Salted caramel and chocolate tarts

First, to make your pastry. Sift the flour and icing sugar into a bowl. Drop in your cubes of butter, and very lightly, using just your fingertips rub it into the flour, until the whole mixture resembles bread crumbs and is a light yellow. Add the egg yolk to the crumby mixture and stir in with a knife (will prevent your hands getting too sticky at this stage!) Once the yolk has worked its way around the bread crumbs, add just enough water to bind the mixture (approximately 1-2 tablespoons) and get in there with your hands and squish it all together. If you find the pastry too wet, sprinkle it with a bit more flour.  You are looking for a mixture that stays together, but doesn’t stick to your hands.

You can place it in the fridge in a ball for a few minutes, but I find no problem using it immediately. Roll out the pastry (rolling pin and surface dusted with flour to prevent sticking) until it’s about 5mm thick, and gently place in your tart tins, pressing into the tin. Run your rolling pin over top, to “cut” the excess edges off. Lay a piece of greaseproof paper or foil over the pastry, and fill with a layer of dried beans or rice. Bake at 180°C for 15 minutes.

Remove paper / foil and beans, and return to oven for a further 5-7 minutes, or until a light golden brown. Allow to cool in tins, and remove from tins once at room temperature.

Now for your ganache – pour your cream into a microwave proof bowl, and heat on high until it comes to the boil – about 2 minutes. Remove from microwave, and place your chocolate in the bowl of cream. Allow to sit for 2 minutes.

While you are waiting for your chocolate to melt, heat sugar and water in a saucepan on the stove, for your caramel. Stir to dissolve the sugar into the water. Once dissolved and coming to the boil, stop stirring. Swirl the pot around to ensure even caramelisation – we are looking for a dark, golden brown. This will take around 10 minutes – keep an eye on it. Once it’s reached that colour, add the cream (it will splutter) and stir on a low heat until the caramel melts into the cream. Remove from heat, and add your salt.

Now for the assembly. Pour a layer of your salted caramel into your tart shells – fill till half way. These need to cool a little, so the chocolate remains separate. Stir your chocolate while you wait for the caramel to cool in the shells. Once your caramel is no longer shiny, pour your chocolate ganache over it, until it reaches the very top of your pastry. Sprinkle over a few flakes of sea salt, and place in fridge to set – it will take 3-4 hours.

Reprinted with permission of The Gorgeous Gourmet
To visit The Gorgeous
Gourmet’s blog, click
here.