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Chocolate and Praline Tart

This tart was really a spur of the moment "what is in the fridge" kind of dessert. As I mentionned the other day, we never really don’t know how our saturday gatherings with the neighbors are going to be like or if we’ll have one altogether (holidays, weather, …) Around 4pm, I got a call from the bachelor next door asking me if I had a good recipe for clam chowder. I looked around at all my cookbooks and realized with a good laugh that 99% of them were baking/dessert related ! I have a couple of French cooking "bibles" and a collection of southern recipes in case B. wants gumbo and biscuits… you get the point… the neighbor was ringing the wrong person. I did not want to shatter his image of me being a great chef (hm, hm) so I quickly went online and found one that sounded fairly easy for him to make. That’s when the inevitable question followed: what was I going to bring to the party?

I had made a Banana Poundcake from Dorie Greenspan’s latest book but I wanted to keep that more for breakfast or snacks. Dang! Quick come up with something that has time to bake and cool! As I said previously, sometimes leftovers are a good thing: I remembered I had a batch of tart dough in the freezer and leftover ganache from the macarons. A chocolate tart! I added 1/2 cup of crushed up pecan pralines (nut toffee of any knid would work too) to the ganache and there it was, dessert, on the fly.

Chocolate Praline Tart:

One recipe "pate sucree":
In a food processor, combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup powdered sugar and 1 stick of butter, pulse until it ressembles coarse meal, add 1 egg yolk and pulse until combined into a ball. I flattened it into a disk in between sheets of plastic wrap, refrigerated it and rolled it out to cut rounds big enough to fit into my mini tart pans. The dough gets soft very fast so you can flour your fingertips to push it up and down the sides and bottoms of the pan. Cover with parchment paper, add pie weights (I use dry beans) and blind bake at 350 degrees until the crust is completely baked through. Let cool.

One recipe chocolate ganache:
In a saucepan, heat 1 cup of heavy cream to scalding point, remove from heat and add 1 1/2 cups good quality chocolate. Let stand 2 minutes and slowly stir until well incorporated. Add 1/2 cup of crushed up praline or toffee. Pour the ganache in the tart shell, let cool 15 minutes and refrigerate until the ganache is completely firm.

I have a tendency to cut small slices because it is almost like eating a big truffle, nothing wrong with that I know. It is easy to put together even if you don’t have all the ingredients beforehand, and it goes real well with a nice cup of coffee.

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Comments


Anonymous November 14, 2006 um 5:45 am

Just delicious, Helen! I love praline!!!


Lis November 14, 2006 um 4:28 pm

Wow.. what a gorgeous dessert for something made on the fly! My hat’s off to ya, my friend! Love the addition of the praline – so yummy! 😀


Brilynn November 14, 2006 um 8:40 pm

Mmmmmmm, that looks delicious!


Anonymous November 14, 2006 um 11:32 pm

ahahh, que des livres de pâtisserie? Non mais alors! 😉 Cette tarte a l’air divinement bonne!


Anonymous November 15, 2006 um 2:49 pm

This would be very impressive, even if not done on the fly. But done on the fly really makes it impressive. You bring a whole new level of glamour to leftovers.


Anonymous November 16, 2006 um 12:21 pm

Woah! Your skills continue to completely gobsmack me, and this time is no different! This is absolutely amazing!


wheresmymind November 16, 2006 um 4:00 pm

So dense…I love praline’s as well..yum!


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