Pecan Tart With Mexican Hot Chocolate And Creme Fraiche Ice Cream Recipes

CHOCOLATE PECAN TART

Steps:

• To make the crust:
• Place the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a food processor and pulse two or three times to combine. Add the butter and continue pulsing until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the water by drizzling about 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing after each drizzle. Stop once the dough begins to come together.
• Transfer the dough to a board and use the heel of your hand or a pastry scraper to press it together. Pat into a disk approximately 6 inches in diameter, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
• On a lightly floured board, roll out the dough to a 13 to 14-inch circle, flouring the dough and board as necessary to keep it from sticking. Roll up the dough around the rolling pin and unroll it into the tart pan. Gently lift the edges to ease the dough into the corners of the pan, then push the dough down gently to be certain the dough around the sides is 1/4 inch thick. Use a paring knife to cut excess dough from the rim of the pan. If necessary, pat a bit of the dough trimmings into any thin spots. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Position a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375degreesF. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet.
• Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork, line with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 15 minutes.
• Remove the parchment and weights, and continue to bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is golden. Sprinkle the chopped chocolate evenly over the bottom of the crust and bake for an additional minute, just to melt the chocolate. Remove from the oven and use the back of a spoon or a small offset spatula to spread the chocolate in an even layer. Let cool on a rack while you prepare the filling. Raise the oven temperature to 400degreesF.
• To make the filling:
• In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and water and stir over medium-low heat until the sugar dissolves. Increase the heat to medium-high and cook, without stirring, swirling the pan so the caramel colors evenly. If sugar crystals form on the sides of the pan, brush with a wet pastry brush. Test the color of the caramel by drizzling a few drops onto a white plate. When the color is medium to dark amber, remove from the heat. Slowly and carefully - it will bubble up - add the cream.
• Return the caramel to medium heat and cook for 3 minutes to thicken slightly, reducing the heat to medium-low if the caramel bubbles too much. Remove from the heat and cool for 15 minutes.
• Place the tart shell on a baking sheet.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the vanilla, egg, and yolk. Slowly whisk into the caramel. Stir in the melted butter, followed by the nuts and nibs, if using. Pour the filling into the prepared tart shell. The filling will come to the top of the shell. (If the crust has shrunk during baking, it may not hold all the filling.)
• Bake the tart for 15 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 375degreesF and bake for an additional 15 minutes, or until the filling is set.
• Let cool on a rack for about 10 minutes. While still warm, move the tart in the pan to loosen the edges where the caramel has stuck, but keep it in the pan.
• Let cool completely before removing the tart ring.
• Serve each wedge of tart with a dollop of the cocoa whipped cream.
• Cocoa Whipped Cream:
• Place the cream in a chilled metal bowl or mixer bowl. With a whisk, or the whisk attachment, whip the cream until slightly frothy. Combine the sugar with the cocoa powder. Sprinkle into the cream and continue to whip until soft peaks form. Use immediately, or refrigerate for up to 1 hour.

PECAN TART WITH MEXICAN HOT CHOCOLATE AND CREME FRAICHE ICE CREAM

Steps:

• For the pie dough: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Place the flour, salt and butter in a food processor and blend until it comes to a pea-size crumble. Dump that mixture out into a bowl and pour 5 tablespoons cold water in. Mix to bind it with your hands just until it comes together, then wrap and let rest for 15 minutes. (Be careful not to overmix your dough to form gluten.)
• Roll the dough out to 1/8-inch thick on a floured surface, then press into a 10-inch fluted tart pan, being careful to get all the edges pressed into the corners. Using a fork, poke holes in the dough so it doesn't bubble while baking. Gently lay cheesecloth over the top of the tart and pour in 1 cup of pie weights to blind bake the shell. Bake until blond (light golden brown), 18 to 20 minutes.
• For the filling: Melt the butter in a saucepan and whisk in the brown sugar, corn syrup and vanilla until smooth.
• Combine the cream cheese, orange zest, salt and eggs together in a stand mixer and beat with the whisk attachment on high speed, stopping to scrape down the sides of the mixer once, until smooth and not lumpy, about 3 minutes. On low speed add your hot sugar and butter mixture to your egg and cream cheese mixture. Fold the pecans into the mixture and fill the tart shell.
• Bake until set, 12 to 15 minutes.
• Place the Hot Chocolate on the bottom of a plate in a circular puddle. Dust the top of the tart with powdered sugar, then place over the hot chocolate. Quenelle the Creme Fraiche Ice Cream (form into football shapes) and place it on top of the tart. Garnish with the Candied Orange Zest and potato leaves.
• Place the chocolate in a large bowl and set aside.
• Combine the cream, granulated sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, coriander, salt, allspice, cloves and chile in a saucepot and bring to 180 degrees F. Remove from the heat, strain all of the solids out of the cream mixture and pour over the chocolate.
• Let sit 1 minute, then whisk until it all comes together.
• Mix together the egg yolks, whole eggs, granulated sugar and salt in a bowl and whisk well.
• Combine the cream, crème fraiche and milk in a pot over medium heat and bring to 180 degrees F.
• Temper the hot cream into your egg mixture by adding a small amount of the hot cream to the egg mixture, whisking constantly, then whisking the egg mixture into the hot cream, whisking constantly. Let cool to room temperature, then strain.
• Pour the custard into the ice cream machine.
• Run the machine according to its instructions until thick and creamy, about 20 minutes. Remove from the machine and let it set up the rest of the way in the freezer, about 4 hours.
• Peel zests from the orange with a peeler.
• Roll the zests up and cut them into chiffonade strips.
• Mix the raw sugar together with 1/2 cup granulated sugar on a tray and set aside.
• Stir together the remaining cup granulated sugar with 1/3 cup water in a pot and wipe the sides of the pot down with a wet hand. Bring this solution up to 242 degrees F.
• Throw the orange zests into the pot and swirl the pot a few times. Take off the heat.
• Strain through a sieve to retrieve the orange zests. Immediately throw the orange zests into the sugar mixture and toss quickly so that they separate and crystalize in the sugar.
• Transfer zests to parchment paper and let harden, about 1 hour.

PECAN TARTS

Steps:

• In a small bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy; blend in flour and salt. Refrigerate for 1 hour. Shape into 1-in. balls; press onto the bottom and up the sides of greased mini-muffin cups. , For filling, in a small bowl, beat the egg. Add brown sugar, butter and vanilla; mix well. Stir in pecans. Spoon into tart shells. , Bake at 325° for 25-30 minutes. Cool for 15 minutes before carefully removing from pans. Garnish with maraschino cherries if desired.

PECAN TARTS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease 8 3-inch tart tins.
• Roll out pastry and cut 8 5-inch circles. Fit pastry circles into greased tart tins.
• In a large bowl, combine eggs, sugar, butter or margarine, corn syrup, and vanilla extract. Mix well, then stir in pecans. Pour an equal amount of mixture into each pastry-lined tart tin.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes until pastry is golden brown and filling is set.