"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!

"A Lesson in Chocolates"

I've always wanted to learn how to make chocolates the correct way. I mean the real way not those chocolates that people sell online made from compound chocolates!! I've always wanted to learn the process of tempering chocolates and also how to make the variety of fillings that are used inside these delectable sweets.

I've already hinted to Soon Ching of Artisan, a few times, to conduct a chocolate class at her center. So, when the opportunity to learn more about chocolates was given to me, I was very excited. The chocolate class was conducted by Chef David Lee of Epicurean Cuisine & Patisserie. This would be my third class with him. Prior to this, I've attended his macaron and choux pastry class.

Chocolates are very temperamental. That's what I learn!! You have to handle them with great care! Just like how you handle a woman, I guess. Hehehe.... The chocolates need to be melted at the right temperature, then cooled down to the right temperature and then bring it back up to the ideal temperature. See, what I mean about chocolates being temperamental! Different type of chocolates would have different kind of temperature reading. Dark chocolates are more hardy as compared to the milk and white chocolates. So, we need to be very careful when working with different types of chocolates. That being said, the rest of the class was actually quite easy.

First step, to melt the chocolate

Then, temper it to a lower temperature - 27-28 C for dark chocolates

The dark chocolate at its ideal temperature and ready to be worked on!

I learned to make three types of filings, the sea salt caramel filing (which I so love!!!), pistachio ganache and raspberry ganache. The caramel filing was paired with dark chocolate, pistachio ganache with milk chocolate and raspberry ganache with white chocolate. Of all, my favourite was the caramel and dark chocolate pairing. We also learned how to make truffles.

Coating the base of the chocolate mould before piping in the filing

The base all coated with chocolate

The sea salt caramel piped 3/4 into the mould

Our chocolate all beautiful and ready to be eaten

The truffles were relatively very simple to make. Chef David prepared the chocolate ganache first, then had it piped and cooled in the refrigerator. After its cooled and has harden a little, the ganache is coated with dark chocolates and then coated with good quality cocoa powder. I don't quite like the truffles made with dark chocolate as its quite bitter for my palette. I am going to try making it with milk chocolate instead. Hopefully, I can try making them soon rather than later!!

 The ganache is piped into a cone like shape

 Then, dipped into the dark chocolate for coating

Then coated with a good quality cocoa powder

The truffles are then put into a sifter, to shake off the excess cocoa powder

Walaaa... our handmade truffles!

All in all, it was a fun learning experience. I learned so much about chocolates and am quite excited to try my own handmade chocolates. Its always good to learn something new and for me, I always look forward to gaining more knowledge and to explore more new things especially in this culinary line.

I end my entry today with 2 photos taken at the end of our class with our instructor/mentor, Chef David Lee.. Until next time, cheerios ;)

Our treats for the day

Group photo with the instructor

 xoxo,

Elinna Bahrin

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