This tart is divine and really impresses when I have to bring a dessert to a function.
Chocolate Nut Tart (Crostata di cioccolata con nocciote)
Ingredients
Ingredients for pastry
- 1 3/4 Cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 115 grams butter or margarine chilled
- 1 egg
- 1/4 teaspoon grated lemon zest
- Up to 2 tablespoons of water
Ingredients for tart
- 200 g dry amaretti biscuits
- 50 g blanched hazelnuts
- 100 g ground almonds
- 3 tablespoons of sugar
- 200 grams plain cooking chocolate
- 3 tablespoons milk
- 50 grams butter
- 3 tablespoons liqueur amaretto or brandy is recommended, but I use Baileys
- 2 tablespoons single cream
- 8 blanched almonds halved
Instructions
Instructions for pastry
- Mix flour, salt and sugar in bowl
- Chop butter into the dry ingredients as quickly as possible until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs
- Beat egg and lemon zest in a cup.
- Pour over the flour mixture.
- Combine with a fork until the dough holds together.
- If too crumbly, mix in 1-2 tablespoons of water.
- Divide in two.
- Cover in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 40 minutes
Instructions for tart
- Preheat oven to 190º C.
- Grind biscuits and hazelnuts to a medium texture in a food processor or blender
- Mix ground almonds and sugar in to ground amaretti and nuts. .
- Melt chocolate, milk and butter and stir until smooth
- Pour into the ground amaretti and nuts.
- Mix well.
- Add liqueur and cream to mixture.
- Lightly grease a shallow 26 cm tart or pie pan, preferably with a removable bottom.
- Roll out half the dough to about 3 mm.
- Transfer to the pie pan.
- Trim edges.
- Prick bottom with a fork.
- Spread filling evenly in the pastry shell.
- Bake for 35 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and filling has puffed up.
- cool to room temperature.
- Decorate the tart with almond halves
Notes
This makes enough pastry for two tarts. I couldn't find a way to successfully halve the recipe. Freeze the unused half. The pastry also works other tarts, e.g. Tarte Tatin.
Adapted from Carla Capalbo "The Best Ever Italian Cookbook"