Chocolate, Caramel and Hazelnuts Tart

After I published the Salted Caramel Cream recipe, I received messages from readers from all over the world who have made the cream and want to use it in desserts.

So I decided to keep trying more and more recipes where you can incorporate the cream. One of them is this special tart that combines some of my loves: Chocolate, Caramel and Hazelnuts.

The idea is basically a tart in the shape of a muffin made from cocoa and hazelnuts dough. On top of the tart crust a layer of dark chocolate ganache with roasted hazelnuts, a generous layer of salted caramel cream and a chocolate ganache topping.

The result is a beautiful tart with a wonderful combination of textures and flavors. I love eating it whan the salted caramel cream and the ganache are still a little runny.

Chocolate, Caramel and Hazelnuts Tart
Silicone Muffin Pan (6-8 cups)

Ingredients

Cocoa pastry dough:
160 g all-purpose flour, sifted
20 g roasted hazelnut meal
110 g butter, cubed
30 g sugar 
pinch of salt
20 g cocoa powder, sifted
35 g milk
1 egg yolk

Dark chocolate ganache:
200 g heavy whipping cream
220 g dark chocolate, chopped (66% or more)

Salted Caramel cream (click for the recipe)

Roasted hazlentus (whole nuts or chopped)

Preparation

1. Chocolate pastry dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine flour, hazelnut meal, butter, sugar, salt, and cocoa. Add milk and egg yolk, mix until the ingredients come together into a ball of dough.
2. Remove from the mixer bowl and knead briefly on your work surface until well combined.
3. Lightly sprinkle the top and bottom of the ball of dough with flour, put it between two sheets of parchment paper, and lightly flatten it into a disk. Transfer the dough, with the paper, to the refrigerator and chill for 2 hours.
4. Remove from the fridge, roll out the dough to a thickness of 3 mm. Line each cup with the dough, making sure that the sides are fully filled in and straight so that they don’t collapse during baking. Using a knife, gently trim the overhanging edges. Freeze the dough-lined pan for about half an hour.
5. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Remove Muffin pan from freezer.
6. Line a parchment paper over each tart. Fill with dry beans or pie weights. Bake for about 12 minutes.
7. Remove from the oven, then carefully remove the weights and the parchment paper, and return to oven for another 15-18 minutes until crusts are dry.
8. Remove the baked crusts from the oven and cool on a rack (you can leave the crusts inside the pan).
9. Chocolate ganache: In a medium heat the cream until simmering. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, let the mixture sit for 2 minutes before stirring. Using a spatula, slowly and gently begin to stir together the chocolate and cream. Keep the spatula in the center of the bowl, touching the bottom, without lifting it out, so that air bubbles aren’t incorporated in. You should be stirring slowly and carefully for a few minutes, until you have a glossy ganache with no air bubbles. 
10. Make the Salted Caramel Cream (recipe inside).

Assembling
11. Pour a 1 cm height chocolate ganache layer over each crust. Sprinkle with roasted hazelnuts. Using a spoon, insert the nuts into the ganache. Refrigerate for about half an hour. Keep the rest of the ganache for the topping.
12. Remove from the refrigerator. When still liquid but not hot, pour a generous layer of caramel cream over the ganache. At this point you can let the caramel stabilize slightly and continue to the next step, or refrigerate/wait longer if you want to get a stable caramel.
13. Gently pour over each layer of caramel a fine layer of the rest of the chocolate ganache (Tha ganache can be warmed slightly until softened before use).
14. You can eat right away and then the caramel and ganache layers will a little runny, or wait about 15-20 minutes, then the layers will be more stable but still wonderful.

Bon-Appétit
Sharon