I was looking through the photo albums on my computer a few days ago and realised that there were many pictures (and recipes) that I meant to write about but never found time to. So this is catch up time. Hopefully, I will be able to put up as many recipes and pictures of the food we cooked/baked this year before the year ends.

This warm chocolate tart was seriously, hands down, the best one that I’ve made. I attribute this not just to the excellent quality of chocolate used (I used Valrhona Manjari), but also Pierre Herme’s superb sweet tart dough recipe. This can be made with or without the raspberries but I really think that they are so much better with. The tang of the raspberries complement the mild sweetness of the chocolate oh so very well. The velvety texture of the chocolate ganache filling is almost seductive. Have I convinced you to try this recipe yet?

Tart crust
Makes two 22-24 cm tart shells
Recipe adapted from Pierre Herme’s Chocolate Desserts

Ingredients:
142g unsalted butter (room temperature)
75g icing sugar, sifted
50g finely ground almond flour
1/4 tsp vanilla bean paste
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg (room temperature)
245g plain flour

Method:

1. Place butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed, until creamy.
2. Add the icing sugar and process to blend.
3. Add the almond flour, salt and vanilla and continue to process till smooth.
4. Add eggs and process to blend.
5. Finally, add in the flour and pulse till mixture starts to come together. Stop when the dough starts to gather into a ball. Do not overwork the dough.
6. Gather dough into a ball and divide it into 2 pieces.
7. Press each piece into a disc and wrap with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours or up to 2 days.
8. The dough can be kept frozen for up to a month when wrapped airtight.
9. To bake, butter a tart ring. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of between 2 – 4 cm, lifting the dough often and making certain that the work surface and the dough are amply floured at all times.
10. Roll the dough up around your rolling pin and unroll it onto the tart ring. Fit the dough into the bottom and up the sides of the ring, then run the rolling pin across the top of the ring to cut off the excess.
11. Prick the dough all over with a fork and chill it for at least 30min in the refrigerator.
12. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Fit a circle of baking parchment into the crust and fill with dried beans or rice.
13. Bake for 18-20 mins, then remove the parchment and beans and bake for another 3-5 mins, until shell is golden.
14. Transfer to a rack to cool.

The filling

Ingredients:
55g raspberries
145 bittersweet chocolate
115g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 large egg, stirred with a fork (at room temperature)
3 large egg yolks, stirred with a fork (at room temperature)
2 tbsp sugar

Method:

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375ºF.
2. Fill the cooled tart crust with raspberries.
3. Melt the chocolate and the butter in separate bowls in a bain marie or in a microwave.
4. Allow them to cool until they just feel warm to the touch (104ºF).
5. Using a small whisk or spatula, stir the egg into the chocolate, stirring gently in widening circles and taking care not to agitate the mixture. Do not beat air into the ganache.
6. Slowly, stir in the egg yolks little by little, followed by the sugar.
7. Finally, stir in the warm melted butter.
8. Pour the ganache over the raspberries in the tart shell.
9. Bake the tart for 11 mins, not more. The centre of the tart will still jiggle, but it will set.
10. Allow to cool for 10 min before serving.