Chocolate Chip Custard Tart Food

CHOCOLATE CUSTARD TARTS

Steps:

• For the puff pastry, put the flours, eggs and water in a large bowl and gently mix everything to a stiff dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead it well for 10 minutes. The dough should feel tight but elastic so the kneading will take a bit of effort. When the dough is smooth, shape it into a ball and put it in a plastic bag in the fridge to chill, for at least 30 minutes, but you can leave it overnight at this stage.
• Flatten the butter out into a rectangle about 1cm/½in thick and chill for about one hour to harden the butter again, if needs be.
• Roll out the dough in a rectangular shape, also about 1cm/½in thick. Put the butter on the top so that it covers the bottom two-thirds of the dough. Make sure that it is positioned neatly and comes almost to the edges. Fold in the edges slightly so the butter does not escape during the rolling and folding process, a little fold will do.
• Fold the exposed dough at the top down over one-third of the butter, then gently cut off the exposed bit of butter and put it on the top of the dough you have just folded down. Fold the bottom half of the dough up. You will now have a sandwich of two layers of butter and three of dough.
• Turn the square of pastry round a quarter turn (90 degrees). Roll out the dough into a rectangle as before. Fold one-third of the dough down and then the bottom one-third up on top to make a neat square. This is called a single turn. Place the dough in a plastic food bag, or wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for another hour. Repeat this process twice more, making sure you chill the pastry for an hour in between each turn.
• Chill in the plastic food bag or cling film overnight. Your dough is now ready to use.
• Heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Butter the holes in a 12-hole muffin tin.
• Roll out the pastry to a rectangle and cut out 12 discs using a 9cm/3½in cutter. Press each pastry disc into the muffin tin holes, line with baking parchment, fill with a few baking beans and blind bake for 10-15 minutes.
• Allow to cool completely in the tin. Leave the oven at the same temperature.
• To make the custard, whisk the sugar, egg yolks, cornflour and salt together and set aside. Put the milk in a large, heavy-based pan with the vanilla pod (split in half, with the seeds scraped into the milk) and the cinnamon stick.
• Bring to the boil and then remove from the heat. Pass the hot milk through a sieve to remove the cinnamon stick and vanilla pod, then pour the hot milk over the egg mixture and whisk together.
• Return this mixture to the pan. Put back on a gentle heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture becomes thick. Remove from the heat immediately and beat for a minute to get rid of any lumps. Leave to cool.
• Gently melt the chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water (without letting the bowl touch the water). Mix the melted chocolate together with double cream in a bowl to produce a smooth ganache.
• Spoon the cooled custard into each of the cooled pastry cases, filling them about three-quarters full. Then, using a teaspoon, dip the handle of the spoon into the warm chocolate ganache, and carefully swirl a little chocolate into each of the custard tarts.
• Place the tarts back into the preheated oven and bake for a further 10 minutes.
• Cool and dust with icing sugar to serve.

CHOCOLATE CHIP CUSTARD TART

Steps:

• To make the crust dough, cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment at medium speed for a minute or two. Stop the mixer and switch to the whisk attachment. Slowly add the sugars and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy, then add the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated after each addition. Add the flour slowly, then the vanilla, salt, chocolate chips, and nuts, mixing until blended. Cover and chill for at least 20 minutes.
• Lightly flour a cool rolling surface such as a marble tabletop. No marble tabletop? Just flip over a baking sheet, and flour it generously or lightly flour a big piece of parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Place the dough on the floured surface, lightly flour the top, and roll it with a rolling pin until just under 1/2 inch thick. No rolling pin? Flatten the dough as thinly as you can with your hands. Maneuver the flattened dough into a 9 or 10-inch tart or pie pan. One way to do this is to lift under the dough with a big spatula and slip the pan under the dough. Don't worry if the dough breaks-you can pinch it back together. Once the dough is in the pan, smooth it out and flatten it with your hands and press it against the edges of the tart pan. Use scissors to trim any excess pieces that hang over the sides (you can save these scraps and bake them as cookies later). Cover the dough with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and return it to the refrigerator.
• Preheat oven to 300°F. To make the filling, melt the dark and milk chocolates and butter together in a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract and set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the milk and cream to a scald. Slowly add the milk mixture into the egg mixture while stirring briskly. Once the mixture is smooth, stir in the chocolate mixture and let cool to close to room temperature. This is your custard.
• Remove the tart pan from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and put it on a baking sheet. Carefully pour the custard into the tart shell. Place the full tart pan into the hot oven. Take a standard cake pan and fill it halfway up with room temperature water. Place that pan next to the sheet pan in the oven to provide extra moisture for the tart while it bakes. Bake about 40 minutes. You'll see the cookie shell firm up and turn golden brown, and if you shake the pan a little you'll notice the custard moves as a solid, not a liquid. If it still wiggles like a liquid, give it another 5 minutes and try again. When the cookie is golden brown and the center is solid, remove the pan from the oven. Allow to cool to room temperature, then chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Serve cold or at room temperature. Slice with a big knife or pie cutter, and top each slice with a small scoop of whipped cream.

CHOCOLATE CUSTARD TART

Steps:

• Dough: Sift the flour with the cocoa and salt. Cream the butter and sugar in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle on low speed until fluffy.
• Add the egg, and mix just until incorporated. Add the dry ingredients, and mix until a dough forms. Shape into a ball, cut in half, flatten both halves, wrap each in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour.
• Working quickly, roll out one of the dough balls on a large piece of lightly floured parchment paper to form a 13-inch circle about 1/8 inch thick.
• Place the parchment on a baking sheet, cover the dough with plastic, and chill it for at least 1 hour. Keep the remaining dough in the freezer for another tart.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Carefully fit the dough into a 9½-inch tart shell with a removable bottom, taking care not to stretch or pinch it. Freeze the dough for at least 15 minutes.
• Bake the crust until it puffs, about 10 to 15 minutes. Flatten the base by pressing it down with a measuring cup, then continue baking until the crust is crisp, about 10 to 15 minutes more. Set aside to cool.
• Chocolate Custard: Preheat the oven to 250 degrees. Place chocolate in a bowl. Bring the cream, milk, and sugar to a boil in a saucepan.
• Add the mixture, a third at a time, to the chocolate, stirring each addition until combined. (If it's added all at once, the chocolate will become grainy.) Beat the egg in a large bowl.
• Whisk in a quarter of the chocolate-milk mixture until just combined, and add to the remaining chocolate. (Do not whisk hard.).
• Tap the bowl to get rid of any air bubbles. Pour the custard into the baked tart shell, filling it to the top.
• Bake for 20 minutes, rotate front-to-back, and bake for another 20 minutes or until the custard is set around the edges but jiggly in the center. Serve with brandy whipped cream.