Chocolate Hazelnut Tarts

These are so tasty... especially the Hazelnut Mousse!

Chocolate Hazelnut Tarts

Tart Shell

* 4 T cocoa powder
* 1/2 C + 2 T cold butter, diced
* 5 1/4 T sugar
* 2 eggs
* 1 1/4 C flour
* 1 tsp baking powder
* pinch of salt

1. Place the butter, sugar and cocoa powder in a food processor and pulse until it resembles fine bread crumbs. Add the eggs, flour and baking powder and process until the mixture just comes together.
2. Lay the dough on to a lightly floured surface and knead into a disc measuring around 2 cm in height.
3. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to rest.
4. Once the dough has rested, place the dough back on to a lightly floured surface and roll out until around 2 mm thick. Cut the dough such that it is at least 1 cm wider than the tart shell (which will form the wall of the tart).
5. Place the cut dough in the tart shells and allow refrigerate for another 1 hour.
6. When ready, bake the pastry for 10 minutes in a pre-heated oven at 350 degrees. Once done, bake for another 5 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool.


Hazelnut Mousse

* 1 1/2 C milk
* 5 1/4 T sugar
* 3 eggs
* 2 /12 T cornstarch
* 7 T Nutella
* 1/4 - 1/2 pint cream
* 1 packet gelatin

1. Mix the sugar and cornflour into a bowl and slowly add the eggs. Ensure that this is well mixed, removing and lumps.
2. Bring the milk to the boil. Once the milk is boiling, pour the milk slowly into the bowl with the egg mixture.
3. Pour the egg and milk mixture back into the pan and cook on medium heat for a few minutes until the custard becomes thick.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool. Cover with a plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator until ready to use.
5. When the custard has cooled, place the gelatin sheet in 1 cup of cold water to soften.
6. In the meantime, mix the Nutella with the custard using a whisk.
7. Semi-whip the cream.
8. Remove the gelatin from the water and heat in a microwave proof container for 15 seconds on high. Mix the gelatin with the custard.
9. Fold the custard into the semi-whipped cream.
10. Cover with plastic wrap until ready to use.

Chocolate Hazelnut Sauce

• 5 T Nutella
  
• 2 oz milk chocolate
• pinch of salt
• .5 oz bittersweet or dark chocolate
  
• 1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
• 4 T crushed caramelized hazelnuts

1. Place all the ingredients in a microwave proof bowl and microwave in 20 second intervals on high until the chocolate has melted.
2. Add the caramelized hazelnuts.

Caramelized Hazelnuts

• 1/2 C sugar
• 3 1/2 T water
• 1 C toasted hazelnuts

1. Bring the sugar and water to a boil in a heavy based pan and let the temperature reach 240 degrees (using a candy thermometer)
2. Add the toasted hazelnuts and take the pan off the heat.
3. Mix the nuts until the texture changes to become sugary like and bring back the pan on the heat.
4. Mix carefully until the sugar turns into a golden caramel colour and place on a silpat or baking paper to cool.

To Assemble:

Spread chocolate sauce over top of tart shell and then top with hazelnut mousse. Garnish with leftover caramelized hazelnuts.


*Ok, so this recipe originally came from http://trissalicious.com/ but it was all metric and she had really weird measurements... she even gave the liquid measurements in grams so it was really hard to convert, but my version ended up being yummy so I'm ok with that haha! I also didn't caramelize the hazelnuts since I don't have a candy thermometer, but it was still yummy.