Chocolate Caramel Tart

This was probably by far the most time consuming dessert I've made. It really was relatively simple, but took a looooong time, lots of steps, cooling, heating, cooling again, etc.

It won't take quite as long next time; I made three tarts tonight, and made the caramel twice, feeling it out the first time, just in case. I bought a new candy thermometer, and still, it was ready about 15 degrees before what the recipe calls for.

This is the second time I've made caramel, and it turned out great. Very smooth and buttery! The crust was so easy, a chocolatey cookie-like dough that released very easily from the pans.

This is a VERY rich dessert. Definitely needs to be paired with an espresso macchiato or a giant glass of ice cold milk!

This recipe was originally the cover picture of Saveur's April 2009 issue. It was so impressive looking I knew I'd have to make it sooner or later. It was featured in the article "Restaurants That Matter", and comes from Marlow & Sons Restaurant in Brooklyn.

For the Crust:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

10 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed and softened

1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp. confectioners' sugar

2 egg yolks, room temperature

1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

For the Caramel:

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tbsp. light corn syrup

1/4 tsp. kosher salt

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

6 tbsp. geavy cream

1 tbsp. * creme fraiche

For the Ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Make the crust: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. Using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl until mixture is pale and fluffy; mix in yolks, and vanilla. Mix in dry ingredients. Transfer dough to a 9" fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and press dough evenly in bottom and sides of pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Prick the shell all over with a fork and bake until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool.

Make the caramel: In a 1-qt. saucepan, whisk together sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 6 tbsp. water and bring to a boil. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer inserted reads 365 degrees.

Remove pan from heat and whisk in butter, cream, and creme fraiche (the mixture wil bubble up) until smooth. Pour caramel into cooled tart shell and let cool slightly; refrigerate until firm, 4 to 5 hours.

Make the ganache: Bring cream to a boil in a 1-qt. saucepan over medium heat. Put chocolate into a medium bowl and pour in hot cream; let sit for 1 minute, then stir slowly with a rubber spatula until smooth.

Pour ganache evenly over tart and refrigerate until set, 4 to 5 hours. Sprinkle tart with sea salt if desired, slice, and serve chilled.

* Creme fraiche can be made simply by whisking equal parts sour cream and heavy cream. Use immediately or let sit at room temperature to sour.

For the Love of Lemon

I don't think I could say this enough. I love luv lurve lemon! Making good on my goals to a) use my Martha Stewart Cookies book and b) start picking away at my list of 50 recipes I want to try (see the right column down the side of my blog for the complete list).

So technically, these are bars in the cook book, but I decided to make it in my flan pan with the removable bottom to make it prettier. Did I mention I love lemon? This recipe was extremely simple and again, like so many of Martha's recipes, I already had everything in my kitchen.

Here's the recipe as it is printed, I did everything the same, but of course, used a different pan.

Lemon Squares

From Martha Stewart Cookies/Martha Stewart Online

For the Crust:

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, frozen, plus more for dish

1 3/4 cups AP flour

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

3/4 tsp. coarse salt

For the Filling:

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

3 tbsp. AP flour

1/4 tsp. coarse salt

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup whole milk

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 by 13-inch glass baking dish, and line with parchment paper.

Make crust: Grate butter on a cheese grater with large holes; set aside. Whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Add butter, and stir with a wooden spoon until combined and mixture looks crumbly.

Transfer mixture to prepared dish; press evenly onto bottom with your hands.

You can see the butter speckled throughout, mixture begins quite dry and

comes together during baking.

Freeze crust 15 minutes. Bake until lightly golden, 16 to 18 minutes. Leave oven on.

Meanwhile, make the filling: Whisk together eggs, granulated sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl until smooth.

Can you tell the difference? See *note below.

Stir in lemon juice and milk. Pour over hot crust.

Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees, and bake until filling is set and edges are slightly golden brown, about 18 minutes. Let cool slightly on a wire rack. Lift out; let cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into 2-inch squares. Dust with confectioners' sugar.

Lemon squares can be refrigerated in airtight containers up to 2 days.

Makes about 2 dozen (or one tart!).

* Note: The store was out of organic free range eggs and I had to buy free run instead. Three of these eggs are organic free range and one is free run. The only way to be sure that the birds are being ethically treated and living a normal life of exercise and socializing, free of hormones, which are harmful not only to the animal, but to us as consumers as well, is if the eggs are certified organic free range.