Happy New Year! Last year, I posted a list of my resolutions, and I must confess, I didn’t fulfill many of them. As usual, I created a long resolution list, and not a do-able resolution list. This year I’m going to go a little easier on myself and just have one. My resolution for the year of 2016 is… to be brave. I want to to live my life with a little more bravery, and a lot less fear. By the end of this year I’ll hopefully have found the courage to stand up for myself more, to take Project Pastry Love to new heights, to be a more confident mother to my children, and to finally look my arch nemesis in the eye and say, “i’m not your bitch anymore, laundry!” Even though we’er only a few days in, I’ve already been showing some glimmers of bravery. A few days ago I helped cater a New Year’s Day soiree. I was asked to make 10 dozen assorted pastries. I noticed while I baked that a determination swept over me. I was determined to not panic. I was determined to bake with bravery, and I did. Things went wrong here and there, but I held it together, and in the end, when everything was done I felt so proud of myself. If I can carry this feeling for another 362 days then I think it’s going to be a good year. Let’s make some milk chocolate tartlets with pretzel crusts, shall we?
A milk chocolate tart with a pretzel crust is like an elegant play on the classic chocolate covered pretzel. I got this recipe from Colleen Grapes at Food & Wine magazine. It is delicious! The pretzel crust is sweet and salty with a great crunch, and the milk chocolate ganache is smooth and luscious. The original recipe uses a 9-inch tart pan, but I wanted to make a plethora of mini tarts.
Make the crust in a food processor. Pulse the pretzels, flour, and powdered sugar together. Add the cold butter and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs. Finally, add the egg and pulse until it comes together.
Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes. When ready, roll out the dough between a piece of parchment paper, and a piece of plastic wrap. Using a 3 and 1/2-inch tartlet pan, press out fluted circles. I did this over the plastic wrap. I then chilled the dough once more.
Since the dough is well chilled it was somewhat easier to lift each round off of the parchment paper, and place it in a tartlet pan.
Time to blind bake the tartlets. Place a square of parchment paper over each, fill with weights (rice, dried beans, pennies, etc.), and bake for 15 minutes in a 350 degree F. oven. Remove parchment papers and weights, and bake for an additional 10 minutes.
While the crusts are still hot, drop semi-sweet chocolate chips in each one. They will begin to melt, so with the back of a spoon, spread it all around the bottom and on the sides. Refrigerate the tartlets for 15 minutes to set the chocolate.
While the tartlets are chillin’, make the milk chocolate ganache. In a saucepan, bring heavy cream and a little corn syrup to a boil. Pour this hot cream mixture over a bowl full of chopped milk chocolate. Let it sit for 1 minute, and then slowly stir the chocolate cream until it darkens, becomes glossy, and smooth.
Gently remove the crusts from each pan (they’re pretty easy to get out). Pour the milk chocolate ganache in each tartlet shell, and then refrigerate again. When thoroughly chilled (about 4 hours), top each tartlet with some pretzel crumbs, and a little sea salt. Enjoy!
- 1 and ¼ cups (82 g) Thin Pretzels, coarsely crushed
- ¾ cup (94 g) All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 cup (85 g) Powdered Sugar
- ½ cup (1 stick or 113 g) Unsalted Butter, cold and cut in tablespoon sizes
- 1 Large Egg
- 2 oz. (56 g) Bittersweet Chocolate Chips, divided
- 1 and ½ cups Heavy Cream
- 1 TBS Corn Syrup
- 12 oz. Milk Chocolate, chopped
- Sea Salt, crushed Pretzels for garnish
- In a food processor, pulse together pretzels, flour, and powdered sugar until it’s crumbly. Add the cold butter pieces and pulse until it resembles bread crumbs. Finally, add the egg and pulse until it begins to come together. Wrap the pretzel dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or as long as 3 days. This dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
- When ready, roll the dough out between parchment paper and plastic wrap. Using a tartlet pan, cut out fluted rounds. Before placing the rounds in the tartlet pans, chill the dough once more for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Using a thin spatula for help, gently left the chilled, pre-cut dough off of the parchment and place in each tartlet pan. Cover each with a square of parchment filled with weights (rice, dried beans, or coins), and bake for 15 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights, and then bake for an additional 10 minutes. While still hot, place some semi-sweet chocolate chips in each shell, and with a back of a spoon, smooth out the now melted chocolate all around the bottom and up the sides. Refrigerate the pretzel crusts for 15 minutes to set the chocolate.
- Place the chopped milk chocolate in a heat-proof bowl. In a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat, bring the heavy cream and corn syrup to a boil. When ready, pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate and set aside for 1 minute. Slowly stir the chocolate/cream mixture for 3 minutes until it appears glossy, smooth and luscious. If the ganache appears bumpy, then pour the mixture in a blender and mix for a 10 seconds. This should smooth it out. Set the ganache aside for 1 hour at room temperature.
- Gently remove each crust from the tartlet pans. Pour the ganache in each tartlet crust. Be careful not to over pour. Refrigerate the tartlets once again to firm up the ganache, about 4 hours. When ready to serve, top the tartlets with a pinch of sea salt, and some crushed pretzels. Enjoy!
- Six 3 and 1/2-inch tartlet pans
- Food processor
- Rolling pin
- Parchment paper
- Pie weights
- Plastic wrap
- Saucepan
- Blender (for ganache emergencies only)
