowl against the counter to break any bubbles that might have formed.

Scatter the berries over the bottom of the crust, then pour the chocolate ganache over them.
Bake the tart for about 30 minutes-the filling should not jiggle if you tap the pan and a knife inserted into the center of the tart should come out a little streaky. Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before serving.
Makes 8 servings

Serving: There are some people who like this tart ever so slightly warm, but the flavor and texture don't really come into their own until the tart is cooled to room temperature. Serve it cold and it will lose its lovely creaminess. Whatever temperature ends up being your favorite, do serve the tart with whipped cream or creme fraiche.

Storing: This tart is best served the day it is made. In fact, it's really best just a few hours out of the oven, is you can swing that.

Playing Around: Try the tart with blackberries or blueberries, but no with strawberries-they're too watery. The tart is also good with cherries, either fresh or bottles small cherries packed in heavy syrup. I like to use slightly sour griottes (French cherries) or amarene (Italian cherries). Both are available at specialty store. If you use cherries in syrup, drain them and pat dry before use.


Sweet Tart Dough
Makes enough for one 9-inch crust

In French, this dough is called pâte sablée because it is buttery, tender and sandy (that's what sablée means). It's much like shortbread, and it's ideal for filling with fruit, custard or chocolate.

The simplest way to make a tart shell with this dough is to press it into the pan. You can roll out the dough, but the high proportion of butter to flour and the inclusion of confectioners' sugar makes it finicky to roll. I always press it into the pan, but if you want to roll it, I suggest you do so between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper or inside a rolling slipcover (see page 491 of the book).

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick plus 1 tablespoon (9 tablespoons)
very cold (or frozen) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk

Put the flour, confectioners' sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse a couple of times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the dry ingredients and pulse until the butter is coarsely cut in—you should have some pieces the size of oatmeal flakes and some the size of peas. Stir the yolk, just to break it up, and add it a little at a time, pulsing after each addition. When the egg is in, process in long pulses—about 10 seconds each—until the dough, which will look granular soon after the egg is added, forms clumps and curds. Just before you reach this stage, the sound of the machine working the dough will change—heads up. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and, very lightly and sparingly, knead the dough just to incorporate any dry ingredients that might have escaped mixing.

To press the dough into the pan: Butter a 9-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Press the dough evenly over the bottom and up the sides of the pan, using all but one little piece of dough, which you should save in the refrigerator to patch any cracks after the crust is baked. Don't be too heavy-handed—press the crust in so that the edges of the pieces cling to one another, but not so hard that the crust loses its crumbly texture. Freeze the crust for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer, before baking.

To partially or fully bake the crust: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Butter the shiny side of a piece of aluminum foil and fit the foil, buttered side down, tightly against the crust. (Since you froze the crust, you can bake it without weights.) Put the tart pan on a baking sheet and bake the crust for 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil. If the crust has puffed, press it down gently with the back of a spoon. For a partially baked crust, patch the crust if necessary, then transfer the crust to a cooling rack (keep it in its pan).

To fully bake the crust: Bake for another 8 minutes or so, or until it is firm and golden brown. (I dislike lightly baked crusts, so I often keep the crust in the oven just a little longer. If you do that, just make sure to keep a close eye on the crust's progress—it can go from golden to way too dark in a flash.) Transfer the tart pan to a rack and cool the crust to room temperature before filling.

To patch a partially or fully baked crust, if necessary: If there are any cracks in the baked crust, patch them with some of the reserved raw dough as soon as you remove the foil. Slice off a thin piece of the dough, place it over the crack, moisten the edges and very gently smooth the edges into the baked crust. If the tart will not be baked again with its filling, bake for another 2 minutes or so, just to take the rawness off the patch.

Sweet Tart Dough with Nuts: This dough has a slightly more assertive flavor than Sweet Tart Dough above, but you can use the two interchangeably. For the nut dough, reduce the amount of flour to 1-1/4 cups and add 1/4 cup finely ground almonds (or walnuts, pecans or pistachios).

Storing: Well wrapped, the dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 months. While the fully baked crust can be packed airtight and frozen for up to 2 months, I prefer to freeze the unbaked crust in the pan and bake it directly from the freezer—it has a fresher flavor. Just add about 5 minutes to the baking time.
See more at "Mommy? I"m Hungry!".
Baking with Dorie

I had gone through her book literally page to page to figure out which recipes hadn't been picked yet. Then I had to find one that would be great for Mr.'s Birthday (the 15th). So I tossed out a few recipes for him to decide from and would you believe he picked Berry Cobbler?! Huh?? No, I wanted something something a little fancier for my TWD pick and his birthday so talked him into this tart. haha! (Hopefully the cobbler will be picked soon). Knowing most of everyone here does not like raspberries, I decided to do a half and half tart. Dorie mentions using cherries instead and I knew they'd go for that!

I know fresh raspberries are not cheap right now (my 6 oz was $3.99 at Vons), but I really wanted to use fresh over frozen mushy ones. I had to time this with Mr.'s birthday so I sucked it up and payed that the day before I made the tart. Hey! It's a special week, why not?


Anyways, I made mine half cherries and half raspberries. I really wanted to try both flavors. Well guess what flavor they all chose to eat? Raspberry! Shocker! lol. I really loved the cherry in it, the raspberry was very raspberry (and those seeds!)...but it was a delicious tart overall and we all liked it. I added some whipped cream and my first ever chocolate curls (if you can call them that) to it, so I had to keep it in the fridge, giving the tart a more denser thicker ganache. Mmm!

Ever since I heard of Dorie Greenspan and her book, I was immediately in with it, the way she writes and "talks" you through the directions as if she's right there guiding you (she's also very personable "in person" too, online... I have spoken with her a few times on Facebook, my kids got a huge kick out of me speaking to an author of a baking book! She's just wonderful!). I ordered a copy of it and decided to join the TWD baking group. July 22, 2008 was my first TWD recipe, Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler. Since then I have baked quite a lot of treats some great ones, and some that just did not turn out for me. It's great baking a long with others because there are recipes I would never had tried otherwise, and I'm glad I did. Through Dorie, I have overcome my pie crust woes, and have now found my tried and true crust recipes from her book!

A few of my Dorie favorites so far have been: French Pear Tart, Chocolate Pudding, Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding, Classic Banana Bundt Cake, Sweet Potato Biscuits,Toasted Coconut Cream Tart, and her Pie/Tart Crusts.
See more at "Mommy? I'm Hungry!"



Enjoy! I hope to be able to visit the TWDers to see their tarts and thank them for baking along with me! The group is so large, so it may take a few days. =) (I had to type out the recipe, so if I messed up somewhere please let me know)

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49 Lovely Comments:

mike said...

A great choice Rachelle - your looks exceptionally good (being the "host tart")! I was surprised at how easy the filling came together - and the texture, like a soft ganache. Congrats on all your great TWD baked good over the years!

Piggy said...

Your tart looks gorgeous! Well done and thanks for the great pick!

Tia said...

thanks for the great pick! I love your pictures and garnish on this tart.

GratefulPrayerThankfulHeart said...

Good Morning, Rachelle! I enjoyed making this tart ~ good pick! So nice stopping by to visit your sweet here!

Kindly, ldh

Hindy said...

Rachelle, I enjoy your blog every week. Thanks for making this excellent recipe choice. Your slice of pie is perfect!

Paula said...

The presentation is OVER THE TOP!!! Wow! The texture looks perfectly smooth. I noticed because mine had lots of tiny bubbles. Thank you for such a nice post.

stacey said...

I decided not to whip any cream, but yours looks SO BEAUTIFUL. I'll have to remember the chocolate curls next time, too. Great pick this week!!

Amanda said...

It's so beautiful!! Thanks so much for hosting, I'm sorry I couldn't make this one and had to do a rewind instead :( :(

Dorie said...

Rachelle, your post is almost as sweet as your tart. I love that you went halvies on the fruit and it delighted me that raspberry was the winner!

Many thanks for you kind words and happiest birthday to your husband. He's a lucky guy!

Cristine said...

Thanks for hosting this week. I LOVED the tart. Yours looks amazing!

Valerie Gamine said...

Thanks for a chance to make a fantastic tart! The best part was that chocolate filling. Yours is truly magazine worthy. :)

Leslie said...

Wow, your tart is amazing! I think cherries would be delicious in this. Thanks for hosting this week!

AmyRuth said...

Rachelle, TY TY TY for choosing this wonderful recipe YAY!!! Its so easy and I can't wait to try it for myself. I shared this one with a friend who is getting his US citizenship this week. He is from Brazil. He loves chocolate. So I will make it again for "me!" hehe I love that you made it with raspberries and cherries. Yours just looks beauti-mous! Great week!! Have fun making new friends this week. ;")
AmyRuth

Welcome to our crazy blessed life said...

I love this recipe! Thanks for choosing such a fun one! :) I made this for my class tonight so we shall see how they like it. :)

natalia said...

Ciao Rachelle ! Thank you for your choice !! Your tart looks really beautiful !!!!

Di said...

Great pick, Rachelle! We all enjoyed it a lot. I made whipped cream for ours, too. =)

spike. said...

Your tart looks beautiful! great decorations. thanks for hosting!

Rachel said...

Beautiful job on your tart! Thanks for the yummy pick! Blessings, Rachel

CB said...

Great pick this week! I love the chocolate curls. I was thinking of trying the cherry version but opted to follow the recipe with the raspberries instead. Definitely have it on my agenda to try cherry next time though.
-CB
http://iheartfood4thought.com

Jennifer said...

What a great choice-I made an adaptation of this which turned out way better than I expected.

Your tart is just gorgeous!!!!

Jacque said...

Oh my! Yours look perfect and delish! Thanks for a great pick :)

Jeannette said...

SUUUUUUCH a great pick!! If only my fiance would have liked this type of thing, I could have made it for him for his birthday as well, which is one day before your mister's bday :) so happy belated to him, and a big thank you to you for choosing this. Deeeelish.

And your tart looks devilishly divine!!

Mary said...

Your tart looks perfect. Thanks for picking something I might not have gotten around to but now truly love. Go TWD!

Charli said...

Wow your tart looks gorgeous! Excellent choice for your week--way to coerce they hubby ;)

Nancy/n.o.e said...

I want a piece of YOUR tart, Rachelle! My minis got overbaked or something, so the ganache had a weird texture, but tasted pretty darned good anyway. I love the idea of cherries, because I loooove cherries, so that will have to happen next time. Thanks for the super pick.

Flourchild said...

Sorry I had to miss this one. YOur tart looks amazing and I love that you used two fruits!

Nickki said...

I really enjoyed reading your post Rachelle! And your tart looks lip smacking delicious! You are making me want to make it all over again just so I can decorate it with whipped cream :-) Thank you for choosing this recipe, it's definitely a keeper! x

Anonymous said...

Your tart is so lovely, all dressed up with whipped cream, chocolate curls, and a cherry on top!

Pamela said...

The photos of the tart you made are simply luscious and beautiful. Sorry I couldn't bake along with you this week!

Carol Peterman/TableFare said...

Your tart is so beautiful and festive! Love the chocolate curls! This was a really fun project. I had a friend over to bake with me the day I made this and we had a ball. My dinner guests loved it too! Thanks.

Rhiani said...

Thanks for hosting this week - great pick! We omitted the fruit at my house, but the base tart is truly wonderful and I think rather versatile.

Yours looks beautiful!

Unknown said...

LOVELY tart! It looks so luscious. I ended up halving my fruit so the ganache would spread over it better. Looking at yours, I wish I had left them whole! Beautiful! The French Pear Tart is one of my faves, too!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for picking such a great recipe. Yours turned out beautifully!

Unknown said...

Thanks for hosting this week Rachelle! Your tart is absolutely stunning! I had to skip the raspberries because they were too pricey but I'll definitely revisit this recipe over the summer when berries are in season. Great pick :)

Katrina said...

Ooh your tart look fabulous. Love the choice of berries, and the chocolate curls really kick it up a notch. Great pick. I love trying new things.

Susan said...

Wow! Your tart looks beautiful and your chocolate curls are perfect. I tried to make some to put on my Tiramisu cheesecake but mine didn't turn out. Great choice...thank you!!

margot said...

Your tart looks absolutely gorgeous; the book did not have photo, maybe yours could be used! I'm glad it was such a hit for the mister's birthday - he has the same BD as my boyfriend.

Emily Rose said...

thanks so much for the great recipe- I really loved this tart! Now I can't wait to try it with cherries, yours looks beautiful with the chocolate curls!

Teanna said...

Your tart is INSANELY beautiful! I finally got around to making it and posting it today - sorry I was late! Thanks for the great pick!

lola said...

Your tart is just lovely with excellent photos. Thanks for your selection. I might not have tried it, if not for TWD. We really enjoyed it. The chocolate curls are a great touch.

steph- whisk/spoon said...

this was such a classy tart-- thanks for the pick, we loved it! your half-and-half tart is perfection, and it's so beautifully dressed up!

Unknown said...

Such a great choice - I'm sorry I had to miss this week! I can't wait to try it this summer when we go picking our own raspberries.

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