So we have a deal with our kiteboarding friend Dave for our irregular movie nights: he provides the sick home cinema setup, comfy sofas and brilliant arthouse/foreign movies. Mr. R&R picks up takeaway pizza or sushi. And I make something rigorously chocolatey for dessert. Last time it was a chocolate cake you could drown in like quicksand from Ottolenghi. But yesterday I wanted something a bit more sturdy to transport to Dave’s house in the car. A pastry shell then, and I flirted briefly with the idea of individual mini tarts, but that wouldn’t have given Dave any leftovers and the excuse to break his diet. So I used my rectangular tarte maison tin, which not only looks v elegant and gives each slice a perfect quotient of pastry, but also fits in Tupperware easily.
I used a really rich pastry with a huge proportion of butter – not smart in my hot hot hot kitchen and it was so completely hopeless to work with that I bunged the leftovers in the freezer marked as “impossible pastry”. But somehow, despite sticking it all to the worktop and resorting to using my fingers and a crumpet ring to squish it in the tin, it actually tasted bloody great in the finished product. That means however crap you are at pastry, you can’t get a worse result than yummy.
The honey, chocolate and pecan filling comes from an idea of Nigel Slater’s: I adapted his recipe for size, swapping pecans for his walnuts and runny honey for set. (Maybe that’s why my filling was quite squishy, but its also 83˚ in the house: if it’s summer where you are, this is probably a dessert to keep in the fridge.)
Honey, pecan and chocolate tart
Makes 1 tarte maison 35x12cm. Adapted from Nigel Slater (and see that recipe for 25cm tart quantities).
For the pastry (this will make more than you need, but it’s a bitch to roll out so I like having a bit extra. It also freezes very well.):
- 190g butter, chilled and diced
- 250g plain (AP) flour
- 75g caster sugar
- 50g ground almonds
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp rum
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest
- pinch salt
In a food processor, combine the flour, almonds and sugar briefly. Now add the diced butter and process until like breadcrumbs. Add the egg, rum, salt and lemon until the pastry just balls, then bring it together in a bowl, form into a ball and wrap in cling film, chilling for at least 45 minutes. Grease the tin and roll out the pastry… yeah that’s a laugh. If you’re in a very cool kitchen you may have more success, otherwise press, squish and cajole the pastry into the tin as best you can – I used about 2/3rds of the quantity here. Put in the freezer for 10 minutes, then prick all over with a fork and bake blind at 180 Celcius for 25 minutes, the first 20 with baking beans, then 5 without. It should be cooked but only slightly coloured as it will go back in for another 20 minutes with the filling.
For the filling:
- 120g pecans, coarsley chopped
- 100g very dark chocolate, chopped. I used 90% Lindt Excellence
- 180g honey (better if set)
- 90g butter
- 90g soft brown sugar (lighter rather than darker)
- 50ml cream
Chop the chocolate and pecans and place in a bowl.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, then add in the honey and sugar. Pour in the cream, turn up the heat and boil hard for three minutes. Pour onto the chocolate and nuts and stir until chocolate melts and the nuts are combined.
Tip into the prepared case, level and bake for 20 minutes at 180 Celcius. It will not rise much, nor will it seem particularly set straight out of the oven, but it will harden up as it cools (and takes well to the fridge).
2 Comments on "Honey and pecan chocolate tart"
pecan and chocolate…. great mix! but unfortunately not easy to find here some pecan nuts. Walnuts and hazelnuts would be fine too but as delicious as this recipe!
Oh of course – they’re pretty ubiquitous over here but can’t remember seeing them in Italy. How about a mix of nuts? Brazils, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts, flaked almonds – granola with honey meets decadent chocolate…