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What are the Best Tips for Baking a Chocolate Tart?
Baking a chocolate tart at home does not have to be intimidating. Almost anyone can create one of these scrumptious desserts by following some of the best tips in terms of ingredients, chocolate quality, and pan selection. Chocolate tart recipes run the gamut from complicated to those that take less than a half an hour to assemble. Bakers can enliven a traditional chocolate tart recipe by mixing and matching any number of fruits, nuts, toppings, and crust types.
All classic chocolate tart recipes require the same essential ingredients. For the filling, use light cream and milk, chocolate, sugar, salt, and an egg or two. The traditional tart crust is made from all-purpose flour, sugar, salt, unsalted butter, and egg and will need to be baked prior to adding the filling. To begin making the crust, start with cold ingredients, cooking implements, and hands. The ingredients should be left in the refrigerator until the cook is ready to use them; a few minutes in the freezer is a quick way to chill the mixing bowl and beaters.
Selecting the highest quality chocolate will yield a more flavorful, chocolaty filling than cheap, bargain-brand chocolate. Quality chocolate will have a high percentage of cocoa and a low sugar content. When broken, better chocolates will cleanly and crisply snap in half. When held, the best chocolate will begin to melt quickly because of the high cocoa butter content.
Large ceramic or metal fluted tart pans or small fluted tartlet pans can be good choices in which to bake the crust. These tart pans may be purchased with removable or solid bottoms. Regular glass baking dishes are perfectly acceptable bakeware choices for a causal-looking chocolate tart. Putting the tart pan on a baking sheet before it goes into the oven will help cooks avoid accidents such as dislodging the pan's removal bottom.
More experienced bakers may want to make their plain chocolate tarts more interesting. Peanut butter, cherries, coffee, pecans, almonds, bananas, raspberries, or mandarin oranges are a few add-ins that work well with chocolate. Drizzling a simple topping over the finished chocolate tart may be a nice change of pace for die-hard classic chocolate tart fans. Some toppings, aside from homemade whipped cream, include peppermint creme, caramel sauce, or cherry-vodka sauce.
The type of crust chosen depends a great deal on the tart filling itself. Crushed chocolate or vanilla wafers, plain cookie dough, short dough, phyllo dough, or puff pastry are a few crust options. Homemade crusts are easy to make, take only a few minutes, and are definitely worth the effort in terms of taste, texture, and overall look of the finished chocolate tart.
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![It's best to use a high quality chocolate in a chocolate tart.]()
By: Andris TIt's best to use a high quality chocolate in a chocolate tart. -
![Pecans may be added to a plain chocolate tart for more flavor and texture.]()
By: eAlisaPecans may be added to a plain chocolate tart for more flavor and texture. -
![High-quality chocolate melts quickly.]()
By: denio109High-quality chocolate melts quickly. -
![Coffee may be added to a plain chocolate tart.]()
By: volffCoffee may be added to a plain chocolate tart.
Discussion Comments
I'm really impressed by the second to last paragraph, as it really shows you what can be done when you have more experience in the cooking field. Also, even though all of these items are optional, they are very interesting regardless, and really show you what kind of a variety any dessert can have, as you can top them with pretty much anything. As an example, just look at all the ingredients that can be put onto cheesecake, another famous dessert. This ranges from nuts, to strawberries and even graham crackers. Well, the same can be said for chocolate tarts as well.
If you happen to be in a hurry, and don't have time to make chocolate tarts, going to the bakery is another great option. Even though some people don't like going there, because the items feel "store bought", the ingredients are just as fresh as if you were to make them at home, if not even more so. As a final piece of advice, the next time you go to your local bakery, perhaps it would be a good idea to ask for the dessert recipe. Not all dishes follows the exact same ingredients, and they might put a "twist" on it, that makes it all the more special. However, taking into consideration that some recipes are secret, they might turn down your offer.
Even though plain chocolate isn't something that everyone is going to prefer, the tarts may work better for someone who is interested in desserts. After all, many people who don't like chocolate, do enjoy chocolate flavored desserts regardless. While I don't have experience making these tarts, the article does give some good advice, especially for the beginners. Most of all though, for starters, I recommend that you don't buy the kind from the store.
Not only can that be considered the easy way out, but making them from scratch isn't as hard as it seems. Not to mention that it will give you a greater sense of accomplishment. On a final note, I agree where the article mentions that once the filling is finished, the tarts should be put in the freezer before anything else. Chocolate is one of those "sensitive" ingredients that melts rather easily under pressure, and putting it in a cool place is one of the best options.
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