Nutella Tartelettes

Am I still posting about that baby shower I catered? Yes, and hang tight, I'm almost done. After this, there's only one more post left, I promise.

This Nutella tartelette was truly decadent, filled with three varying layers of chocolate. First, Nutella lines the bottom of the tartelette shell. Next is a dark chocolate pudding, and finally, the tartelette is topped with a dark chocolate ganache. This was not the design of the original recipe, but I decided to mix things up a bit. Actually, the truth is, my pudding didn't turn out quite right (I manhandled it and also overcooked it just a tad), and I had to serve something presentable to the ladies at the shower, so on went the dark chocolate ganache topping. After tasting it myself, you couldn't even tell the pudding was a little off.

If you're a dark chocolate lover, then oh boy, you definitely want to try making and eating this tartelette. Be sure to watch the time when you're baking the tartelettes, and you'll be on your way to rich, chocolatey bliss.


Nutella Tartelettes
adapted from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme

Ingredients:
2/3 cup Nutella
4 3/4 oz bittersweet chocolate
7 tablespoons butter
1 large egg, room temperature, stirred with a fork
3 large egg yolks, room temperature, stirred with a fork
2 tablespoons sugar
4 baked tartelette shells (recipe below)

Directions:
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 F degrees.
2. Spread the Nutella evenly over the bottom of the crust and set aside.
3. Melt the chocolate and the butter separately - either by using a double boiler or in the microwave. Allow both chocolate and butter to cool slightly.
4. Whisk the egg into the chocolate, stirring gently in circles and taking care not to agitate the mixture as you don't want to beat air into the ganache. Little by little, stir in the egg yolks, then the sugar. Finally, still working gently, stir in the warm melted butter. Pour the ganache over the Nutella in the tart shell.
5. Bake tart for 11 minutes. Center of tart will not be completely set, but that's how it should be. Remove the tart from the oven, and cool on a cooling rack to room temperature.
6. Additional step: If the pudding turns out too hard and crumbly looking, simply add a layer of dark chocolate ganache to hide the flaws. It's definitely still edible, and the extra layer of chocolate will add to this tart's decadence.


Tart Pastry
adapted from Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
2/3 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon table salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, very cold, cut into 1/2-inch cubes

Directions:
1. Whisk together yolk, cream, and vanilla in small bowl; set aside. Pulse to combine flour, sugar, and salt in bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade.
2. Scatter butter pieces over flour mixture; pulse to cut butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal, about fifteen 1-second pulses.
3. With machine running, add egg mixture and process until dough just comes together, about 25 seconds.
4. Turn dough onto sheet of plastic wrap and press into 6-inch disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to 48 hours.
5. Remove dough from refrigerator (if refrigerated longer than 1 hour, let stand at room temperature until malleable). Unwrap, divide dough into 4 equal pieces, and roll out between lightly floured large sheets of parchment paper or plastic wrap to 4-inch rounds. (If dough is soft and sticky, slip onto baking sheet and refrigerate until workable, 20 to 30 minutes.)
6. Transfer dough to tart pan by rolling dough loosely around rolling pin and unrolling over 4 tartelette pans with removable bottom. Working around circumference of pan, ease dough into pan corners by gently lifting dough with one hand while pressing dough into corners with other hand. Press dough into fluted sides of pan. (If some edges are too thin, reinforce sides by folding excess dough back on itself.) Run rolling pin over top of tart pan to remove excess dough.
7. Repeat steps 5 and 6 to fill 4 tartelette pans with dough.
8. Set dough-lined tartelette pans on baking sheet and freeze 30 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Take dough-lined tartelette pans out of freezer, press 4-inch square of foil inside frozen tartelette shells and over edges and fill with pie weights. (Beans or rice may be used as a substitute.)
10. Bake until golden brown, about 15-18 minutes, rotating halfway through baking time. Remove from oven and carefully remove foil and weights by gathering edges of foil and pulling up and out.
11. Continue to bake until deep golden brown, 3 to 5 minutes longer. Set baking sheet with tartelette shells on wire rack to cool to room temperature, about 30 minutes.

Chocolate Macarons with Nutella Ganache

I was happily surprised with how well these macarons turned out. Humidity can really alter these little cookies, which makes me feel a little better about messing up every batch I made at home this past summer. (Melida had one successful batch, but that was done at ICE) There I learned how delicate these macarons are, and just one extra fold can ruin it all. One good tip I took away was to beat the egg whites at a low speed to avoid over whipping the whites. For this batch, I beat the egg whites for almost 20 minutes, and I watched it closely to make sure they were the perfect consistency.

Speaking of the class we took back in July, a friend of Tim and mine took the same class that day. This friend says macarons are his favorite food. Now that was his answer to a question regarding favorite foods, not just desserts. So what does that say about this man? Simply put, he's a fancy guy. Tim and I have had the pleasure of working alongside him in one of our church's community groups, and we've come to know him beyond being fancy, as an intentional person with a big heart. So this one goes out to you, Ken. Happy Birthday, and thanks for all you do for everyone around you.


Chocolate Macarons
adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients:
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup almond flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
4 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Line two baking sheets with Silpat liners and have a pastry bag with a 1/2-inch plain tip ready.
3. Using a blender of a food processor, grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and cocoa so there are no lumps.
4. Using a standing electric mixer and at slow-medium speeds, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, gradually beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm.
5. Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding and scrape the batter into the pastry bag.
6. Pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1/2-inch circles, evenly spaced 1/2-inch apart.
7. Tap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then bake them for 15 minutes. Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet.


Nutella Ganache

Ingredients:
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons Nutella
2 ounces dark chocolate

Directions:
1. Bring heavy cream to a simmer.
2. Remove from heat and stir in Nutella and dark chocolate. Stir until reaching consistent texture.
3. Let cool to room temperature.

Assembly Directions:
1. Find matching similar-sized counterpart for each macaron.
2. Depending on size of macarons, spread 1/2 - 1 teaspoon of ganache on one cookie's inside, and then gently press the matching cookie on top, forming a sandwich.
3. Store in an airtight container or in the fridge for at least one day before serving, to meld the flavors. Macarons can keep up to 5 days, after that they may be stored in the freezer.