Chocolate & Chilli Tart

What to do when you have an abundance of chillies (besides chilli jam that is)? Like with other ingredients, obviously, you start putting them into anything & everything, plus I do love an experiment, so nothing sweet or savoury is off limits in my kitchen. Besides, you’d be quite surprised at just how many foods can cross that sweet-savoury line & have uses when applied to both, including my chillies.

Chocolate & Chilli Tart

The combination of chocolate & chillies is nothing new, it’s become a classic combination of sweet & savoury flavours complimenting each other to bring out notes & hints in each other that may have otherwise gone unnoticed. For years now I’ve wanted to make a recipe using these flavours together & finally got around to it with my abundance of homegrown chillies this year in this wonderful chocolate & chilli tart. With a crumbly chocolate shortcrust pastry case filled with the smooth richness of dark chocolate & fiery tingle of chilli. Trust me on this, it works! It took a few attempts to strike that perfect balance between the two, for me it’s a comfortable level of heat tempered by good quality dark chocolate. Even if you’re not a lover of spice, this is warming whilst still remaining a decadent treat.

CHOCOLATE & CHILLI TART
(makes one 25cm tart)

Ingredients:

For the chocolate shortcrust pastry:

  • 220g plain flour
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 30g cocoa powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 125g butter, cubed
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2-3 tbsp cold water

For the filling:

  • 550ml double cream
  • 50g dark muscovado sugar
  • 4 fresh chillies, chopped (or 6 if you prefer more of a kick)
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • Pinch of salt
  • 500g dark chocolate (at least 70%)
  • 4 large eggs

(Optional) To decorate:

  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper
  • A few dried chillies
  • Chilli flakes

Method:

For the pastry:

  • To make the pastry begin by combining sifting together the flour, icing sugar, cocoa powder & salt into a large bowl
  • Add in the cubed butter to the bowl & using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs
  • Add the egg yolks to the bowl & use a spoon to stir through
  • Next add in 1 tbsp of water & stir through, continue to add water sparingly, only adding 1 tbsp at a time, just enough until the mixture starts to clump together
  • Use your hands to finish bringing the mixture together to form a dough
  • Flatten the dough into a shallow disc shape, cover in a beeswax wrap or some cling film & chill in the fridge for approximately 30 minutes (you could even do this the day before)
  • Pre-heat the oven to 180C & roll out the pastry into a large round, to roughly the thickness of a £1 coin, one large enough to fill a 22cm round tart tin
  • Line your tin with the pastry, leaving any excess to hang over the edges of the tin
  • Next, use a fork to prick small holes all over the bottom of your pastry
  • Place a sheet of baking parchment inside the pastry case & fill with baking beans or rice
  • Blind bake the pasty for 15 minutes, remove the beans & parchment & continue to bake for a further 5 minutes
  • Remove the tin from the oven & allow to cool for 10 minutes before trimming off the excess pastry overhanging the sides of the tin

For the filling:

  • To make the filling begin by placing the double cream, sugar, chillies, cinnamon & salt into a large saucepan
  • Set over a medium heat & warm the mixture until all of the sugar has dissolved
  • Once dissolved, bring the mixture up to the boil
  • As soon as it begins to boil & bubble remove from the heat & set aside to cool & infuse for 1 hour
  • Once infused, place the pan back onto a medium heat to heat through
  • Once hot, remove the pan from the heat & break in the chocolate
  • Stir the mixture until all of the chocolate has melted & everything looks smooth & glossy
  • Finally, add the eggs to the pan & beat to combine
  • Pour the filling into the prepared pastry case & bake in the oven at 150C for 20-25 minutes until set
  • Remove the chocolate & chilli tart from the oven & leave to cool completely in it’s tin before releasing

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