Chocolate Caramel Triple Nut Tart and I’m a Finalist on food52 this week!

Everyone needs their share of chocolate-y goodness.  We all crave that pick me up that only chocolate can give us.  I’ve had a hacking cough for the past week.  When I say hacking, I feel like a barking dog or howling wolf as I try to clear the congestion in my throat.  The cold weather up here in Canada can be brutal.  Earlier this week it was -17 F, arctic tundra temperatures in my books.

Now, I am getting back to my normal routine after being sick and the first real thing I wanted to make is a chocolate tart of some sort.  Getting over a cold is something to celebrate, right?  And celebrate I did…with chocolate.  I dug into my “good” chocolate stash that I pick up every time I go back to the States because it is hard for me to find it in Kingston, and if I do it’s more expensive.  So, I am guilty of some cross-border chocolate smuggling.  If the Immigration Officer asks about food, I do say, chocolate and I usually get a smirk.  Let me tell you, I have seen some strange foodstuffs being examined at the Immigration-Customs area, but I don’t want any of you to lose your appetites.

This chocolate tart won’t make you lose your appetite, it is layered with a nutty caramel.  I used flaky puff pastry as a base.  I love the combination of chocolate, caramel, and nuts.  Therefore, I did some experimenting and came up with this recipe.  It is relatively easy, so if you are pressed for time, it might serve as a good option.  Translation: if you need chocolate within 1 hour, this will work for you.

I also wanted to mention that I am a finalist for the food52 contest, “Your Best Salad with Apples.”  I am extremely flattered and honored to be chosen as a finalist and recommend any of you who like to challenge yourself and meet a very supportive community to join.  It’s great fun to come up with a recipe suited to each week’s contest.  I made a “Shades of Green Chopped Salad.”  Feel free to check it out and check out the other finalist, whose salad looks fabulous.  Voting ends next week, so I will let you know if I win.  Either way, I’m thrilled to be a finalist.

Chocolate Caramel Triple Nut Tart

(I made something similar before, pictured here)

Serves 6

Ingredients

for the nutty caramel:

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon water

6 tablespoons butter, softened

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 cup of chopped mixed nuts, I used almonds, pecans, and walnuts

pinch of kosher salt

for the chocolate:

6 ounces good-quality 70% dark chocolate, chopped

2 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 eggs, at room temperature

crust:

7 ounce piece of puff pastry, thawed in the refrigerator overnight, if frozen

garnish:

fleur de sel, I love it, my husband hates salt in his desserts, but I usually win.

extra chopped nuts, optional

whipped cream or ice cream, optional

Method

Make the caramel first by heating a small saucepan on medium heat.  Add in the brown sugar and water and mix with a rubber spatula.  Keep stirring the sugar until it starts to melt and, about 5 minutes.  Once melted, mix in the butter and allow it to form a caramel.  Make sure the sugar is dissolved.  Turn the heat up slightly and let the caramel bubble.  Be very careful as to not let the caramel splatter or burn you.  After about 2 minutes, turn down the heat to low and add in the heavy cream and vanilla extract.  Mix in the nuts and turn the heat off and sprinkle the caramel with a tiny pinch of salt.  Allow the caramel to cool while you melt the chocolate.

Over a double-boiler (use a heat-safe bowl) on medium heat, melt the chocolate (both kinds) together.  Once melted fold in the butter so that the chocolate becomes glossy.  Take the bowl off the heat and mix in the vanilla extract.  Beat the 2 eggs in another bowl and whisk in a little of the warm chocolate into the eggs so that they won’t scramble when you add them to the larger bowl of chocolate, i.e. temper the eggs.  Once you have tempered the eggs, fold them into the chocolate so that they are well mixed in.  Set aside.

Roll out the puff pastry so that it will fit a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom.  I rolled it about 1 inch bigger than the pan so I could create a sort of rustic, messy look for the crust.  If you prefer a neater look, that’s fine as well.

Once the puff pastry is properly in the tart pan, layer the nutty caramel on the bottom in an even layer.  Then smooth the chocolate over the caramel.  If you rolled out the puff pastry larger than the pan, then fold over the edges, sort of like a galette.  Brush the exposed pastry with some milk.  Put the tart in the fridge for 10-15 minutes so that it sets.

At this point, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

After 15 minutes, bake the tart in the oven for 30 minutes or until the puff pastry turns light golden brown.  When you remove the tart from the oven, let it sit for 15 minutes because the caramel will be a little gooey.  If you prefer it to be gooey, eat it straight from the oven!  Sprinkle a little fleur de sel over the top, if you wish.  Serve with any of the above mentioned garnishes, if desired.

*After baking, you can put the tart in the fridge for 15 minutes as well.

Salted Caramel and Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sorry, I haven’t posted all week!  I’ve had a nasty cold and sore throat and haven’t been able to wear my contacts lenses for a few days therefore, I can’t see anything.  My glasses are practically useless due to an eye condition I have that requires hard lenses.  This is not an ophthalmology blog so I will not bore you with these details.  Basically, I am blindly typing this, so please bear with me. 🙂  Over the weekend I thought I was feeling better, so I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies.  I was suffering from acute cabin fever and thought chocolate chip cookies would be the ONLY things that could make me feel better.  Though they did taste good, they did not help with my sore throat.  😦  The power of the cookie failed me in that regard, but I do think these were the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made.

I added homemade salted carmel to the batter because I like that deep taste and dimension it adds to the cookies.  I contemplated adding fleur de sel to the carmel, but then I thought why do I need to be all pretentious with chocolate chip cookies, kosher salt will work just fine for this application.  I also included a little peanut butter in the batter, not so much that you could easily discern it, but just enough that it added extra body to the cookie.  To me, a chocolate chip cookie HAS to have nuts.  I love the texture and the crunch, therefore, I poured in some toasted walnuts.  I put oats in these cookies as well.  I love the heartiness they bring to the cookie.  I added about 3/4 of a cup so that they would be a subtle texture enhancer, rather than being a full on oatmeal cookie.

These cookies were a little flat, they were not dense.  I like that aspect of them.  No, they weren’t flat like pancakes but sometimes a dense cookie is bland to me.  These were just right for my taste buds.  And, oh my, the raw cookie dough was incredible as well.  I probably ate the equivalent of 10 cookies in dough.  Oh well, the cold had me down and I needed something to cheer me up and these most certainly did.  Plus, I think any food blog is absolutely incomplete without at least one choclate chip cookie recipe.  If you don’t like chocolate chip cookies, I can easily say we will NEVER be friends HEHE *kidding*.

Salted Caramel and Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from the cookie portion of the Dream Bar recipe from Gourmet Magazine

Makes about 30 large cookies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 rolled oats

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup salted caramel, optional (I halved this recipe and added 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt, and 1 tablespoon of butter at the end)

1 heaping tablespoon peanut butter, optional

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips (8 ounces)

1 cup chopped walnuts, toasted, optional

Method

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.  After sifting, mix the oats into the flour mixture.  In another bowl cream together sugars and butter using an electric mixer for about 3 minutes or until light yellow and fluffy.  Add in the eggs and beat with the electric mixer for another 2 minutes.  Beat in the vanilla, caramel, and peanut butter for another minute.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture on low speed until all of it is combined.   Next, fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.  I had some caramel left over and folded it in lightly so there would be some caramel swirls in the cookies.  Lighlty grease a baking tray and place heaping tablespoonfuls on batter on the tray.  Bake each batch for 10-12 minutes, or until light brown.  Allow to cool on a cooling rack,  then devour!

Happy Birthday, Taniya! Nutella Cake with Vanilla Buttercream Frosting

First of all I would like to wish my cousin, Taniya, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!  This is the least I could do for her since she has been urging me to start a blog for such a long time.  She’s always there for you if you need her and is a great person all around.  Too bad we’re an ocean apart, otherwise we would have a blast on her special day!

I made this Nutella Cake in honor of her birthday.  Everyone loves Nutella, especially me.  It can transform a boring piece of toast into delicious goodness.  I always have it on hand because its smooth, creamy, nutty, heavenly taste is a perfect solution to a girl’s craving for chocolate.  We know all girls love chocolate and its ability to lift our spirits is unmatched!

This cake is based on Nigella Lawson’s recipe from her book, How to be a Domestic Goddess.  Many bloggers have made this cake and its praises are endless.  It’s an absolutely decadent cake reserved for special occasions like birthdays.  It requires a whole jar of Nutella.  Good thing I always have two on hand.  The cake is also flourless, making it luscious and velvety.

Instead of topping it with the ganache that Nigella uses in her recipe I made a Vanilla Buttercream frosting based on the frosting from Magnolia Bakery.  I felt the cake needed a “lighter” topping since the ganache would make the overall taste too sweet.  The creaminess of the frosting is balanced out the intense richness of the cake.

Happy Birthday again to Taniya!  Here are a few messages from a few of us!  (Others feel free to wish her as well). 🙂

Happy Birthday Appa! -Love Henna!

Happy Birthday! -Usman

Happy Birthday Tanya,
With lots of Love and Best Wishes,
Nini Khala

happy birthday, hope it’s fab’ – noni

Happy Birthday!  Love, Ebay

From nuzi : Loads of best wishes!

happy birthday sis!!! hope all your birthday wishes come true and you have a great year. bridget

Nutella Cake

Serves 8

I used this recipe, and it is copied exactly below.  I no longer have a copy of How to be a Domestic Goddess, since my sister stole back the copy I stole from her :).

Ingredients:

6 large eggs, separated
pinch salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 13-ounce container Nutellla
1 tablespoon rum (I used pure vanilla extract)
1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted and
cooled (I used 2 ounces 60% cocoa chocolate chips and 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa mixed with 1 tablespoon of sugar)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees; butter a 9-inch springform pan. In a large bowl (preferably metal), whisk the egg whites and salt until stiff. In another bowl, cream the butter and Nutella, then add the rum (vanilla extract), egg yolks, and ground hazelnuts. Fold in melted chocolate mixed with cocoa powder and sugar.  Add a blob of beaten egg whites to the chocolate batter, and mix gently until well-combined. Fold in the remaining whites, one-third at a time, very gently but thoroughly. Pour into springform and bake for 40 minutes. Test for doneness by inserting tester, which should come out mostly clean; lightly pressing finger into top to check for a slight bouncing-back; and observing edges beginning to separate from pan. Let cool completely, in pan, on a rack.

Vanilla Buttercream

adapted from here

1 1/2 sticks of butter

2 1/2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar

1/4 plus 2 tablespoons, milk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Using an electric mixer cream together butter, half the sugar, milk, and vanilla extract.  After the mixture becomes creamy and fluffy gradually add the rest of the sugar and cream for another 3-5 minutes.  Store at room temperature otherwise the butter will harden.  Frost the  top of the cake and sift on cocoa powder for decoration, optional.