Chocolate Drizzled Walnut Triangles Food

CHOCOLATE, CARAMEL, AND WALNUT TART

Steps:

• For crust:
• Blend flour and salt in processor 5 seconds. Add butter to processor. Using on/off turns, blend until coarse meal forms. Add 4 tablespoons ice water. Blend until dough just begins to come together, adding more ice water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough; flatten into disk. Wrap; chill at least 1 hour.
• Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to 14-inch round. Transfer dough to 11-inch-diameter tart pan with removable bottom. Cut off all but 1/2 inch of overhang. Fold overhang in and press, forming double-thick sides. Pierce crust all over with fork; chill 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 400°F. Line crust with foil; fill with dried beans or pie weights. Bake 20 minutes. Remove foil and beans. Bake until golden, pressing with back of fork if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes longer. Cool completely.
• For filling:
• Stir 1 cup sugar and 1/4 cup water in heavy large saucepan over low heat until sugar dissolves. Increase heat. Bring to boil, brushing down sides of pan with wet pastry brush. Boil without stirring until deep amber color, swirling pan occasionally, about 8 minutes. Remove from heat; add cream (mixture will bubble up). Return pan to low heat; whisk caramel until smooth. Add butter, honey, and vanilla. Whisk until sauce thickens slightly, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add all chocolate; whisk until smooth. Stir in nuts. Spread filling in crust. Chill tart until firm, at least 3 hours or overnight. Serve with ice cream.

HUNGARIAN CHOCOLATE-WALNUT TORTE

Steps:

• Have all ingredients at room temperature.
• Line the bottom of an 8-inch square cake pan or a 9-inch springform pan with parchment or wax paper.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• In a heavy-bottomed 2-or 3-quart saucepan, combine 1/2 cup of the sugar and 1/2 cup water and bring to a boil, stirring constantly over medium heat. Continue boiling and stirring until all the grains of sugar have completely dissolved and the mixture forms a simple syrup. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool.
• In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with an electric mixer until light and thickened, about 4 minutes. Grind the walnuts with the remaining sugar and the matzoh meal in a food processor using the pulse motion and stir into the egg yolks. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and combine thoroughly.
• Using clean beaters, beat the egg whites in another bowl until they hold stiff peaks. Gradually fold the whites into the chocolate-walnut mixture, incorporating them gently but thoroughly so that no whites are visible. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until puffed and almost set but still a little gooey in the center. A wooden toothpick inserted 1 inch from the edge should come out clean.
• Remove the pan from the oven and let cool on a rack. When completely cool, unmold the cake by running a thin-bladed knife around the edges of the cake to release it from the pan (or release the springform); invert onto a platter. Peel off the parchment paper. Serve the torte at room temperature.
• If desired, lightly dust with Passover confectioners' sugar. For a lovely, simple presentation, place a doily or a stencil-handmade by you or, even better, your children-over the torte, then sprinkle with the sugar. Carefully remove the doily or stencil.
• Or glaze with the chocolate icing. Lay long strips of wax paper or foil on a cake plate or serving platter and place the cake on top. Pour the glaze over the top of the cake, letting it drip down the sides. Using a spatula, evenly spread the glaze over the top and sides. Now, pull out and discard the paper strips or foil strips--the plate will be clean and ready for serving. If you'd like, garnish with a few walnut halves attractively placed in the center of the cake. Refrigerate the cake for about an hour to set the glaze, but bring it to room temperature before serving.
• The plain or frosted torte is heavenly with generous dollops of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
• Passover Confectioners’ Sugar:
• In a blender, mini-food processor, or clean coffee grinder, whirl 1 cup minus 1/2 tablespoon regular granulated sugar until it is powdery. Place in a small bowl and stir in 1/2 teaspoon potato starch. Sift before using. (Recently commercial Passover confectioners' sugar, made without cornstarch, has appeared in some stores with large kosher-for-Passover sections. If available, by all means use it here.)
• Chocolate Icing:
• Melt the butter or margarine slowly in a heavy saucepan over very low heat. When half is melted, gradually whisk in the chocolate, stirring well as it melts. After all the chocolate has been added, stir in 2 tablespoons water and beat well until the glaze is completely smooth. Let the mixture cool about 5 minutes to thicken slightly.

CHOCOLATE-DRIZZLED BROOKIES

Steps:

• Make the brownie layer: Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Brush a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with melted butter. Line the dish with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the long sides. Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
• Whisk together the granulated sugar and cocoa powder in a large bowl to remove any lumps. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until well combined. Whisk in the melted butter in 2 additions until smooth. Whisk in the flour mixture just until smooth. Spread in the baking dish.
• Make the cookie layer: Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl. Beat the butter and both sugars in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.
• Add the eggs and vanilla to the butter-sugar mixture and beat just until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, beat in the flour mixture just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spoon or spatula.
• Flatten a handful of the cookie dough until 1/2 inch thick and place on top of the brownie layer. Continue to flatten pieces of dough and add to the top, using your fingers to smooth the dough into an even layer covering the entire brownie layer.
• Bake until the top is golden and puffed and the edges are crisp and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely, at least 1 1/2 hours.
• Make the glaze: Combine the chocolate chips and heavy cream in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring, until smooth. Drizzle over the bars and cut into squares.

CARAMEL NUT TART

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400°F.
• Between 2 sheets of wax paper roll out dough into a 14-inch round (about 1/8 inch thick). Transfer dough to a baking sheet and chill 10 minutes. Lift top sheet of wax paper from dough and gently replace on top (this will facilitate removal of paper later). Flip dough over, discarding wax paper now on top, and carefully invert dough into an 11-inch tart pan with a removable fluted rim. Lightly press dough up side of rim, using pieces from overhang to patch any holes. Chill shell 30 minutes, or until firm.
• Line shell with foil, folding over edge to cover pastry entirely, and fill with pie weights or raw rice. Bake shell on a baking sheet in middle of oven 35 minutes and carefully remove foil and weights or rice. If bottom of crust still has patches of translucent undercooked dough, return shell to oven without foil and weights or rice and bake until pastry is completely cooked and golden, 3 to 5 minutes more. Cool shell in pan on a rack.
• Reduce temperature to 350°F.
• Coarsely chop nuts. In a 3-quart heavy saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and honey, stirring, and simmer 1 minute. Stir in nuts and cream. Simmer mixture 1 minute and pour into shell. Bake tart on baking sheet in middle of oven 30 minutes, or until filling is a few shades darker. Cool tart in pan on rack.
• Chop chocolate and in a double boiler or a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water melt chocolate, stirring until smooth. Cool chocolate slightly and transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a #3 plain tip (slightly smaller than 1/8 inch). (Alternatively, transfer chocolate to a small heavy-duty sealable plastic bag. Squeeze chocolate into one corner of bag and with scissors cut a tiny slice off corner to form a small hole.) Pipe thin lines of chocolate over tart in a back and forth motion to form stripes. Tart may be made 2 days ahead and chilled, covered.
• Serve caramel tart chilled or at room temperature with ice cream and tuiles.