One of the most extraordinary things happened to me last Friday. I’ve been putting a lot of thought into how exactly I’m going to tell you about it and I’m not ready to share the news just yet (and no, I’m not pregnant!). I’m taking pictures and preparing the post behind-the-scenes though, and I hope to get this post published at least by the end of this week.
As I’ve been busy with this other post, I realized I hadn’t posted a recipe here in nearly 10 days! This is going to be a short, but sweet post about mini rustic salted chocolate and caramel tarts.
I decided to call these tarts “rustic” because I didn’t use a rolling pin to roll out the pastry shells – I flattened them with my hand (I was feeling too lazy to roll the pastry!) and also because I don’t have flan tins – I stuffed the pastry into a cupcake tin! Both of these situations resulted in a not-so-perfect, or “rustic”, tart shell!
The caramel filling in these tarts isn’t just any caramel – it’s dulce de leche. This is topped with a chocolate ganache, which is then sprinkled lightly with sea salt flakes.
So delicious! You should store these in the refrigerator, but I found that they taste best at room temperature. So let them sit on the counter for 15 minutes or so after taking them out of the refrigerator.
Adapted from Australian Good Taste magazine, July 2010
Makes 6 tarts
Ingredients
380g Dulce de leche (store-bought, or make your own)
150g dark chocolate, finely chopped
80ml (1/3 cup) pouring cream
Sea salt flakes, to sprinkle
Pastry
190g (1 1/4 cups) plain flour, sifted
2 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
2 tablespoons pure icing sugar, sifted
125g chilled unsalted butter, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons chilled water
Method
To make pastry, process the flour, cocoa, icing sugar and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the water and process until just combined. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface. Knead for 1 minute or until the dough just comes together. Shape into a disc. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.
Divide the dough into 6 even portions. Roll out 1 portion until 3mm thick. Use a round 12cm-diameter pastry cutter to cut a disc from the dough. Line a 2cm-deep, 8cm (base measurement) fluted flan tin, with removable base, with the pastry disc and trim excess. Repeat with the remaining dough portions, re-rolling the excess pastry if necessary. Place the tins on a baking tray and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to chill.
Preheat oven to 200C. Cover the pastry cases with baking paper and fill with pastry weights or rice. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove paper and pastry weights or rice. Bake for 5 minutes or until cooked through and dry to the touch. Set aside to cool completely.
Place 2 tablespoons of dulce de leche in each pastry case. Cover and place in the fridge to chill. Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring the cream just to a simmer in a saucepan over medium heat. Pour over the chocolate. Stir until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Set aside for 30 minutes or until cooled to room temperature. Carefully spread the chocolate mixture over the top of each tart and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Cover and place in the fridge for 1 hour or until set.
Rustic and delicious! These look completely fabulous – salty sweet yummy!
I’m soo curious about your announcement! In the meantime, I’ll swoon over these tarts–perfect!
To be honest, I’m not sure how excited my announcement will make other people, but I know it definitely excited me and it directly affects my baking, so I am excited to tell everyone about it!
Yum! I’ve never made a tart before, but those look so delicious. I also didn’t know you could buy dulce de leche already made.
You can buy dulce de leche already made, but it’s so hard to find! It’s not in the usual grocery stores, or at least not around where I used to live in the US. A person’s best bet for real dulce de leche already made is to buy online. Here in Australia they sell cans of what they call “caramel”, but it is actually dulce de leche – the ingredients are simply milk and sugar, that is all. This is what I used.
Sea salt with caramel is so so so delicious. Your photos are gorgeous and make me want to try these out now!
These tarts look amazing. I love the combination of chocolate, caramel and sea salt. Sounds divine!
I’d love for you to submit one of your beautiful photos, and a link to your post, to my new baking food photo gallery showcasing beautiful baking, sweets and desserts. Feel free to submit photos of any other baking as well
<3 the rustic look and zomg that innards shot is to die for!
wow wow!! I love salted dulce de leche! I just made a chocolate and dulce de leche cake but these tarts looks incredible!
-Amalia
http://buttersweetmelody.wordpress.com
They look great. How long do you think they would last if you put it in the fridge?
Oh my goodness. That photo of the inside of the tart is drool-worthy!