I hope I am not offending our hostess by mentioning a tart that is not her own…

The April 2009 Saveur magazine has Marlow & Sons’ chocolate caramel tart recipe that I made this weekend.  I go weak at the knees for anything chocolate and caramel.  It was SO good and very easy to make…especially now that I have a Thermapen thermometer.  No more burning the caramel! 

The recipe is available at:

http://www.saveur.com/

The only change I would make to the recipe is to cut it when it is completely chilled but bring it out of the fridge for an hour or so before serving.  I did use Rose’s method of making ganache which, of course, works perfectly.

Bon Appetit!

Chocolate and caramel is my favorite combination!  Thanks for the recipe link!

That tart sure looks and sounds good, thanks for the link.

Thanks Sarah. I have to make a dessert for Easter lunch and was looking for something new to make. Thanks for the idea.

that looks good i want to make it!  I see in the review section someone wrote a comment about 365 not being the correct degree to heat the syrup. Is it right?

skiweaver9 - 24 March 2009 07:07 AM

that looks good i want to make it!  I see in the review section someone wrote a comment about 365 not being the correct degree to heat the syrup. Is it right?

I’m really glad you mentioned this.  I did heat the caramel to 364 and for the first time EVER the caramel turned out perfectly.  Yet I read a recent post on this forum saying this high of a temperature would result in a blackened mess.  It worked for me…maybe I was just lucky since I have a terrible track record cooking sugar.

SarahM and ski, I think 365 is correct. In TCB on pg 436 Rose gives the different temperatures and tests for sugar syrup. At 356F it is the “Medium brown liquid: The liquefied sugar darkens. This is used for praline, spun sugar, caramel cages and nougatine.” At 374F it states “Dark brown liquid: The liquefied sugar darkens further. This is used as a coloring agent for sauces.” It is at 410F that it turns black. So Sarah, you did it right!!!
Hope this helps.

Yea!  Thanks for the explanation, Rozanne.

Luckily, I didn’t see the comment questioning the temp before I made this….otherwise I probably would have messed it up. 

Rozanne is correct: 364 produces a medium brown liquid that sets up slightly chewy when cold but won’t run and ooze when at room temp. 

And did I mention how much I LOVE my new Thermapen?  Yes, it is expensive and yes, I do tend to handle it as carefully as a new-born baby…but I haven’t ruined sugar once since I got it.

Sometime last year (October?), Cook’s Illustrated published a recipe for a Chocolate-Walnut-Caramel Tart. HOLY COW was that good! It was a bit of work, but so worth it. A walnut cookie tart crust is pre-baked then a layer of toasted walnuts is put in the bottom of the crust and a lightly salted caramel is poured on top of the walnuts. Next a ganache layer enriched with egg yolks is poured on top of the walnuts. The tart is then baked for about 10 minutes to set the chocolate filling. The tart is garnished with whole walnut halves that are dipped into the salted caramel.

I still have lovely dreams of that tart, and I must make it again soon…

Roxanne