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Chocolate Tart with Brown Butter Crust

Chocolate Tart with Brown Butter Crust looks and tastes like a fine restaurant dessert. One slice of this decadence will cost you $11-$15 dollars in a restaurant. But guess what? You can easily make the entire tart at home for around $15 dollars and serve 12 or more people. Walk into a party with this tart and people will say “ooooohhh” and then they’ll ask you which restaurant or bakery you bought it from. It’s so good that chocolate lovers might shed a tear as they savor their first bite.

Chocolate is the star of this dish which justified my spending a few extra bucks on high quality chocolate. I splurged for Guittard 60% cacao organic semisweet chocolate baking wafers.

If you’ve never tired Guittard chocolate before, you’re in for a treat. Guittard comes from a factory in the San Francisco Bay Area. They’ve been making chocolate since the 1800’s and have accomplished chocolate poetry. This is my go-to chocolate for both baking and tasting. When I want a few squares of melty, chocolatey goodness to eat it’s Guittard 64% semi sweet that I reach for. I keep my pantry stocked with Guittard bars for bento box lunches and snacks too. It has only 5 grams of added sugar per 1/4 bar and pairs really well with things like nuts, cheese, salami, crackers, apples, grapes, and sugar snap peas.

The chocolate ganache filling in this tart recipe has zero added sugar. Sweetness comes from the chocolate discs and the naturally occurring sugars in the cream. But if you’re feeding a crowd that has a palate for sweeter desserts, consider adding add more sweetness by swapping in milk chocolate, or a blend of milk and semisweet chocolates.

This tart has a special crust with a little secret. The secret is that it’s crazy easy to make. The whole thing mixes up in just a few minutes. I had heard about this unusual method for making tart crust and was really pleased with the results once I tried it. It comes to us from a French cook and teacher named Paule Caillat. She hosts a cooking school and gourmet walking tours in France which, if I’m lucky, I’ll get to visit someday. You can learn more about Paule by clicking here to visit her site, Promenades Gourmandes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To make the crust, use a baking dish and your oven to melt the butter, oil, water, sugar and salt together. Keep a close eye on this while it’s in the oven. It can go from lovely browned butter to a burnt mess in a matter of moments, speaking from experience. Once its all nice and melted and browned, remove from the oven and begin adding the flour, about 1/4 cup at a time. The oils are now a piping hot mixture that will sputter as the flour is added. If you’re wearing your favorite top, protect it. And be sure to clear the area of small children and pets! There will be splatters.

I always place a cookie sheet underneath my tart pan when baking, just in case there are any drips or spillover. But it wasn’t necessary with this tart crust. Also not necessary are baking weights/beans/parchment paper that you may have used with other tart crust recipes.

There is no need to worry about the small cracks in the crust. Chocolate ganache is thick enough that it will not ooze through.

Tart, sweet raspberries taste so yummy with bittersweet chocolate!

Enjoy every creamy, buttery, chocolatey, delicious bite!

Jessica

PS: Here is a pic of my dog Neptune. He was sleeping peacefully. But then I tried to sneak up on him to take a pic. The look on his face is like “Really, human? Why you disturb me??” 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Chocolate Tart with Brown Butter Crust

Course Dessert
Cuisine French
Keyword Brown Butter, Chocolate, Ganache, tart
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Chill Time 1 hour
Total Time 30 minutes
Servings 12 people
Author Jessica Nelson

Ingredients

Tart Crust

  • 6 tbsp butter, cut into 5 or 6 slices
  • 3 tbsp water
  • 1 tbsp oil, vegetable or canola olive oil not recommended
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1 cup flour

Ganache Filling

  • 1 cup heavy cream
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 12 oz chocolate (I used 64% semi sweet Guittard brand)

Instructions

Tart Crust Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 410 F degrees.  In an open-safe dish, add butter, water, oil, sugar and salt.                                                                       

  2. Place dish in preheated oven until everything has melted together and butter is just beginning to brown, approximately 10-15 minutes. 

  3. Remove dish from oven. Be careful with this step as the brown butter mixture is now hot and sizzling, and will pop and splatter as you add the flour.  Add flour to the brown butter mixture 1/4 cup at a time, stirring constantly to integrate. Form into a ball and move to a tart pan. (2-Piece, 9 inch tart pan with an outer ring and removable base works best.)

  4. Using your fingers, press the dough into the tart pan making it as even as possible. Press the dough to fill up the fluted edges too.  

  5. Pierce the bottom of the tart crust all over with the tines of a fork. 

  6. Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack. Cool completely. Do not remove the crust from the tart pan yet! 

Ganache Filling Instructions

  1. While the tart crust is baking, begin the ganache. Place chocolate discs into a medium sized bowl and set aside. 

  2. Heat the cream in a medium saucepan, stirring frequently, just until it reaches the boiling point. (The cream can also be heated in a microwave.)

  3. Pour heated cream over the chocolate discs and stir together until chocolate is melted and creamy. Add in the butter and stir again until integrated and ganache is smooth and silky in texture.  

  4. Pour ganache onto cooled tart crust and refrigerate at least 1 hour. 

  5. Remove tart from tart pan. Top with raspberries and dust with powdered sugar before serving.