TART ART WITH HEART

Well this post had to happen sooner or later…and I guess it’s officially sooner! I have managed to go through all my posts and look what I found! I could start a tart and pie shop, clearly! Any potential partners out there, send me a message and I’m ready to go!

First up in my self imposed round up, and most recently added, the free form tart with fresh apricots and cherries can be found here. Tart (in the true sense of the word) sweet, a little nutty, and so EASY!

Then there was the fresh fig and honey tart, with a touch of marzipan…and just to add a dimension, toffee topping!

Of course, no Australian food blogger could have a complete site with out the good ole Meat Pie post…enjoy!

Simple, fruity, great pastry…what more could you want in a fruit pie? Well vanilla bean of course. One of my faves…(aren’t they all?)

If you come here often, you will know that Lemon is almost as good as chocolate to me…thus the Lemon Olive Oil Tart…which if you never cook anything else from this site, you must do this one…promise me now!

Got no time? Need dessert quickly? This is the one for you…no pastry, but a flan none the less…and a little international as well!

Oh that’s right…you know how I said the Lemon Olive oil tart was my fave?? Maybe not, maybe it’s this one…Buerre Noisette….Burnt Butter is my new fascination at the minute, seriously good stuff…calories worth eating!

Kind of a cross between a cheesecake and a sweet pie, this will become a family favorite…it would be in our house, if I allowed myself to make it again! Some pies should only be eaten once…for the sake of the arteries that is!

Never shie away from a fruit you don’t know…put it in a pastry shell and voila, easy dessert…(and completely delish!)

Another Lemon slash cheesecake slash pie cross worth eating…(again…aren’t they all??)

OK OK, Chocolate meets almonds head on…and they both WIN! Chocolate pastry, chocolate filling (with almond frangipane) topped with chocolate ganache…can’t really go wrong if you are a chocolate lover!

Now for a rare look at a savoury option…hang on to it whilst you can, there may never be another!

Strawberries, Luscious Lime, crispy pastry, a true summer tart…try it today!

Sorry, but there’s more and of course chocolate is involved…easy peasy, chocolate squeezy!

And here comes another traditional tart…or pie…The quintessential Lemon Meringue Pie.

I could of course keep going, and was in fact surprised (though why I don’t know!) by the sheer number of pastry delights on here…I stopped here as there are many others, but they are less recent and perhaps not as well done as I would like them to be. (Time for an upgrade or two I suppose!) Cut to the chase I hear you cry…recipe recipe recipe….OK!

So to today’s offering…you wouldn’t believe it…chocolate again, pecans are the nuts of choice and not my recipe, but stunning in every way…lactose free, unless butter bothers you. All the components of decadence required by chocolate and nuts and the best darn pastry a Thermomix can mix!

Adapted from Willies famous recipe, it is a chocolate pecan tart. Now before you shriek at the sheer number of sugar grams, remember I was using pure cacao and I have to say, it was a chocolate hit like no other. (Being Easter weekend, I know what I’m on about here folks!)

NEED:

Pastry:

100g raw sugar

200g plain flour

100g unsalted butter frozen and cubed

2 egg yolks

1tsp vanilla essence

Filling:

180g pure cacao (Or reduce sugar and use 70% dark chocolate)

50g unsalted butter

75g caster sugar

160g pure maple syrup

3 eggs

100-120g pecan halves

DO:

Pastry:

Preheat oven to 190oC and butter a 23cm loose bottomed flan tin. Set aside.

Place sugar into Thermomix bowl and mill for 10 seconds on speed 10.

Add flour and butter and mix together for 6-7 seconds on speed 8.

Add vanilla essence and yolks and mix for a further 6-7 seconds on speed 6 or until pastry forms soft balls.

Tip out onto floured Silpat mat and bring together with hands into large disc shape. Roll out using floured rolling pin and line prepared flan tin. Place in freezer for at least 15 minutes. Remove, line with baking paper and weights (rice, beans or proper pie weights) and bake for 15-20 minutes. Remove weights and bake a further 5 minutes until pastry is no longer shiny. Remove and cool slightly before filling with prepared filling.

Filling:

Place cacao into Thermomix bowl and mill for approximately 10 seconds until powdered.

Add butter, sugar, and maple syrup to Thermomix bowl and melt for 6 minutes at 50oC on speed 1.

Add eggs through hole in lid and beat in for 30 seconds on speed 8. Scrape down sides of bowl if necessary and repeat. You will have a thick mousse like consistency.

Place pecans into prepared pastry case, scrape filling on top and spread with spatula. Bake a further 10-15 minutes until set in centre. Chill completely before serving with lashings of cream…kind of necessary due to the dense nature of pure cacao.