Chocolate Almond Tart With Raspberry Food

RASPBERRY ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
• Cut a 3/4-inch wide strip off each side of the pastry and reserve. Roll out the pastry sheet on a lightly floured work surface to a 10-inch square. Brush the edges of the square with the egg. Working with 1 strip at a time, stand the strips along the edges of the pastry square and crimp where they meet. You want to create a shallow box, where the pastry square is the base and the 4 strips are the walls. Overlap the strips at the corners, stretching them if necessary to complete the walls of the box. Brush the border with the egg. Pierce the center of the pastry all over with fork. Bake until the pastry is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.
• Using an electric mixer, beat the cream until soft peaks. With the mixer still running, gradually add the sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks. Add the liqueur and beat until just well blended; be careful not to overmix or the whipped cream will turn into a buttery consistency and start to separate. Using a large spatula, fold in the nuts. Spoon the cream mixture into the prepared pastry crust. Arrange the berries over the cream. Sift the cocoa powder over and serve.
• NOTE: You can use any fruit that's in season (orange segments, berries, plums, bananas, grapes). Blueberries make a good substitute for the raspberries, and sliced peaches or nectarines are delicious as well.

RASPBERRY ALMOND TART

Steps:

• In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and 1/3 cup sugar; cut in 1/2 cup butter until crumbly. Beat 1 egg; add to flour mixture, tossing with a fork until dry ingredients are moistened. Press dough evenly onto bottom and up the sides of a 9-in. tart pan with removable bottom. Spread 1/4 cup of jam over dough. Cover with a plastic wrap and refrigerate., Meanwhile, cream remaining butter and sugar until light and fluffy; stir in almonds and extract. Add remaining eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; spoon filling over jam. Place tart pan on a baking sheet., Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes or until set. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Carefully remove sides from pan. Spread remaining jam on top. Combine confectioners' sugar and lemon juice; drizzle over the top.

ALMOND TART WITH RASPBERRIES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F /180 degrees C.
• Cream the butter well and then just stir in the sugar and ground almonds. (Don't over beat or the oil will come out of the ground almonds as it cooks.) Put a teaspoon of the mixture into 24 small patty tins, or divide between 2 by 7-inch sandwich tins. Bake until golden brown 10 to 30 minutes depending on the pans used.
• The tarts or tartlets are too soft to turn out immediately, so cool in the tins for about 5 minutes before turning out. Do not allow to set hard before removing to a wire rack or the butter will solidify and they will stick to the tins. If this happens pop the tins back into the oven for a few minutes so the butter melts and then they will come out easily.
• Just before serving, arrange whole raspberries on the base. Glaze with Red Currant Glaze and decorate with rosettes of Jersey cream.
• Melt the red currant jelly with the water in a small stainless steel saucepan. Stir gently, but do not whisk, or it will become cloudy. Cook it just for 1 to 2 minutes longer for the jelly to darken. Store any leftover glaze in an airtight jar and reheat gently to melt it before use.

CHOCOLATE ALMOND TART WITH RASPBERRY

Steps:

• First, make the pastry by mixing the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt) in a food processor then add the butter and pulse until you get a fine breadcrumb texture. Add the egg yolk, pulse again to mix then add a little water gradually and pulse so that the dough comes together in large clumps.
• Bring the dough together into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap/cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes - this helps to avoid the pastry shrinking when you bake it.
• While the pastry is cooling, make the filling by melting the butter in a small pan until just starting to smell nutty and light brown in color. Remove form the heat and melt the chocolate with the residual heat from the pan and allow to cool slightly.
• In a small bowl, mix the almond flour, sugar, cardamon, egg and vanilla. Add the butter-chocolate mixture and mix well. Alternatively, you can just add the almond flour etc to the chocolate-butter mixture once it is lukewarm.
• Once pastry has almost finished cooling time, preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
• Roll out the pastry to around 1/8in/2-3mm thick and line 4 small tart moulds. Blind bake the pastry (by lining with parchment paper and filling with baking beans) for 15 mins until starting to dry.
• Remove the parchment paper and beans, allow the pastry to cool slightly then put some of the filling in each and spread carefully across the bottom. Press some raspberries, open side down into the filling (as many as you like, but around 6 per tart works well) then bake for around 30 minutes until the filling looks like it is fairly dry and feels springy-firm rather than soft. Serve warm or cold. You can chill and keep any leftover in the fridge for a day or two.

CHOCOLATE, ALMOND, AND RASPBERRY TART

Steps:

• For crust: Preheat oven to 350°F Combine cookie crumbs and 5 tablespoons butter in medium bowl. Stir until crumbs are evenly coated and beginning to stick together. Press crumb mixture in thin even layer onto bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Bake crust until set and beginning to crisp, pressing with back of fork if crust puffs, about 15 minutes. Cool crust completely on rack.
• For filling and topping : Sprinkle almond paste over crust. Gently press to even layer. Place chocolate in medium bowl. Bring cream to simmer in small saucepan. Pour cream over chocolate. Let stand 1 minute, then whisk until melted and smooth. Pour ganache evenly over almond layer. Chill tart until chocolate is cold and set, at least 4 hours and up to 1 day.
• Arrange raspberries, pointed side up, over top of tart. Stir jam and kirsch in small pan over low heat until blended and heated through. Brush glaze over berries. Sprinkle almonds around edge of tart. DO AHEAD: can be made 6 hours ahead. Chill uncovered.
• Using small sharp knife, loosen crust from pan sides. Push up pan bottom, releasing tart. Cut into wedges; serve cold.

RASPBERRY TART WITH ALMOND PASTRY

Steps:

• Make the pastry by tipping all the ingredients, except the yolk, into a food processor and pulsing to the texture of breadcrumbs. Add the yolk, then pulse until it all comes together to form a soft pastry. The pastry will be too soft to roll out, so press it evenly into a loose-based 25cm tart tin until the pastry comes up above the edges of the tin. Rest in the freezer for at least 20 mins.
• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Line the tart case with baking parchment and baking beans, then place on a baking sheet and bake for 20 mins until the edges are starting to brown. Remove the beans and paper, then continue to cook for 10 mins until biscuity. Leave to cool, trim the edges with a knife, then carefully remove from the tart tin.
• To make the filling, whisk the crème fraîche with the sugar, vanilla, lemon juice and zest until thick. Spread over the bottom of the tart case, then meticulously place the raspberries on top in concentric circles. Meanwhile, heat up jam in the microwave or in a pan with 2tbsp water until bubbling. Push the glaze through a sieve into a bowl, then paint it over the raspberries with a pasty brush. Bring the whole tart to the table and serve in slices.

RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE TORTE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Line the bases of two 23cm cake tins with baking parchment. Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave; leave to cool. Stir in the vanilla and coffee powder.
• Whizz the almonds in a food processor until finely ground, then add flour and salt, and transfer to a bowl. Whisk the eggs with an electric mixer for 5 mins, until doubled in volume. Slowly add the sugar, whisk for 1 min more. Fold in the cooled chocolate mixture until just combined. Sprinkle over half the flour mixture and fold in, then the other half. The mixture will be rather runny.
• Divide between the two tins and bake for about 15 mins until a skewer comes out with a few crumbs attached - the sponges should be slightly undercooked. Cool in tin, then turn out onto a wire rack.
• Choose the less perfect of the two, then set it on a serving plate. Mash 12 raspberries and stir in the jam. Spread on the base, then top with the other cake.
• For the glaze, bring the cream to the boil, pour it over the chocolate and whisk until smooth. Leave for a few mins until starting to thicken, then spread over the top and sides to cover. Decorate with raspberries. Chill for up to 24 hrs. Remove from fridge 1 hr before serving, dust with icing sugar, and serve with vanilla cream.

WHITE CHOCOLATE-RASPBERRY TART, WITH ALMONDS AND PISTACHIOS

Steps:

• You will need a tart pan with a removable bottom that has been lined with baking parchment.
• Roast the nuts by popping them into a medium oven for 10 minutes or so, until they are just going brown - keep a close eye on them. Put to one side.
• For the tart crust, put the flour, sugar and butter into a food processor and pulse until you have fine crumbs. Add the egg and 2 tablespoons of the water and pulse until a dough ball starts to come together, add the rest of the water gradually until you have a smooth dough. (you may need more or less water).
• Shape the dough into a disk, pop into a plastic bag and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
• When rested, place the dough onto a floured surface and roll it out to fit the tart pan. Trim excess pastry and chill for 20 minutes.
• Heat the oven to 350ºF while the pastry is chilling. After removing the case from the fridge, pop a piece of foil or baking parchment onto the crust and fill with baking beans or pie weights. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, edges should be just tuning brown, remove the weights and cook for 5-10 minutes more, or until golden. Remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
• For the tart filling:.
• Spread the raspberries evenly over the tart crust, sprinkle half the almonds and pistachios over the raspberries.
• In a double boiler, over a gentle heat, melt the chocolate and butter. Stir gently and remove from heat, add the vanilla/almond extract and the cream and stir gently until mixed.
• Pour the chocolate cream over the raspberries and nuts, work quickly as the chocolate will begin to set, smooth top with a spatula or spoon.
• Immediately sprinkle with remaining nuts.
• Refrigerate for 4-5 hours and remove from fridge 30 minutes before serving, dust with icing sugar.
• Notes: If you prefer you can omit the pistachios and another variation is to replace the raspberries with blueberries, although I have not tried it this way. You must use fresh fruit, not frozen. Time does not include refrigeration time.

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND TART

Steps:

• Mix the flour, sugar, and lemon peel, in a food processor.
• Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
• Add salt and pulse in the ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until moist clumps form.
• Gather the dough into a ball; flatten into a disk then wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
• Position the rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 400°F
• Roll out the dough on a floured surface to an 11-inch round then transfer the dough onto a heavy baking sheet that has been lined with a silpat or parchment paper.
• Heat in the microwave the almond paste with 2 T of butter to thin it out, then spread on top of the dough, leaving a 2-inch border.
• Stir the lemon juice into the raspberry preserve and spread on top of almond paste, still leaving a 2-inch border.
• Fold the 2-inch dough border over to form an 8-inch round, pleating loosely and pinching to seal any cracks in the dough (looks like a flat pie).
• Bake until the crust is golden, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Allow to cool.
• Sprinkle with the almonds and dust with the powdered sugar, if you wish.
• Slide a metal spatula under the crust to free the crostata from the baking sheet and serve.
• Optional: Top with chopped hazelnuts instead of almonds; or mix some lemon juice w/powdered sugar and drizzle over the top after cooking.
• *There are several good almond paste recipes on Zaar.