CHOCOLATE GANACHE BROWN BUTTER TARTS

Notes: A new take on a very popular, and scrumptious, recipe, my dark chocolate craquelin brown butter cookies, minus the craquelin and with more chocolate. This time I make a lustrous ganache and the cookie becomes the tart shell. The first time I made these I rolled out and cut the cookie dough into circles and strips and froze them to then gently place into the ring molds. But I realized it was a lot of extra work for no reason since this chewy cookie dough has a lot of give. So I decided to press and shape the dough directly in the ring molds and cut them out after baking. Typical tart shell crust will break or crumble if you do this, so we’re taking the easier route because we can. Also I think the shape of the tarts is better retained by pressing them into the ring molds since this dough will puff up a bit with baking.

And look at this ganache, it truly tastes as good as it looks. I sweetened it with a touch of agave and the syrup adds to the shine and taste. Even after the ganache is set, which is not shown in the video, you will retain a lot of shine. Finish with sea salt and a few berries of your choice. Good luck eating just one.

As usual ingredients were weighed and the cup measures are approximations. If you need a good kitchen scale for baking then I recommend the trusty OXO Good Grips digitial 11 lb. kitchen scale. It has good accuracy at lower gram weights, and is a good balance of quality and price.

This recipe makes about 10 four inch tarts.

Special Equipment:

• Conventional sized ice cream scoop (for portioning dough)

• 4 inch tart ring molds

  These are the exact ones I have and use: DATANYA 12Pack Tart Rings Perforated Tart Ring, Stainless Steel Cake Rings 4 Inch

Ingredients:

Brown butter cookie dough

• 1 cup (227g) Unsalted butter (at least 85% butter fat)

• 1 and 2/3 cup (220g) AP flour

• 1 tbsp cornstarch

• 1 tsp salt (I used pink Himalayan)

  If using kosher salt, use a little less: 3/4 tsp

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 1 cup (155g) dark brown sugar

  *It should not really affect the recipe, but I specifically used coconut dark brown sugar. If you’re using a cup measure tightly pack the brown sugar.

• 1/4 cup (55g) granulated sugar

• 2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

  *Save the extra egg white for breakfast :)

Chocolate Ganache:

• 255 g 70% dark chocolate

• 255 g heavy cream

• 1.5 tbsp agave syrup

  *Sometimes you will see glucose syrup used in ganache recipes. Agave syrup has a lower glycemic index than glucose since it contains fructose (a dissacharide) and it just tastes better thanks to the caramelized flavor and less processing. I also love using maple syrup in baking, however, I wanted to use a thicker syrup with less water content.

Garnish:

• Berries of your choice

• Flaky sea salt

Directions:

Brown butter tart shells:

1. Add the butter to a small saucepan over medium heat.  Stir to melt, then continue to stir as it goes from bright yellow, to bubbly. Next, it will turn foamy which is when the browning process starts. Keep stirring and keep your eye on the butter as it quickly darkens to a deep amber color. Remove it from the heat and pour into a glass measuring cup to make sure you have exactly 1 cup of butter. If its less than a cup you can drop in an additional tablespoon (or two) of unmelted butter to bring it up to 1 cup. 85% butterfat butter doesn’t have much water so there won’t be much evaporation so it’s unlikely you’ll need to do this. Set the butter aside to cool.

2. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

3. Once the brown butter has cooled (it can still be a little warm and you can refrigerate to speed up the cooling), pour it into a large mixing bowl along with the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar. Thoroughly whisk to combine. Add in the vanilla, egg + egg yolk and thoroughly whisk.

4. Pour in the dry ingredients and use a rubber spatula to fold the dough together. The dough should look shiny and smooth.

5. Refrigerate the cookie dough uncovered for at least 1 hour (4 hrs is even better, and overnight is best).

6. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper (or preferably silicone air mats) and place the tart ring molds on both. After the dough is chilled use an ice cream scoop to portion the dough. Fill the scoop completely and level off with a spatula and place a scoop into each mold. Press the dough into the sides of the molds and the base and use a butter knife to level off the crust and press the scraps of dough back into the base. Shape the dough until it is ~ 0.5 cm thick.

7. Freeze the sheets of tart rings with dough for 15 mins and preheat your oven to 375 F while waiting.

8. Bake the shells for 10-11 minutes.

9. Allow the tart shells to cool before attempting to cut them out of the ring molds. Use a small sharp knife to cut the tart shells out. Make sure the blade of the knife is flush with the ring mold so you don’t cut into the shells.

Chocolate Ganache:

1. Chop up the dark chocolate into fine pieces and place in a medium mixing bowl.

2. Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan (or microwave) until it is just simmering (not boiling). Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and wait two minutes to allow the chocolate to gently melt. After waiting mix the chocolate and cream together with a spatula until it looks super smooth.

3. Add the agave syrup and fully incorporate with a spatula.

4. Transfer the ganache to a piping bag and pipe into the tart shells, or use a spoon to transfer into the shells.

5. Garnish with flaky sea salt and a few berries of your choice.

You can refrigerate these for several days and they keep super well :)