I have a new little tart for you today!
I hinted at these in my last post with those brown butter raspberry tarts, remember?
I’m super excited to be sharing this recipe with you! It’s another one that I make at the bakery.
I boil a lot (and I mean A LOT) of condensed milk at work to make dulce de leche, and I wanted to put some into a tart somehow.
So I added a creamy ganache and a crunchy, buttery macadamia praline and a version of these tarts was born.
I loved them so much that I wanted to make them at home for Mr Man, as he is a huge fan of anything caramel + chocolate.
This home-version uses my favourite, and oh-so-easy, flaky tart pastry recipe from David Leibovitz.
And I used store-bought dulce de leche, because heck, no one has time to boil condensed milk for 3 hours at home, especially when you’ve decided to bake on a whim.
Also, please don’t be put off by the the long list of steps or the amount of elements that goes into this recipe – each of them is pretty simple and once you have each one organised, the tart is simply assembled.
Hope you enjoy!
- For the tart pastry:
- 90g unsalted butter (3 oz)
- 3 tbsp water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tbsp sugar
- Pinch of salt
- 1 cup flour (150g)
- For the praline:
- ½ cup macadamias, roasted and chopped
- ¼ cup sugar
- For the ganache:
- 335g dark chocolate
- 90g butter
- 250ml cream
- For the caramel filling:
- 1 x 395g can dulce de leche / Nestle caramel top'n'fill
- Sea salt
- To make the tart pastry, preheat the oven to 200 C (400 F) and get out a muffin pan.
- Place the butter, water, oil, sugar and salt in an overproof bowl.
- Put the bowl in the oven for about 15 minutes, until the butter is melted, bubbling, and just beginning to brown around the edges.
- Carefully remove the bowl from the oven and dump in the flour. Stir quickly, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the side of the dish.
- Put a tablespoon of dough into one muffin hole, and press it into the base and up the sides using your fingers. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
- Prick the dough with a fork once or twice.
- Bake for 8 - 12 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown all over.
- Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, make the macadamia praline. Start by lining a tray with baking paper.
- You need to make a dry caramel here - pour the sugar into a small saucepan and place it over a medium heat. It will start to brown and caramelise at the edges. Do not stir the caramel. You can swirl the pan, or use a spatula to push the darker caramel areas away from the edges and into the sugar, but you cannot stir.
- Once the sugar has turned into a liquid caramel and is a dark amber colour, pour in your chopped macadamias, stir to coat, and pour the whole thing out onto the lined tray.
- Spread the praline out so the nuts are in a single layer and set aside to harden. Once it sets, either chop it up with a sharp chef's knife or pulse in a food processor so you hand shards of praline.
- To make the ganache, chop the butter and chocolate into small cubes and place them in a medium heatproof bowl.
- In a small saucepan, bring the cream to the boil. Pour it over the chocolate and allow it to stand for 2 - 3 minutes. Then stir slowly, starting in the middle and working your way outwards, to combine the ingredients and make a ganache. Set this aside.
- To assemble the tarts, put a tablespoon of caramel in the base of each tart shell. Spread it out to form an even layer. Sprinkle with a little sea salt (optional) and top with a thin layer of praline.
- Then spoon the ganache over the top until the tart shells are filled. Sprinkle more praline in the centre.
- Set the tarts aside so the ganache can set. Then enjoy! Makes 12 tarts.
- Happy baking!
Tart pastry adapted from David Lebovitz.