"Mini Chocolate Tarts"

Last weekend my children's school had organised a Spring Charity Bazaar to collect funds as donations towards helping the less privileged. The mums is my daughter's class decided to open a stall and sell some sweet treats, snacks and drinks. On top of that, the girls have voluntereed to open a braiding salon together with us. Each mum had to contribute and one of my contribution was making mini chocolate tarts.

 

Truthfully, I haven't actually made them before and I had googled a few recipes beforehand. I chose this recipe by Amy Wisniewski from chow.com as the reviews were fantastic. The recipe was also quite easy. Since am in a middle of preparing for a big wedding cupcakes order, I'd decided to buy the pre-baked tart shells from my baking supply store. I re-baked the tart shells for the extra colouring as the shells came in quite pale.

 

I then proceeded to follow the filling recipe from below.

 

RECIPE FOR CHOCOLATE TARTS courtesy of Amy Wisniewski (www.chow.com)

For the crust:

• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), melted
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 vanilla bean, halved, seeds scraped, bean reserved
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

For the filling:

• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), cut into small pieces
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon fine salt

INSTRUCTIONS

For the crust:

1. Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle.
2. Combine butter, sugar, vanilla seeds, and salt in a large bowl and stir until evenly incorporated. Add flour and stir until just combined and a soft dough forms.
3. Sprinkle dough over the bottom of a 9-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Using a measuring cup or your fingers, evenly press the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the pan (flour the cup occasionally to prevent sticking).
4. Cover the tart shell with plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Once chilled, prick it all over with a fork and bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes.
5. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack.

For the filling:

1. Place chocolate and butter in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Combine cream, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves and liquid is just at a simmer, about 4 minutes.
3. Pour cream mixture over chocolate and butter and let sit until melted, about 4 minutes. Gently stir until smooth.
4. Pour ganache into the cooled tart shell and transfer to the refrigerator. Chill until set, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

And these are how my tarts looked like after refrigeration.

I shaved some dark chocolate and sprinkled cocoa powder on the tarts
for that extra flavour

Up close

I was very happy with the outcome and I sold these mini tarts for RM 1. Unfortunately for me, the kids didn't really go for this bittersweet tarts as they much preferred the candy floss we sold!! Now, that candy floss and wedges sales made up most of our gross sales that day!!

 

 

I loved the tarts though and was happy that I had a few leftovers for us to eat at home!

 

All in all, it was a very good day of sales for us and were happy that we managed to raise RM 1 K for charity!

"Taking A Break From Cakes"

I have been taking a break from making cakes since early March. It has been really nice just lazing around during weekends and spending time with my family. I've even managed to squeeze in going to the gym (which I have not gone for the last 8 months!!!) and taking a short trip to Penang with my hubby.

However, I did manage to make a few bakes for my family and friends. Starting with my version of cake balls or cake pops...

Cake balls made of rich chocolate cake coated with dark chocolate ganache

The cake balls from 1st row on the left is coated with crushed Hanuta wafers, 2nd row is coated with almonds and white chocolate and 3rd row is coated with milo

I also made bread pudding with bananas and walnuts... This bread pudding was inspired by Andy Bates. Watched his show on tv and I decided to try it out... Turns out to be so good especially eaten with vanilla ice-cream.

My Andy Bates inspired bread pudding with bananas and walnut

Eaten with vanilla ice-cream

Going on a roll here, I decided to make puri for dinner one night and made my own dhal and chicken curry to go with it. Puri is the fried version of chapati and is made from atta flour or whole wheat flour. Puri is actually very easy to make. Just need to add hot oil and water to the atta flour and mix until it forms a dough. Then make small balls from the dough and then roll the small balls to form a flat round pastry. Fry these round pastries one by one in hot oil. This was how my puri turned out :)

Absolutely delicious. My daughter had 3 helpings and requested that I fry more puri for lunch the next day

I also managed to make some donuts for tea one weekend. I made my donuts in 3 forms, sugar coated, chocolate glazed and peanut butter with chocolate glaze.

Another bestseller in my home... My kids loved them...

Lastly, I made an apple crumble pie for dessert...

The only photo I have of my apple pie... Eating my last bit with vanilla ice-cream

I enjoyed my time in the last weeks, baking other stuff besides cakes. I look forward to these kind of breaks... This week, my break is over and I have loads of cake baking to do... Will upload and update soon... Until then, take care peeps :)