Tuesday, April 28, 2009

TWD: Chocolate Cream Tart


It's that time of the week again...and lately that seems to mean me in kitchen...unwrapping bars of chocolate...chopping it.......tempering eggs to make a custard....(mind you, I am not complaining, we've just had our run of custard and chocolate recipes lately!)

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was Chocolate Cream Tart, chosen by Kim of Scrumptious Photography.

I love chocolate cream pie...love, love it. And it's the kind of dessert I rarely buy, or order out...I was really looking forward to making this week's dish, seeing the posts on P&Q on TWD site-and hearing from fellow bloggers like Nancy, who promised this recipe would not disappoint.

The only thing I fear is I'M the one who will disappoint....Confession: I didn't make the tart crust for this....what's worse, I didn't make the crust at all..I used the frozen one that's been in the freezer the better part of 6 mos! It was another hectic weekend in the house, my 4 siblings came to town, some with niece/nephew in tow, and we were hopping back and forth between my house and my brother's a few miles away. He was putting up a basketball hoop in his driveway for his three kiddos, and needed help putting the finishing touch--backboard--up onto the pole....Some folks swung by our house as Dear Husband and I wanted to show off the progress we've made on the various paint jobs he's done around the house. So as much as this recipe called for a crowd, I did not make it until it was back to just the 2 of us on Sunday.

Since I am still "wishin' and hopin' and prayin'" for a large capacity food processor to tun out tart dough and other fun pastries (Yes, I know I can make in the mixer..but it never quite comes out the 'grainy' texture I look for) I flaked out (pun intended I suppose!) yet again and went for the frozen pie shell in the freezer that was begging to finally be used. "Use it to save it" as my grandmother would say...and so I did. It also meant I can take this recipe in piecemeal--focus on the filling, get it right, and then next time incorporate a home made crust.

The filling was amaaaazing! I loved this...It came together super easily and I'm a whiz now at the temper, stir and boil routine! Bring on the custards!
I put the filling together on Sunday morning and did the saran wrap on top-and-cool in refrigerator route most of the day. Here is the saran-wrapped filling:
Meanwhile, I baked the empty shell and it hung out on the counter until after dinner when I put it all together with the whipped cream...(is there anything more lovely than home-made whipped cream?!)

So here is the finished product....
I got a bit messy with the topping...not the best presentation (I urge you to visit other TWD bloggers for more creative takes on this!)
I'll definitely make this again--and we are enjoying it tonight, on day 2, so the whipped cream held up in the fridge....so I think it does not necessarily need to be eaten that day, as suggested.

Dear Husband (my chocolate connoisseur) admitted that with such a rich filling, a chocolate crust might actually have been too much chocolate for him, so he voted to go with a pie crust next time (I just vote that next time I make the crust..I feel like a farce using the store bought shell!)

So there you have it...not the best post I've ever had either...I'm rather distracted now that I have 'wi-fi' in the house and a new work laptop...I've got one eye on this post--and the other on my poor Yankees....looks like Detroit is not any better luck for them than Beantown was....Sigh...

13 comments:

Kara said...

You know I think with a regular pie crust, this would make an amazing chocolate cream pie - very traditional and yummy.

I'm hoping to get a new food processor soon, too. I killed mine last fall making bread dough and I put off getting a new one - but TWD is stretching me to the limit for doing without. :)

Nancy/n.o.e said...

Love your Saran wrap "action" shot... and great plan to perfect the cream before moving on to the crust! But honestly the magic of this tart is that the parts don't have to be perfect (and if I'm making it, they never will be!) It's maybe a good thing this wasn't finished for the crowd - more for you and that chocolate-loving husband!
Nancy

Amanda said...

I've never had a problem with tempering the eggs, glad you don't either! Must be the British in me since we so love our custards LOL

I absolutely was in love with this tart too! So creamy and delish. Even better after a day in the fridge MMMMMMMMM

Cathy said...

Looks incredible, Lis! So glad that you guys enjoyed this. I bet it was just as good on the crust you used. I was also thinking that it would work on some kind of oreo crumb crust, which might be somewhat less of a hassle than the tart dough (and definitely would not require a FP!) I thought the chocolate cream and whipped cream are what made this.

Sounds like quite a jam-packed weekend for you! And what is up with our Yanks? It is just completely depressing. I can't even watch.

chocolatechic said...

I loved this tart.

I almost used the sweet tart dough I have in my freezer, but since I'm about all things chocolate....I'm saving it for another day.

Jennifer said...

I think what saved the chocolate crust from being "too much" was that it wasn't very sweet.
Oh, and I thought my tart tasted better day 2! So maybe I was just hungrier? Or it was hormonal? But it really tasted great the next day. (Oh, and I'll probably be doing an experiment when I get off work today, to see how it is on day 3!)

kimberly salem said...

If it wasn't my pick, I might have gone with a ready made crust, lol! It was a busy week for me too. Glad you liked the end result! :)

Leslie said...

I think it's great that you used something you already had! But if you like chocolate, you really should try it with Dorie's chocolate crust next time. IMO, it didn't make it too chocolatey at all.

Kayte said...

You had one hectic and busy weekend. Your tart certainly turned out lovely. I could not get that whipped topping to peak or swirl or anything...and my ability at making chocolate sprinkles or whatever is clearly in the minus range...LOL. Oh, well, the guys ate it all within 48 hours, so I guess it was a big hit!

Pamela said...

So you used the frozen crust. It can't go to waste, right! The chocolate cream WAS amazing!! So good. I really liked the way the chocolate crust worked, too. Nice job!

Bungalow Barbara said...

Glad you liked it!

Hope you can get a larger food processor sometime -- then you can have home-made pie crust tucked away in the freezer!

TeaLady said...

Looks really tasty. Great job. And Nancy is always right.....

The Food Librarian said...

This looks great. And who cares about the crust...wasn't that chocolate cream great?!? :)