Hello again!
So I was volunteering down in the charity shop today. When I come home, I see all these tarts tins out and a pack of ready roll shortcrust pastry. And mother. All conveniently in the kitchen, where she knows I will be and evidently will see these. Sneaky woman that one.
Here's how the conversation went down;
Mama: Hi Love!
Ciara: Hi mama! Suspicious, as she had that 'I want you to bake me something' face on.
Ciara: What are those on the oven?
Mama: They're tart tins and pastry.
Ciara: (thinking) Amateur, who buys shortcrust. It's only the easiest pastry to make. Lol. Sniggers. Snort.
Ciara: (speaking again) Right...
Mama: Well I was gonna make some chocolate, caramel tarts, but wanted to wait as I knew you'd want to make them.
Ciara: (thinking) Presumptuous...
Ciara: Aw, mama... that's so... nice of you! Can I do them later, as I've just walked in?
Mama: Well, okay. Aw you know what, I'll just do them after.
Ciara: After...?
Mama: After I have my Gin and Tonic with a friend... who's coming over in like 5 mins mate! Ya feel my drift! (Maybe some ad-libbing)
Ciara: Right, well, I'm popping off for a shower and then I'll do them?
Mama: Alright then love! :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
So these are chocolate and caramel tarts as you've probably discovered. They are delicious, well I'm assuming. They look it and they tasted really lovely up until I actually put the chocolate into the tart cases. I haven't eaten them yet, as I don't want to spoil myself for dinner. Hmmm dinner.
The ingredients you'll need are;
- 1 shop bought, ready rolled shortcrust pastry
Or make your own as I would, for that you'll need;
- 125g Plain Flour
- Pinch of salt
- 55g Butter, cooled and cubed
-2-3 tbsp Cold Water
Then for the filling, ganache with caramel;
- 200g Double Cream, I used extra thick single cream, but any cream is good.
- 200g Dark 70% Cooking Chocolate, broken up into little chunks
- 1 tbsp Butter
- 1 tbsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 twist of salt, 1 tsp
- 100g of Caramel Sauce, just use the stuff you get in the bottle that you can pour, it makes life easier
- Some extra caramel sauce for decoration
To make these tarts;
Preheat your oven to 180C fan assisted oven and line your tart cases. To line them, coat them in melted butter and then dust them in plain flour.
Cut out large enough squares of the pastry to fit your tins or one large tin and plop this into the tin cases/ case. Gently manipulate the pastry into the corners and tin by pulling at it and lifting it to the sides that need more. Gently press down to ensure the pastry is firmly lined.
Pierce the base and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. Take them out and line them with the grease-proof that came with the rolled up pastry and cut to size to line the pastry with. Weigh this down with something heavy to stop the base from ballooning up when blind baking. I use flour as it gives an even coverage.
Pop these on a chopping board and put into the fridge to chill and set firmly.
To make the ganache;
Heat the cream in a pot until hot and just bubbling. Add the vanilla extract and mix in. Add the chunks of chocolate and allow them to melt into the cream, off the heat.
Stir continuously to ensure they are melting and to combine all the ingredients together. Add the salt and the butter and allow this to become one beautiful ganache sauce. It should be thick and glossy. This when cooling in the tart cases, will set and give you a luscious tart.
Pour the ganache into the tart cases until it just reaches the level, that is just touching the top of the pastry. Put these in a cool, dry place to allow the ganache to set until firm and yummy. But not in the fridge as then they'll loose their shine. Sad ):
The tarts are done!!
I added a swirl, or swirl like decoration in caramel on top of each of the tarts. It made them look nicer in my opinion, or should I say visually pleasing and enticing.
I hope you found this interesting? Thanks again for your continued support and reading, even if I am just taking to myself out there. Haha!
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