Last month I skipped the challenge due to my mom's sudden demise. This month I didn't want to miss the challenge. Priya Srinivasan of Enveetu Kitchen suggested this tart recipe from Trissalious. This tart is inspired by the famous Ferrero Rocher. My daughter loves Ferrero Rocher and I was sure that she would love this tart. This tart has so many elemnts combined together. The tart base is a chocolate based crust. The filling is hazelnut mousse. The topping is caramelized hazelnut and chocolate combined together and the whole assembly is topped with a caramelized hazelnut. As hazelnut is not available at Madurai, I substituted it with almonds. The hazelnut mousse is actually made with nutella spread and so I didn't have any problems with that. The mousse had eggs in it and I just substituted it with whipped cream and gelatin was replaced by china grass. I halved the recipe and got 12 delicious tarts. As I was doing so many works together, I didn't note down the cup measurements. I just weighed all the ingredients as given in the original recpie and used it.
I was working on this recipe from morning and completed it by evening. As each and every element was different, I had to prepare them with care. And along with this I also made the X Cookies which I posted 2 days back. So that day was hectic. But when I tasted the tart I was so happy I tried it. My daughter and Niece loved it so much. And my day was made. Thank you Priya for suggesting such a delicious tart.
Makes 12 Tarts
Ingredients:
For The Crust:
Cocoa Powder-30 gm
Cold Butter-75 gm
Caster Sugar-75 gm
Curd-1/4 cup
Flour/ Maida-160 gm
Baking Powder-3/4 tsp
Salt-a pinch
For The Hazelnut Mousse:
Milk-1 cup
Caster Sugar-40 gm
Vanilla Custard Powder-20 gm
Nutella-40 gm
Fresh Cream-200 ml
China Grass-3 gm
Chocolate Hazelnut Topping:
Nutella-30 gm
Milk Chocolate-25 gm
Caster Sugar-40 gm
Oil-1/8 tsp
Salt-a pinch
Bitter Sweet Chocolate-5 gm
Light Corn Syrup/ Liquid Glucose-1/4 tsp
Caramelized and Crushed Hazelnuts ( I used Almonds)-2 tbs
For The Caramelized Almonds:
Toasted Almonds-100 gm
Sugar-50 gm
Water-25 gm
Procedure:
For The Crust:
1. In a food processor, add flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, cold butter, and salt.
2. Run the processor until the flour resembles bread crumbs.
3. Add curd and run until a crumbly dough is formed.
4. Place in a cling wrap, fold tightly and refrigerate for 1 hour.
5. Divide the dough into 12 equal portions.
6. Preheat oven to 180C.
7. In a muffin pan, drop the 12 portions into 12 moulds.
8. Press th dough to for a thin crust into the mould.
9. Place a square piece of butter paper on top of the prepared cups and add rice or beans for blind baking.
10. Bake them for 10 minutes.
11. Remove the rice and butter paper and bake for another 5 minutes.
12. Remove from oven. The crust may seem soft but when they cool down they become crispy.
13. Once cool remove from the muffin moulds and store in an airtight jar until the other elements are made.
For The Mousse:
1. In a bowl mix together custard powder, nutella and sugar.
2. Boil milk in a pan and pour it over the custard mixture.
3. Mix until the mixture is free of lumps.
4. Pour this back to the pan and heat it.
5. Keep on stirring until the mixture becomes very thick.
6. Allow this mixture to cool.
7. Soak china grass in 1/2 cup of water for 5 minutes.
8. Boil this water. Simmer for 2 minutes and switch off flame.
9. Wait until the china grass melts.
10. Pour this into the prepared custard through a sieve.
11. Mix well and allow this to cool.
12. Whip cream until soft peaks form.
13. Add this whipped cream to the cool custard and mix gently.
14. Pour into a ziplock bag and refrigerate until assembling.
Caramelized Almonds:
1. Toast almonds in oven until aromatic and slightly golden.
2. Allow it to cool.
3. In a pan add sugar and water and bring to boil.
4. When the syrup starts bubbling, add the toasted almonds.
5. The syrup will start changing colour.
6. When nicely browned, remove it from heat and transfer the almonds to a tray lined with aluminum foil.
7. When cool, break into single almonds.
8. Put 1/3 rd of the almonds in a hand mixture and crush into small granules.
Chocolate Almond Topping:
1. In a double boiler, add chocolates, nutella, oil, salt, liquid glucose and the crushed almonds.
2. When the chocolate melts and everything comes together remove from heat and set aside.
Arranging The Tarts:
1. Pipe the mousse into the prepared tarts.
2. Divide the almond chocolate topping into 12 equal portions.
3. Make a dic out of each portion and place on top of the mousse.
4. Place a caramelized almond on top.
5. Refrigerate for 1/2 an hour and serve.
Chcolate Hazelnut Mousse
Caramelized Almonds
Almond Chocolate Topping
Tart Base
Arranging The Tarts
They were absolutely delicious!!!
A Close Up Shot!!!!
Labels: ALMONDS, BAKES, BAKING EGGLESS, CHOCOLATES, CUSTARD, EGGLESS, TART
