salted caramel and chocolate tarts, and strawberry and ganache tarts

When I made my mint and white chocolate mousse tart, I had way more chocolate crust than I needed, and I also happened to have a jar of salted caramel I’d made recently, and some strawberries. Naturally, the only thing to do was to make chocolate and strawberry ganache tarts, inspired by this tart from cupcakes and cashmere, and salted caramel and chocolate ganache tarts, which coincidentally were made on Masterchef later that night, does that make me a Masterchef? I hope so.

 

I made these tarts in miniature, because little food is cute, and I brought a couple to school the next day, much to my friends delight. I have since been asked to make one for a girl at school who said she’d pay for one, I’m not entirely sure what to do with this situation because I’d feel a bit stingy to make someone pay for one small tart, but if I bake her something, everyone else will want food too. Teenagers *sigh*.

 

I used my usual salted caramel recipe, and for the chocolate ganache I used chocolate, butter and a bit of cream. The salted caramel tart was perfectly salty and sweet, and the strawberries were so refreshing, and of course, strawberries and chocolate will always be a successful combination. This recipe made about 8 tarts, but I only filled two of them, and I still have two empty tart crusts sitting in my fridge. Because this recipe makes so much, I recommend you halve the crust recipe, unless you want about 12-15 mini tarts.

Crust…

150 grams butter
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups plain flour minus 4 tablespoons
1 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons cocoa

Method:
1. Cream butter and sugar with stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment
2. Add eggs and mix until incorporated
3. Add flour and salt and mix at a low speed until combined
4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour
5. Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, drape dough into a tart pan and trim excess dough with a knife
6. Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius. Put the tart crust in the freezer until very firm
7. Cover the tart with aluminium foil and place pie weights (I used uncooked rice) onto the foil
8. Bake for 30 minutes, then remove foil and let the crust cool completely before filling

 

Salted caramel…
1 cup caster sugar
50 grams butter
¼ cup cream
Pinch of salt

Method:

1. Heat sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly, until melted and lightly caramel toned
2. Take caramel off heat and add butter and cream, stirring until combined and smooth
3. Pour into jar and let cool

To assemble…

1. For the strawberry tarts, pour a thin layer of ganache into a tart shell and arrange the strawberries, using the ganache to hold them in place.
2. For the caramel tarts, half fill a tart shell with caramel, and once set, fill the crust with ganache, decorate with cream, sea salt, large sugar crystals, or even crushed nuts.