Wednesday, April 06, 2005

Deep, Dark Chocolate Tart



I enjoy making chocolate pies very much. However with this particular one I had a different experience. Filling was fairly easy. But the pie crust gave me a little hard time. Since the only combining ingredient is butter, even after resting in the refrigerator for 4 hours I had hard time to roll it and placing it in the pie pan. Also while slicing it it tended to crumble. But my friend Zinnur tasted it and insisted that the crust was delicious and I do not need to improve the pie crust recipe. So I included the recipe just as it is. But I am curious if anybody else tries the recipe will have the same experience as I did or not.

Ingredients:

1 12-inch prebaked chocolate short dough pie crust (recipe follows)

First Layer:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
2 tbsp brewed coffee or espresso

Second Layer:
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tbsps light corn syrup

Chocolate Short Dough Pie Crust:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2lb(2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Sift together the flour and cocoa powder into a medium bowl and set aside. Place butter in the mixer bowl. Beat on low speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until lightly creamed. Add the powdered sugar mix on low speed again for 30 seconds. Add the flour mixture mix just until the dough comes together about 30 seconds. Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap it in plastic wrap.Chill for at least 4 hours. To prebake remove the dough from the refrigerator let it sit at room temperature until soft enough to roll but still cool. Preheat the oven to 350F. Roll the dough into your 12-inch pie pan. Prick the bottom of the pastry shell a few times with a fork. Line the dough with parchment paper and fill with your faux filling. Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on a rack before using.

Assembly:

First Layer:
Bring the cream to a boil in a saucepan over medium heat.Add the chopped chocolate in it. Let sit for 1 minute. Stir in a circular motion until smooth. Add the coffee and stir until well incorporated.Immediately pour the ganache into the tart shell. Place the tart in the refrigerator to set for about an hour.

Second Layer:
Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Puree the bananas in a food processor or mash with a fork and set aside. Bring the cream and corn syrup to boil over medium heat. immediately pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit 1 minute. Stir in a circular motion until smooth. Stir in bananas. remove the crust from the refrigerator. Pour the mixture slowly into the the tart shell. Put it back into refrigerator for another an hour or two. Serve.