Tarty Daring Baker: Milk Chocolate & Caramel with Hazelnut Shortbread

Some of us are just dying for Fall, that incredible time of the year when everything changes into the promise of spiciness in the air, wind with a gentler and cool persistence, and a welcome dampness I know I've missed.  Gentle folk, start your ovens!  Woot!

When I saw this past month's Daring Baker challenge, I thought, "All righty then."  The rationale for the choice on the part of Veronica of Veronica's Test Kitchen and Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen made sense, as many ingredients are a challenge for some to find depending on where they live in the world.  I would be so frustrated to not be able to get an ingredient for one of our monthly challenges and am completely and utterly spoiled living where I do.  When berries and other types of produce are no longer available here, they're quickly imported from Chile, so they're plentiful.  Of course, the prices change a bit, or sales don't happen as frequently, but at least it's all available.  Like I said -- S-P-O-I-L-E-D.

Chocolate, caramel, and hazelnuts are the main ingredients for the August challenge, so after quickly reviewing the steps for the recipe, I set it aside and tentatively chose a day to make the tart somewhere near the end of the month.  The key word here would be "end." Hopefully not ON the day we are supposed to have our posts done.  Well, best laid plans often don't come to fruition as the weather has been an issue for many of us, and who wants to turn on an oven?  Goodness, even chocolate sounds less than inviting in the humidity and heat. Mmm...but that tart did sound promising...

So procrastinate I did.  Big surprise.  But another odd thing happened on the way to the completion of this challenge.  The Dog Days of August really slowed down all the get togethers we're accustomed to, so I knew that when I baked this tart, my husband, son, and I were going to be stuck with it.  You know what I mean -- stuck with all the calories.  Whatta way tah go, huh?  Sure, I could have sent it off to work with my husband, but there's a bit going on there, and sending dessert just wouldn't seem quite right.  And even though we've all had a piece or two, the remnants -- still half of the tart -- are in the refrigerator I use for "over flow."  Don't ask about that right now...It's a dense dessert that could feed an army of people who need a sliver of richness.  I supposed I should have considered freezing the rest of it, but it would just sit in my freezer like so many other things, accumulate frost, and then disappear in the build-up.  How embarrassing to have to mention that.  And I couldn't share with my neighbors because, well, they aren't quite that kind of neighbor. "Helloooooo!  How are youuuuuu tonight?  And would you just love my Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart left overzzzzz?  Hmmmmm?"  No, that wouldn't fly.  So there it sits.  Waiting for its fate.

So on to the educative aspect of my blathering.  That would be the "veracity" requirement of this blog. Please read knowing that none of this constitutes any truly serious issue.  It's shared with my tongue firmly placed in my cheek and a wink for good measure -- even if I'm telling it like it is.  Sassy.

Oh, and if you're just dying to see all the other Daring Baker tarts, the link is at the end of this post.

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart
from Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts

The complete recipe can be found here, courtesy of Veronica, or here, courtesy of Patricia.

1.  I continue to struggle at times with the clarity of the directions for the recipes we make. 
Am I the only one?  P-R-O-B-A-B-L-Y.  Here's a perfect example: With respect to the crust, the directions read,

"Line the baking pan with the chocolate shortbread pastry and bake blind for 15 minutes."

Now when I read "line," I consider that means one should roll out the pastry.  Roll.  You know, with a rolling pin.  (Picture a hair being split at this point...) But this was shortbread crust.  Shortbread that needed an extensive amount of refrigeration, and in my experience, one doesn't "roll" shortbread.  One "presses" it.  I surveyed the disk (because a disk is easier to work with than a ball) after removing it from the fridge, scrutinized the consistency of the dough and thought, "No way, Ray," on the prospect of rolling, so promptly proceeded to PRESS the into my square tart pan.  I expect that this was an appropriate decision -- and NOT CHEATING --  because all went well.  In other words, I achieved a nice, sturdy shortbread cookie-like crust for my tart.

And then those hazel nuts.  Uh...Trader Joe's was out.  So much for being smug about getting whatever ingredients I need whenever I need them.  I can usually count on TJ's for hazel nuts, so this altered my plans a bit.  Almond Meal maybe?  On to Whole Foods.  You do know what that means, correct?  I raided the cheese department, plowed through the olive bar, bought way too much produce (those cute little egg plants that I still haven't posted my recipe for...) and wine.  The bill was mind-boggling.  And I almost forgot the hazel nuts. Do you have any idea how pissed off I would have been?  When I found them, I nearly purchased shelled nuts, already beginning a slow whine about having to shell them -- until I located shelled hazel nuts. Quite an expensive excursion for this tart.

2.  Let's discuss that caramel.  Yes?  I am not a chef.  I am certainly not a pastry chef.  I am a cook.  And although many will tell you I am an excellent cook, I prefer to think of myself as a pretty savvy recipe reader instead.  In that regard, I have made caramel any number of ways with a variety of ingredients in the recipes I've used over the years.  The idea of the "dry method" of making the caramel didn't faze me.  You make sure the pan is dry, put the sugar in the pan and leave the damn thing alone.  Period.  You resist the kings of darkness when they tell you to pick up that spoon and stir.  You have to NOT listen to them.  Yes, if the caramel is crystalizing up along the sides of the pan, a quick wash along the pan with a wet pastry brush helps, but that isn't always necessary.  So no big deal on the caramel (and I DO want you to picture my very FAT HEAD bobbing back in forth in the greatest display of arrogance you can imagine.  Kay?)  Now, let's proceed...I do occasionally pick up the pan to ever so gently swirl the caramelizing sugar.  The humidity has been so high here that the sugar I used (extra fine) was rather clumped, and although I mashed the clumps a tad, they seemed a bit resistant to melting down.  So what did I do?  I grabbed a spoon and poked a bit at the clumps to help them along.  I DID NOT stir.  Promise.  I kept an eye on the color, however, as it looked as though it wanted to turn very, very dark.  So when all was melted, I also knew what to expect from the addition of the cream -- and I chose to use creme fraiche, because it sounded lovely.  The directions stated:  

"Incorporate the heavy cream or creme fraiche and then add butter.  Mix thoroughly.  Set aside to cool."

Now, I did know what to expect when I added the cream, and every recipe I've used mentions what can happen, as it can be quite dangerous -- especially if you aren't expecting it.  I added the creme fraiche, and it bubbled up.  But it also did something I've not seen before.  It clumped. Yes, clumped. Although the mixture did begin to develop into a creamy caramel, there were clumps of caramelized sugar that had solidified and resembled hard candy.  This made me a bit cranky.  I'm sure it was punishment for having a FAT BOBBLE HEAD over the whole thing and the kitchen gods smacked me back into place.  Sheesh. Anyway, I added the butter, began to salivate a bit knowing that this was going to be the most delictatble tasting caramel, and I began to fantasize about what I could dip into it besides my fingers, and skip the whole tart thing. I continued to stir, PATIENTLY, and eventually, the hard clumps of caramelized sugar melted.  Voila.



3.  Now, why would a recipe not explain the need to temper the eggs?  Hmmm...?
The idea of a recipe being "helpful" is important depending on the audience.  It is odd that this recipe did not direct the tempering of eggs, a fairly common procedure when adding a warm mixture to an eggy one.  Curdled or cooked eggs would ruin whatever recipe one was making not only by leaving pieces of cooked egg in the finished product, but by removing some of the raw egg needed to make the custard -- which is the whole point, right?  So, when I combined the caramel mixture with that of the eggs, I did temper it first by adding a bit of the warm mixture with the egg mixture, and then pouring it all into the caramel mixture. Of course, my caramel may have been more hot than expected since I had to melt my sugar clumps, and I did let it cool a bit before combining the two mixtures, so who knows?  Maybe I'm just making this all up as I go along.



4.  Moving right along to that mousse...I made sure the whipping cream was quite firm while I played with the chocolate.  I have one of those ultra low burners on my stove that the manufacturer states can melt chocolate so gently, one can actually see the embossed emblem in the chocolate.  I'd never tried this before, so seized the opportunity.  It worked!  I don't know that it matters for any other reason than it was entertaining -- well, and to be fair, I didn't have to worry about the chocolate.  I was able to set it directly in the pan and leave it until it was melted.  Using a microwave has worked fine in the past, but you really have to know your microwave, or it's very easy to overhead chocolate and ruin it.  And if you're using good chocolate, it could be costly (I used Scharffen Berger's Extra Rich Milk Chocolate for this recipe.)  So conceivably, my low heat burner could help with multi-tasking -- like whipping the cream.  Yes, back to that cream...

Now here is the dilemma on this stage of the recipe.  How long does one cool that melted chocolate before adding it to the whipped cream?  Hmmmm?  Because warm chocolate and cream could be problematic.  The directions stated: 

"Beat the whipping cream until stiff.  Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream." 

So I did as directed, but I noticed a lessening of the firmness of the cream, and had wanted to pipe it onto the tart, so placed it in the fridge for a while to chill.  After 20 minutes, I still attempted to put the chocolate cream into a piper to decorate the top layer of the tart.  It was still too soft.  *sigh*  My heart was broken, so I scooped the chocolate cream out of the piper, spreading it on the tart instead, and then used a fork to make a design, knowing that amongst the very talented Daring Bakers, many were "out there," constructing an absolutely beautiful piped chocolate cream topping.  If only I could have used the chocolate recipe in The Joy of Cooking, or added a bit of mascarpone to stiffen things up...BUT NO.  The kitchen gods had already stuck once, so I didn't want to risk a full on attack.  There would have been chocolate everywhere.  Not a good thing in the August heat.
                                                                                                                                                    


5.  I should have done some research on the caramelized sugar decorations.  Yanno? 
Sure, I've seen demonstrations on television, and gorgeous photos in cookbooks, but I don't believe I've ever seen a "how to" on this -- well except for that Martha Stewart Croquembouche I made for Christmas years ago that had spun sugar on it.  And I wasn't about to go there. Nope.  I read all the Daring Baker accounts of the chocolate crepe cake from hell and eyeballed that spun sugar on top.  No.  I'll save that for another time.  But I did take time to try a bit of creativity.  The directions stated: 

"Melt 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a saucepan until it reaches an amber color.  Pour it onto waxed paper laid out on a flat surface.  Leave to cool.  Break it into small fragments and stick them lightly into the top of the tart."

Now I know that "wax paper" and "parchment" are two different products. And I have both, but I wasn't willing to risk using the wax paper for this.  I imagined that the heat of the caramelized sugar would melt the wax surface and the whole thing would stick.  Hmmm...has that happened before?  Might it have been during the infamous St. Honore Gateau debacle?  Possibly.  So parchment it was, and thankfully, my rather abstract shards of caramelized sugar became a fun way to decorate my tart.  And to make an even bigger mess, I shaved some milk chocolate to edge the tart with.  I had thought about learning to make chocolate curls, or fans I've seen in Greenspan's Baking with Julia, but I chickened out.  I know.  W-E-A-K.  This would have been the PERFECT challenge to do that with because this was not a challenging challenge.  Don't you agree?



Now, if I was someone who actually had a remote semblance of patience at any point in my life, I would have chilled the tart a bit, then inserted the "ART."  But no.  And the shards were so heavy, they sort of began to sink a bit into the chocolate cream. I finished up and threw the whole thing into the fridge for the required hour, and lo and behold, the cream had set (so I probably could have piped it!) and the ART hadn't fallen into the cream.  But it does look a bit like a battleship, don't you think?

6.  I should have remembered to look back at the beautiful photo of the tart in the recipe on line right before I rolled up my sleves.  Woulda, coulda, shoulda...
But I forgot. How lame is that?  And now I've just seen it again today, and immediately saw how thin the crust was, how perfect the center looked, and how NOT PIPED the chocolate cream was.  Okay.  Whatever.  I have promised myself that for the NEXT challenge, I will be more organized, and more gutsy. And I totally need to take a photography class  -- or read the freaking manual that came with my camera instead of just pressing buttons.  At least then I'd have some consistency and all TWO of you who have managed to actually read down to this point won't have to tolerate the "golden glow" that is always in my photos.
































All in all, this makes for a very good dessert if you have a sweet tooth. And I believe that if I had served this at a dinner party, it would have received some Ooohs and Ahhhhs.  The flavor was pleasant, the caramel center very good with the addition of the creme fraiche, and the cookie-like crust the perfect compliment to it all.

And compliments to Veronica and Patricia for hosting this very fine event. I truly appreciated the formatting you clearly did so that when I printed the directions, they were very, very organized.

Remember, the Daring Bakers all agree to make the same item with the same ingredients using the same recipe once a month.  After we're finished, we all post the challenge on the same day.  It's the ultimate virtual cooking class you can find!  Please take the time to surf through all the intrepid, unflappable Daring Bakers and I know you'll be entertained by what you see and read!



p.s. You do know I was going nuts for a piece of this tart after writing about it, don't you?  So I went down to the fridge, had another photo op, and then indulged myself.  It's amazing.  After four days, it is extremely good.  It's always good to know a good recipe that can be made ahead.  This would be the one.