Delicate tart with flavourful hazelnuts paired with milk chocolate and a hint of coffee. This tart surprises with different textures: soft, crunchy and runny. It has a well balanced complexity which is great for an afternoon tea or coffee.
Special material requirements
Tart ring: 25cm diameter (height: 2cm)
Guitar/acetate sheet
Two discs: 18cm & 13cm diameter (for the decoration)
Fine grater
Air mat & perforated baking tray (optional)
Silicone mat (optional)
Recipe
Yield: 8 - 10 servings | Difficulty: medium
Ingredients
Hazelnut pate sablé
155g butter (cold)
105g powdered sugar
250g all purpose flour
40g hazelnut flour
1 medium egg
pinch of salt
Pailleté feuilletine
25g all purpose flour
25g butter
38g powdered sugar
1 medium egg white
Crunch layer
100g milk chocolate
8g vegetable oil
40g pailleté feuilletine
25g roasted, chopped hazelnuts
Milk chocolate ganache
60g milk chocolate
40g heavy cream
Hazelnut praline paste
100g roasted hazelnuts
100g sugar
4 tbsp water
3/8 tsp vanilla powder
pinch of salt
White chocolate coffee ganache
172g white chocolate
74g heavy cream (+extra)
15g roasted coffee beans
Decoration
100g caramelised white chocolate (tempered)
Dulcey crunchy pearls
Whole roasted hazelnuts
Cocoa nibs
Edible gold leaves
Directions
Hazelnut pate sablé
In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, combine cold butter (cubed), powdered sugar, flour, hazelnut flour and salt. Mix until you get a bread crumb consistency.
Then add the egg and mix just until well combined. Don't over mix it. If there are still some crumbs which are not incorporated, kneed it into the dough by hand.
Spread the dough between two baking papers and roll out thinly, approximately 0.3 - 0.4mm. Put it in the fridge for at least an hour, until the dough gets firm.
Preheat the oven to 165°C fan. Take the dough out of the fridge, remove one baking paper and cut out the base with the tart ring. Additionally, cut out stripes which are about 2.5cm in width (slightly bigger than the walls of the tart) and long enough to line the whole side of the tart. You may need to cut 2 or 3 stripes if you can't get the full circumference in one bit. Line the tart with the dough and press the edges on the bottom together, so that the base and the walls stick together.
Place the lined tart ring into the fridge for another 15-30 minutes, until the dough is firm again. After, trim the excess dough from the edges of the tart ring.
If you have an air mat and a perforated baking tray, place the tart on that. If not, just use a normal baking tray and baking paper. Bake the tart shell for about 20 minutes in the middle of the oven, until golden brown.
Take the tart out of the oven, and let it cool down. Remove the tart ring. If you have uneven edges, trim those with a fine grater. Set the tart aside.
Pailleté feuilletine
Preheat the oven to 170°C top and bottom heat.
Melt the butter and add the powdered sugar. Sift the flour into the mixture and whisk until well combined. Finally add the egg white.
Thinly spread the batter on a silicone mat or alternatively on baking paper. You should be able to see the silicone mat/baking paper underneath.
Bake for 6-8 minutes until evenly golden brown.
Let it cool down until it becomes firm (this will happen after e few seconds) and crumble it into small pieces. Set aside.
Crunch layer
Heat up the chocolate in the microwave with 30 second intervals, stirring in between, until completely melted. Stir in the oil.
Brush the inside of the tart with a thin layer of the chocolate-oil mix. This will prevent your tart shell to soak and get soft.
Add the pailleté feuilletine and the hazelnuts to the remaining chocolate-oil mix and stir with a spatula.
Spread the whole crunch layer evenly in the tart. Place the tart in the fridge.
Milk chocolate ganache
Put the cream and the chocolate in a bowl and heat up in the microwave in 30 second intervals, mixing in between, until all chocolate is completely melted.
Spread the milk chocolate ganache on top of the crunch layer. Place the tart back in the fridge. This layer helps to fill in the minor gaps caused by the crunch layer.
Hazelnut praline paste
Place sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. As soon as you get a caramel colour pour the caramelised sugar onto baking paper or a silicone mat and let it cool completely. Make sure not to burn the sugar, otherwise it will become bitter.
As soon as the caramel has cooled down and become hard, break it into small pieces and place it in a blender together with the roasted hazelnuts.
Blend the nuts and caramel in a food processor in impulses, while scraping down the sides and the bottom in between, until you get a liquid paste. It is important to blend in short impulses because otherwise the praline paste will heat up and become bitter.
Mix in the salt and vanilla powder, blend once more.
Pour the praline paste onto the tart and place it back in the fridge.
White chocolate coffee ganache
Put the coffee beans in a plastic bag and smash them with a kitchen hammer or a rolling pin into small pieces.
Place the coffee beans and the cream into a cup or a small bowl and heat it up in the microwave. Cover the top with cling film and let it infuse until it's cooled down.
Pour the coffee bean-cream mixture through a sieve into another bowl. Weigh the cream and add additional cream to match the indicated amount.
Add the white chocolate to the cream and heat it in the microwave in 30 second intervals, while stirring in between, until the chocolate is completely melted. Let the ganache cool down to around 30-35°C. Pour the ganache onto the tart and place the tart back in the fridge.
Decoration
Spread the tempered chocolate thinly on the guitar sheet. Tap the guitar sheet to release any air bubbles and to smoothen the chocolate. Tape the guitar sheet to something flat and preferably portable (e.g. a tray), so that the chocolate will not curl up when it contracts during crystallisation.
When your chocolate is dry, meaning when you can touch the surface and you have no chocolate on your finger, but it is has not completely firmed up yet, cut out the bigger circle first and then the smaller circle inside the bigger one. Use the back side of a knife or a toothpick to trace around your discs.
Place the chocolate in the fridge for about 20 minutes. After, you can take it out and remove the guitar sheet.
Melt some of the excess chocolate to attach the decoration onto the chocolate ring. First stick some crispy pearls onto the ring. This will be your bottom and give you the floating effect of the decoration. Then, turn it around and decorate your ring with hazelnuts cut in halves, cocoa nibs, crispy pearls and gold leaves.
Take the tart out of the fridge and place your chocolate ring onto the tart. Your tart is ready to be served.
Notes
Hazelnut pate sablé: you will have some leftover dough from this recipe. You can either bake the rest into cookies or put it up to one month in the freezer and save it up for another recipe.
Pailleté feuilletine: you can easily prepare this couple of days in advance. You will make more than you will need for this recipe, but you can either use it in another recipe or keep them as a delicious snack.
Hazelnut praline paste: this can also be prepared in advance.
Decoration: I have ganache boards for cakes which I use to cut out the chocolate. But you can use anything round to cut your chocolate. You can also cut out circles out of cardboard if you do not have anything practical at hand.