Chocolate, Praline and Hazelnut Tart

A chocolate themed cooking competition at Mon Ami, a tart of course, but which one?! After reading some wonderful things about a dark chocolate tart with praline I thought this one might be a lovely idea for the competition.

Alas it only came second, but was a delicious tart nevertheless.

Ingredients
1x Pie Shell, parbaked

160ml Cream
40ml Milk
200gm Chocolate (61% cocoa solids), finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling
150gm Hazelnuts, roasted and skins removed
175gm Caster sugar
300ml Cream
400gm Dark chocolate with whole roast hazelnuts, finely chopped

Milk chocolate praline filling

Combine sugar and 60ml water in a small saucepan,
stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves.
Bring to the boil, cook until dark caramel in colour (4-5 minutes), pour over nuts.
Stand until cool and set (8-10 minutes), process in a food processor until finely ground.
Bring cream to the simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat,
add chocolate, stir until smooth, remove from heat,
stir in two-thirds of praline mixture (reserve remaining to serve).
Spoon into pastry case, smooth top, refrigerate until just set (1½-2 hours).

Combine cream and milk in a small saucepan, bring to the simmer over medium-high heat.
Add dark chocolate, remove from heat, stir until smooth.
Spread over tart, refrigerate until just set (45 minutes-1 hour).

Cut into wedges with a hot knife and serve immediately scattered with reserved praline.

Butterscotch Souffle Tart with Caramalised Cashews - Sweet Melissa Sundays

This weeks Sweet Melissa Sundays recipe was Butterscotch Cashew Bars. I thought this would translate well into a delicious light butterscotch tart with caramelised cashews.

1x Pie Shell (21cmx5cm), parbaked
1/2 Butterscotch Sauce Recipe Below (1Cup+extra for pie shell)
2Tbs Flour
3x Eggs, separated
pinch of tartar
120g Cashew Pieces
1Tbs Demarera Sugar

Pour enough butterscotch sauce to cover the base of the pie shell.
Add egg yolks and flour to the remaining butterscotch sauce, mix.
Whisk egg whites and tartar to stiff peaks.
Fold the egg whites into the butterscotch mix 1/3 at a time.
Tip butterscotch mix into the pie shell, bake at 180C for 35-40min, until centre is set.
Put cashew pieces into a dry non-stick pan and lightly toast.
When toasted sprinkle with demarera sugar and cook until sugar has melted and coated the cashews.
Spread onto a tray lined with baking paper, and separate into small pieces, cool.
When tart is removed from the oven, sprinkle over the caramelised cashews so they sink into the tart.


Butterscotch Sauce

450g Sugar
50g Liquid Glucose
150ml Water
100g Butter, cubed and chilled.
3x Eggs, lightly beaten with a splash of milk

Combine sugar, glucose and water in a small non-stick saucepan. Heat gently until everything has dissolved.
Increase the heat and bring to the boil.
Cook until the syrup turns a rich brown colour.
Whisk in the chilled butter, leave to cool for 5-10min.
Whisk in eggs, may need to gently heat the pan.
Pour into a sterilised jar to keep.

Sour Cherry Pie with Pistachio Crumb - Sweet Melissa Sundays

How wonderful that my first week taking part in Sweet Melissa Sundays was a pie recipe! Sour cherries are not very easy to get hold of in NZ at the best of times (unless you are lucky enough to have a tree) so I used some lovely Morello cherries for this pie, I also added some sliced fresh rhubarb as I thought it would be lovely with the other flavours in this pie, I only used half oat flour and half whole oats, as I prefer the texture of whole oats in crumble. Since I was taking it into work with me for Quiz and Pie Mondays I also pre-baked the pie shell and brushed it with melted dark chocolate to prevent the pastry getting soggy from the fruit filling.

I can't post the recipe for this one, but if you want to bake along then keep an eye out for 'The Sweet Melissa Baking Book - by Melissa Murphy'

This pie was lovely, and got some very nice comments from those who got a piece at quiz - there were an unusual number of work folks at the quiz so I may need to start baking larger pies...

The tartness of the Rhubarb went wonderfully with the sour cherries and the chocolate lining the shell complimented the fruit filling nicely. The whole oats I left in the crumble added a lovely crunchy texture to the soft filling, this is one I'll be making again.

Chocolate Hazelnut Pavlova Pie

The Pavlova pie has been in the pie notebook for a little while, and was yet to inspire me to do anything further then a quick idea on a page. However this week when I got sent some secret family recipes by my mother, one of which was for pavlova I was suddenly fill of new idea's around the Pavlova pie. I have come up with two versions, a luxurious chocolate hazelnut pavlova pie and also a traditional kiwi inspired pie, the latter will need to wait until kiwifruit and strawberries are back in season!

1x Pie Shell, par-baked (28 x 5cm - I used chocolate sweet short pastry)

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache
160ml Cream
200gm Dark Chocolate, in small pieces

Cherry Filling
1/2 C Dried Cherries, soaked overnight in 1/4C Kirsch Liqueur
1/2 C Morello Cherries
1tsp Gelatin/Agar
1tsp Vanilla Essence

Pavlova
8 Egg Whites
12Tbs Castor Sugar
2tsp Vinegar
2Dsp Warm Water
140g Hazelnuts, roasted and crushed in mortar and pestle

Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache

Heat cream gently until small bubbles appear on the outside of the pan, do not boil. Pour over chocolate pieces and Frangelico and whisk until melted. Chill.

When cool whip ganache for three minutes, until light and fluffy. Chill.

Cherry Filling
Put dried cherries and Kirsch into a small saucepan with morello cherries and 1/4C water, heat until liquid looks syrupy. Put gelatin/agar into a small bowl and tip out some cherry juice from the pan to dissolve gelatin/agar, tip back into pan with vanilla. Chill.

Pavlova
Beat egg whites till stiff (90sec) add vinegar and water, beat till mixed in. Add sugar 1Tbs at a time, beat for 2min. Fold in hazelnuts.

Tip Pavlova mix into par-baked pie shell, spread evenly leaving a hollow for the filling when cooked. Bake at 150C for 10min, then turn stove off completely for 1hr.
When cool spread Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache around the inside of the pavlova, leaving a pavlova border and a hollow for the Cherry Filling. Chill for 2hrs. Pour Cherry Filling into the centre of the pie. Chill.

The pie didn't have enough pavlova for my liking , as I wanted a layer on the sides and base, so I have doubled the quantity of pavlova. I made a rather large pie, so feel free to adjust the quantity for smaller pies!

Dark Chocolate, Coffee Bean and Caramelised Walnut Tart

1x 21cm Pie Shell, parbaked

200ml Cream

220g Dark Chocolate, in small pieces

2Tbs Liqueur (I used Irish Cream, Whisky or Frangelico would also work well in this one)
1x Shot Espresso
4Tbs Coffee Beans, roasted
1 Egg

2 Tbs Flour
30g Walnut pieces, finely chopped
30g Butter, melted
30g Sugar, brown

1/3C Walnut halves

1Dsp Sugar

Heat cream gently until small bubbles appear on the outside of the pan, do not boil. Pour over chocolate pieces and whisk until melted, add liqueur and espresso. Chill.

When cool whip ganache for two minutes, add egg and whip for two more minutes.

Grind coffee beans and add to ganache with the flour. Fold through.

Mix the walnut pieces, butter and brown sugar to a paste and brush in pie shell, bake at 180C for 10min.

Pour chocolate mix into pie shell and bake at 130C for 20min.

While pie is in the oven put walnuts in a non-stick pan and sprinkle with the sugar, cook until glossy and golden, 4 to 5 minutes, shaking the pan continuously. Set aside.

After 20min carefully pull pie out and arrange walnuts decoratively over the pie.

Cook for a further 15min or until set.

I decorated my tart with a sesame glaze, pure indulgence!

Apple, Walnut & Frangipane Tart

What is more Autumn then juicy apples and fresh walnuts. Every day when I walk outside there are walnuts everywhere to be collected from my wonderful walnut tree, what a better use for walnuts then adding them to a lovely frangipane mix and topping with tasty apples.

1x Pie Shell, biscuit shell below or sweet short.
1/2 cup dates, chopped
1tsp baking soda
350g Blanched Almonds, ground
300g Butter, Unsalted
300g Caster Sugar
3x Eggs
1/2 Cup Walnuts, chopped
1x Apple, sliced thinly

Soak dates in baking soda and 1 cup boiling water for 30min.
Whisk butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Fold in almonds and eggs until smooth, stir in the walnuts.
Freeze half of the frangipane mix for another pie.
Spread drained dates over pie base.
Fill pie shell with frangipane mix and decorate with apple slices.
Bake for 1hr at 180C, or until golden.
Remove from oven and brush apple slices with apricot jam or honey.
(If using biscuit pie shell, bake with a tray underneath as you will get butter leaking out of the pie)

Biscuit Pie Shell
220g plain biscuits, crushed (I used girl guide)
75g Butter, softened
1x Egg
1 tsp Cinnamon
Zest 1 Lemon

Mix biscuits, butter, egg, cinnamon and zest together.
Press evenly into 21cm pie dish, bake at 180C for 6min.

Easter Bunny Pie with Walnut Pastry

My other entry into the work Easter Cooking competition, I thought cooking the easter bunny would be very tasty, if not a bit sad that there would be less chocolate going around.

1x Wild Rabbit, chopped into four pieces
2x med Onions, diced
220g smokey Bacon, diced into 2.5cm pieces
2x Apples, peeled and sliced
275ml Cider
425ml Chicken Stock

1 Bay Leaf

~

40g Flour
40g Butter
Salt and Pepper
1/2 whole Nutmeg, grated

110g Prunes, pitted and chopped
Caraway seeds to sprinkle on top

Place the rabbit pieces, onions, bacon, apples, cider, chicken stock, salt and pepper and bay leaf into the crockpot, cook on low for 8 hours or overnight.
When cool remove bones from rabbit.
Drain liquid from crockpot into a pot and heat gently on stovetop.
Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and cook for a minute.

Add the liquid and bring to the boil to thicken.
When thick turn off heat; add nutmeg, prunes and rabbit mix. Season to taste.
Pour mix into lined pie shell, top with walnut pastry and caraway seeds.
Bake for 30min at 220C

Pastry
300g Flour
1/2 tsp Salt
200g cold Butter, cubed
1/2 cup Walnuts, finely chopped
4-6 Tbs cold Water

Sift flour and salt into a bowl and rub in the cold butter until the mix resembles fine breadcrumbs.
Stir in the chopped walnuts.
Make a well in the centre, add the cold water and mix to form a dough.
Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 30min.
Take 2/3 of dough and roll out to line 25cm diameter, 5cm deep pie dish.