28 Aug 2014

Oh Hello! Free? Don’t Mind if I do.

by | posted in: Blog Update, Brands, Pastry, Patisserie | 18

saltedcaramel9

I have been a member of a site called BzzAgent for quite some time, I’ve tested Fajita dinner kits, toothpaste and the least exciting of the bunch, laundry products.

Every now and again something truly great pops up for me to try and this time it’s Lindt Hello Chocolate. I love chocolate, but I REALLY love good chocolate.

As a BzzAgent, it’s up to me to review a product, talk/tweet/post about it to others and ensure I make it clear that I #GotItFree.

My BzzKit included a range of flavours; Cookies & Cream, Caramel Brownie, Strawberry Cheesecake, Crunchy Nougat and Salted Caramel.

These Lindt bars are delicious on their own, but I wanted to feature them in a recipe. It was hard to choose between the different flavours, but readers of this blog probably know by now that salted caramel is a flavour I love and it seems to be bang on trend at the moment!

Using Will Torrent’s Patisserie at Home as inspiration, I decided to create the ultimate Lindt chocolate & salted caramel tartlets; crumbly chocolate pâte sablée, salted caramel and a dark chocolate ganache.

chocolate & salted caramel tartlets

This is a very simple recipe, all of the ingredients can be made in separate stages and then assembled at a later date. The individual components also freeze very well.

This would be great to serve at a dinner party with some vanilla ice-cream, or for a delicate afternoon tea. Of course you could just make them for a treat to have with a mug of coffee.

Pâte sablée is a very rich shortcrust pastry, it’s quite sticky, so the pastry requires a long resting time. You can normally rest it for a couple of hours in the fridge, but overnight is best. It also helps to roll the pastry out between two sheets of baking parchment, otherwise it sticks to the worktop.

Once the pastry is rolled out, use it to line 8 mini tartlet tins (7cm) or one large tin (20cm).

chocolate pate sablee

The pastry is then filled with baking beans, baked blind and then left to cool.

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The tartlets are then filled with the salted caramel, I piped the caramel as this is the easiest way to get a neat layer, you could always spoon the caramel into the pastry case and smooth it with a knife.

Then the chocolate ganache is piped on top and smoothed out with a pallet knife to fill the tart completely. I decorated these with chunks of the Lindt Hello Salted Caramel bar and small blobs of the remaining salted caramel.

I think these tartlets look really attractive and they go so well with the Lindt bars. The end result tasted delicious and I cannot stress how easy these are to make, don’t be put off by the waiting times with the pastry, it actually means you can make these over a few days.

These can also be kept in an airtight container for 3-4 days. Unless it’s really hot, don’t refrigerate these as they’ll become very hard and it will dull the flavour of the chocolate ganache. saltedcaramel8

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Chocolate & Salted Caramel Tartlets

Patisserie Makes Perfect
These tarts have a delicate chocolate sable pastry that is filled with salted caramel and topped with chocolate ganache. To decorate you can pipe small blobs of salted caramel and top with a chunk of 'Hello Lindt - Salted Caramel'. The salted caramel recipe can be found here, you only need half the quantity for this recipe. If you want to make the whole recipe the caramel freezes well for up to 3 months, or can be stored in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
5 from 3 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 3 hours
Cook Time 15 minutes
Total Time 3 hours 15 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 8

Ingredients
  

  • **Chocolate Sable Pastry**
  • 100 g Unsalted Butter
  • 50 g Icing Sugar
  • 1 Egg Lightly beaten
  • 85 g Plain Flour
  • 40 g Cocoa Powder
  • **Chocolate Ganache**
  • 150 ml Whipping Cream
  • 25 g Unsalted Butter
  • 280 g Dark Chocolate at least 50% Cocoa
  • 1/2 Quantity of Salted Caramel recipe <a title="SALTED CARAMEL" href="https://www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk/portfolio/salted-caramel/" data-mce-href="https://www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk/portfolio/salted-caramel/">here</a>
  • Lindt Hello Salted Caramel Bar optional
  • 8 x 7cm Tart Tins 1 x 20cm cake/tart tin

Instructions
 

  • First make the pastry, add the butter, icing sugar and eggs to a food mixer and mix together.
  • Finally add the flour and cocoa powder and mix until the the pastry comes together in a sticky paste.
  • This is a very sticky pastry and it needs a lot of time to rest. Cover in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours or overnight if possible.
  • Make the Salted Caramel as per the recipe here.
  • To make the ganache, heat the cream and butter together and bring it to the boil. Take the cream off the heat and allow to cool slightly before pouring it over the chocolate.
  • Stir the chocolate from the centre working outwards until the cream and chocolate are combined.
  • Leave to cool, if you refrigerate the ganache you may need to warm it in the microwave when you want to use it, or it will be too hard to spread.
  • Roll out the pastry until it's 2mm/3mm thick. The pastry can be very sticky, so it may be easier to roll it out between two sheets of baking parchment.
  • Either stamp out 8 circles for the individual tarts or drape the pastry into one large tin (20cm) and press the pastry into the sides and trim the edges.
  • Bake the pastry blind, weighing it down with greaseproof paper and baking beans. Bake the individual tarts at 180C for 10mins ( 15 mins for the large tart) and then remove the baking beans and finish baking the pastry at 160C for a further 10/15 mins.
  • Leave the pastry to cool.
  • Fill the cases with the <a title="SALTED CARAMEL" href="https://www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk/portfolio/salted-caramel/" data-mce-href="https://www.patisseriemakesperfect.co.uk/portfolio/salted-caramel/">salted caramel</a> using a piping bag, or a knife and half fill them.
  • Then pipe or spread the cooled ganache on top to fill the tarts, smooth it so the edges are completely sealed. You will have ganache leftover, this can be rolled into truffles or frozen for up to 3 months, (just defrost it overnight and warm it slightly in a microwave to make it soft enough to spread or pipe).
  • The tart can then be decorated with more salted caramel and chunks of Lindt Hello Salted Caramel.

 If you would like to become a Bzzagent you can sign-up here, it really is a great site and as I’ve shown, you can get sent some great stuff.

Is there any confectionery that you like to bake with? Or use to decorate your bakes? Have you tried the Lindt Hello bars and if so, what did you think of them?

Let me know in the comments.

Thanks

Angela

Tasty Tuesdays on HonestMum.com

18 Responses

  1. Jodie
    | Reply

    5 stars
    Love Lindt chocolates! And you know I love caramel! I haven’t seen these salted caramels but I’ll be looking. 🙂 These tarts look so amazing! I would love to take a bite and have the gooey caramel hit my chin. 🙂 But what is baking blind? I fell in love with salted caramel vodka a few weeks ago. Oh my! You need to give that a try if you haven’t.

    • patisseriemakesperfect
      | Reply

      These were so delicious, I’ll have to make them again, I am in love with salted caramel! Baking blind is baking a pastry case before you add the filling, so that the pastry is crunchy and not at all soggy. In this case, the chocolate ganache and salted caramel didn’t need any cooking, so you just add them to the cooked pastry case.

      I haven’t had salted caramel vodka, but it sounds amazing. I’ll look out for some! Thanks for the tip.

  2. Honest Mum
    | Reply

    5 stars
    Literally LICKING the screen. Wow, salted caramel might just be my favourite treat in the world and those tartlets look incredible *drool! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays

  6. Diane Ugo
    | Reply

    Saw your link on the Blog Hobnob party over at Keeping it Real. This is such a great idea. Love your other recipes too. Pinning to my Sweet Yummies Pinterest board. Diane @ Mrs U Makes

    • patisseriemakesperfect
      | Reply

      Thank you Diane! This is such a fun recipe and you can decorate it with any chocolate of your choice. Thanks for the kind comments and for pinning my page.

      I’ll be sure to check out your blog too.

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