As some may or may not know I have a addiction like many others to MasterChef Australia. Which is weird because I am from the US (but I can watch it on their website thanks to our VPN connection). Skipping past that, let me tell you about the show. Love, Love, Love it, a little bit of drama, lots of furious cooking and tons to learn, but what makes me love the show is the camaraderie. No one is back-stabbing another contestant, and when one leaves due to elimination they are all generally upset and not cheering “that bitch is gone” unlike most if not all American reality shows.
Well in one of the masterclass episodes Vincent Gadan, an amazing pastry chef, made these tarts. I provided the recipe below and the original link, but added in my take on it and some changes. The dough is very temperamental. You must handle it as little as possible, and let it rest, or it will be very hard – like fortune cookie hard – which doesn’t make for a pleasant eating experience.
Personally, I don’t like the salty sweet flavor combination but my husband loves it, so these were made more for him to enjoy. If you try and make them, depending on your personal preference you can follow my changes or the original recipe provided via the link. Either way they are delicious, rich, and simply just amazing.
Chocolate Salted Caramel Tarts
Posted by Lia S on August 11th, 2011
Yield: 4 (6-inch) Tarts
Ingredients
Sweet dough crust
- 90g unsalted butter
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 pinch salt
- 1 vanilla bean, seeds only
- 1 egg
- 20g almond meal
- 160g flour
Salted caramel filling
- 115g caster sugar
- 45g corn syrup
- 100g heavy cream, room temperature
- 5g salt
- 20g unsalted butter, cold
- 1-2 tablespoons roasted and unsalted peanuts
Chocolate ganache topping
- 80g heavy cream
80g semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
14g unsalted butter
Instructions
Sweet dough crust
- In a medium size bowl, cream the butter, sugar and salt.
- Add vanilla bean seeds and beat until fluffy.
- Add egg and mix to combine. Add almond meal and flour and mix until mixture forms a dough.
- Place the dough between two sheets of cling wrap. Flatten into a 6″ x 6″ square, refrigerate for 2 hours.
- Preheat oven to 325°F
- Portion out about 1/2 of the pastry and place the other half back in the refrigerator.
- Lightly flour your work area. Place your pastry portion on top of the dusted work surface and dust again with flour lightly. Don’t add too much flour or it will make the pastry hard.
- Roll to a desired thickness about 1-2mm and prick well with a fork, then cut out into 5 1/2″ rounds.
- Lift gently and then gently press into tins to fit. Roll over the tops of the tart tins with a rolling pin to trim the edges clean off.
- Refrigerate for 1 hour. Note: If at any time the dough gets too soft to work with, refrigerate to firm up then continue on.
- Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes or until golden. Remove and cool completely before adding in the fillings.
Salted caramel filling
- Place sugar and corn syrup in a 3 quart saucepan over a medium heat. Agitating mixture gently until sugar is dissolved. Simmer until sugars become a light brown caramel.
- While stirring add in the cream and salt, remove from heat. Keep stirring constantly to avoid crystals from forming. Allow to cool slightly and whisk in butter until smooth and glossy.
- Fill the tarts about 1/2 full with the salted caramel and top with 1-2 teaspoons peanuts. Chill to set.
Chocolate ganache topping
- To make the ganache pour the cream into a saucepan and when it is almost at a boil, remove from heat.
- Add chocolate and stir until smooth.
- Add the butter and stir until glossy and smooth.
- Fill chilled tartes with ganache and refrigerate for 20-30 minutes to set. Sprinkle a little sea salt on top if desired.
Adapted from Masterchef Australia, via Vincent Gadan
I read that first line and though, I didn’t realize she was Australian. Ha. Simply superb tart!
The tart looks amazing! I am a huge sweet salt caramel fan!!
Did you see Masterchief Junior from Australia? They all clapped each other and gave hugs when they were voted out. Super sweet. The tart looks delicious, I can see Matt Preston would be proud.
Yes! I loved Jr Masterchef Au! They just started production this week for the second season