Sam's Cupcakery

Chocolate Hazelnut Tarts

These little tarts combine three of my favourite things – dark chocolate and hazelnut encased within a perfectly buttery pastry case. Not too difficult to make and you get a dozen tasty results, well, what are you waiting for?

I saw this recipe on Butter Baking, a beautifully photographed baking blog (seriously, take a look!) I have changed it slightly, the main chocolate filling is mostly the same and I used a different pastry recipe. Here goes..

Makes 12 – 14 tarts

For the sweet pastry:

• 165g plain flour
• 25g ground almonds
• 120g chilled unsalted butter
• 50g caster sugar
• 1 egg

For the chocolate filling:

• 115g unsalted butter
• 60ml freshly brewed coffee
• 2 tbsp hazelnut syrup
• 135g caster sugar
• 170g dark chocolate, chopped (if you prefer, you can also use milk chocolate)
• 3 eggs
• Pinch of salt
• 50g hazelnuts (approx – depends how generous you’ll be)

1. Sift plain flour and add ground almonds, mixing well. Add cubes of butter and rub in with fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add in caster sugar and mix well.
2. Add the egg and work it into the mixture with your fingers until a soft dough forms. Shape the dough into a ball and wrap it in clingfilm, leaving to chill for 30 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, start on the chocolate filling. Place the butter, half of the sugar and coffee into a small saucepan over a medium heat. Stir until the butter has melted and sugar has dissolved. Add the chopped chocolate and keep stirring until it has completely melted. Set it to one side to cool slightly.
4. Whisk the eggs, remaining sugar and salt and add half to the chocolate mixture, whisking it in. Once combined, fold the remaining egg mixture into the chocolate mixture until fully combined. Add the hazelnut syrup and stir in.
5. Place the chocolate mixture into a jug and keep in the fridge whilst you work on the pastry. This will help prevent your hazelnuts from sinking to the bottom when you bake it.
6. Preheat the oven to 200C. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out onto a floured surface to an even thickness (approx 5mm) and cut out using a circular cookie cutter. Using either mini tart cases or a muffin tin, press the pastry into it well. Make sure there’s a little extra overhang as the pastry will shrink a little when baked. Make a few pricks with a fork and place into the oven, cooking for about 8 – 10 mins until golden brown.
7. When the tarts are done, remove from the oven and turn temperature down to 180C. Add the chocolate filling into each of the cases and sprinkle on your hazelnuts – be as generous as you want! You can either go for whole or chopped nuts.
8. Bake in the oven for about 8 – 10 mins, until the shine on the chocolate has disappeared. Let it cool before you take it out of its case, dust liberally with icing sugar and serve immediately!

These tarts taste the best when they’re still warm, especially with a scoop of ice cream – if only I had some!

Just as a side note – on my first attempt, I tried to make these without baking the pastry cases first. I ended up having to bake it for much longer than stated above to make sure I didn’t have a soggy bottom. Not ideal as I could’ve easily burnt the chocolate (luckily it tasted alright), but I’d definitely suggest baking pastry first!