Maple Nut Tart With A Chocolate Whiskey Mousse Recipes

AWARD-WINNING MAPLE-NUT-TOFFEE TART

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
• Combine flour and sugar in a bowl. Cut in butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Combine egg yolks and milk in a small bowl; stir into flour mixture until dough is blended.
• Press dough, using lightly floured hands, into the bottom and 1 inch up the sides of a 12-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Line the unpricked shell with a double thickness of aluminum foil. Place pan on a large baking sheet.
• Bake in the preheated oven until edges are lightly browned, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Meanwhile, combine condensed milk, maple flavoring, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir pecans, walnuts, and almonds into the batter.
• Remove shell from the oven, leaving oven on, and fill with batter.
• Return tart to the oven and bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack, about 30 minutes.
• Place chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl and heat in a microwave oven until melted, 1 to 3 minutes. Drizzle tart with melted chocolate. Refrigerate until chocolate has hardened and filling is firm.

CHOCOLATE AND MIXED NUT TART

Steps:

• FOR CRUST: Combine flour and sugar in a food processor.
• Add butter and cut in, using on/off turns, until mixture resembles coarse meal.
• Add 2 tablespoons cream and vanilla extract.
• Using on/off turns, blend until moist clumps form, adding more cream by tablespoonful if dough is dry.
• Gather dough together.
• Press dough over bottom and up the sides of an 11-inch diameter tart pan with removable bottom.
• (I used a 9-inch pan with very little crust and filling left over.) (Dough can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill, but let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before filling.) FOR FILLING: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Combine all toasted nuts in a food processor; chop coarsely, using on/off turns.
• Whisk corn syrup, brown sugar, and melted butter in a large bowl to blend.
• Whisk in eggs and vanilla extract.
• Mix in chocolate chips, then nuts.
• Transfer filing to the prepared crust.
• Bake tart until firmly set in center and top is deep golden brown, about 50 minutes.
• Cool tart in pan on rack 30 minutes.
• Push up pan bottom to release tart.
• Serve warm or at room temperature.

MAPLE BUTTERMILK TART

Steps:

• For the crust: Pour the flour, cornmeal, sugars and salt into the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process to combine. Scatter the butter over the top and pulse with the dry mixture to coat, and then continue pulsing until cool and almost sandy, about eight 3-second pulses. Drizzle the yolk over the top, and pulse again until the ingredients are moist and barely starting to clump, about another 8 pulses. The dough should just hold together when you squeeze it in your palm. If not, add 1 teaspoon of cold water and pulse briefly.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface. Smear out the dough across the work surface using the heel of your hand until it begins to come together. Gather the dough back together and shape it into a disc. Wrap in plastic and chill for 1 hour.
• Let the dough warm up slightly before rolling it out (if you roll it while it is cold, it will crack). Roll the dough on a lightly-floured work surface with a rolling pin into a 1/8 to 3/16-inch-thick circles, 10 to 11 inches in diameter. Fit the dough into an 8-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Don't worry if it cracks a bit; you can patch it with some of the trimmings. Press the dough firmly into the bottom of the pan where it meets the sides, and then roll the rolling pin across the pan to cut off the overhang. Press the dough firmly against the sides of the pan and back up to the top using your fingers (sometimes the rolling pin pushes the dough down the sides of the pan a bit). Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Position the rack on the lowest rung of the oven and put a baking sheet on top. Line the chilled crust with a 10-inch coffee filter and weight it down with dried beans or rice. Place on the hot baking sheet and bake until the sides begin to turn golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the shell from the oven, carefully remove the beans and filter and then return to the oven until completely golden brown and baked through, another 10 to 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees F. Let cool before adding the filling, about 10 minutes.
• For the filling: Pulse the maple sugar, flour and salt in a food processor until combined. Add the melted butter and pulse to combine, and then add the buttermilk and vanilla and pulse to combine again. Add the eggs and pulse until just combined-don't over-mix. Strain into the tart shell. Bake the tart until the sides are set (they may puff slightly) and the middle still jiggles slightly when you tap the pan, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool on a rack for at least 45 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature, garnished with cookies as desired.

MAPLE WALNUT TARTS

Steps:

• To make pastry: in a medium bowl, combine flour,sugar,salt and baking powder.
• Cut in butter or margarine and shortening until mixture is crumbly.
• Add water, 2 tbsp at a time, mixing with a fork; add a little more or less than the 1/2 c water as needed.
• Press mixture into 2 flat disks, wrap in wax paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
• To make filling: beat together eggs, syrup, brown sugar, melted butter or margarine and vanilla until just blended.
• On a lightly floured board, roll pastry disks to 1/16" thick.
• Cut into 5 inch circles. Roll scraps of dough and cut again. Line 12-3 inch tart pans with pastry. Divide walnuts equally between tart shells. Pour maple syrup mixture over walnuts. Bake at 425°F for 20-25 minutes, or until pastry is golden and filling is soft set. Let stand 15 minutes befire removing from tart pans.

MAPLE MOUSSE

Steps:

• Whip the cream with the scrapings from the vanilla bean until stiff and chill. In a small saucepan, boil the maple syrup to soft ball stage or 238 degrees on a candy thermometer. (Because there is such a small amount of maple syrup, measuring the temperature with a thermometer may be difficult. In this case, a good way to tell if the syrup is ready is to dip a spoon into the boiling maple syrup then put a drop into a cup of ice water. If the syrup dissolves it?s not ready. If it holds its shape and is slightly pliable between your thumb and finger, it's ready.)
• Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let it sponge. Place the whites in a clean dry bowl and, using a whip attachment, whip until almost stiff. Hold them with the whip turning on low until the maple syrup is up to temperature. When the syrup is ready, take it off the stove and, with the mixer on high, drizzle it down the wall of the mixing bowl into the whites. Warm the sponged gelatin in the microwave and drizzle it into the whites as well. Continue whipping until the meringue is cooled. Fold in the whipped cream and pipe or spoon the mousse into dessert glasses and chill for 1 hour or until set.

MAPLE MOUSSE

Steps:

• Beat the yolks together with the brown sugar in a glass or metal bowl. Add the maple syrup, set over a water bath, and cook, whisking, until the mixture reaches custard consistency and coats a spoon, about 15 minutes. It should be quite thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the gelatin. Set aside to cool completely. This is important: if the mixture is warm it will deflate the egg whites.
• In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to peaks. In another bowl, do the same with the heavy cream. Fold them alternately into the custard mixture. Turn the mixture into a serving bowl. Cover, and chill for at least 4 hours before serving. Or, alternatively, you could pipe the mousse into parfait glasses and chill.