by Marcus Wareing from ‘New Classics - Inspiring and delicious recipes to transform your home cooking’ (Harper Collins)
Photography: Jonathan Gregson
I am a big fan of chocolate and orange and this is a great dessert that incorporates the two flavours. You can substitute the orange for the other citrus flavours such as lime, lemon or grapefruit. Do try the Negroni cream, too, as adding a cocktail to a dessert can only be a good thing.
Serves: 4 very generously
Prep time: 30 mins, plus 50 mins chilling
Cooking time: around 10 mins, plus 2hrs chilling
Ingredients
FOR THE CHOCOLATE PASTRY
20g soft butter, diced
60g icing sugar
1 egg, beaten
65g plain flour
5g cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
FOR THE CHOCOLATE ORANGE FILLING
80ml milk
200ml whipping cream
grated zest of 1 orange
4 egg yolks
40g caster sugar
220g dark chocolate (min 70% cocoa solids), chopped
FOR THE NEGRONI CREAM
100ml double cream
1 tsp gin, or to taste
1 tsp dark vermouth, or to taste
1 tsp Campari, or to taste
Method
To make the chocolate pastry, beat the butter and icing sugar in a bowl with an electric whisk or in the bowl of a standmixer until light and creamy.
Weigh the beaten egg then gradually add half of it to the butter and sugar (discard the rest). Once smooth, add the flour, cocoa powder and salt, and mix together until combined. From into a square then wrap it in clingfilm and chill for 30 mins.
Preheat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6 and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Roll out the pastry and cut it into four 7cm circles using a pastry cutter.
Place the pastry circles on the lined baking tray and chill for 20 mins. Once chilled, bake for about 10 mins, until the pastry is cooked through.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool.
To make the chocolate orange filling, put the milk, cream and orange zest in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil, stirring frequently.
Put the egg yolks and caster sugar in a heatproof bowl and whisk to combine.
Slowly pour in the hot milk mixture, whisking continuously. Return the mixture back to the pan and cook over very low heat for 5-7 mins, stirring constantly, until the mixture coats the back of a wooden spoon.
Put the chopped chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Strain the hot milk mixture through a fine sieve onto the chocolate. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and allow to sit for 5 mins, then remove the clingfilm and whisk until smooth.
Line four muffin holes of a muffin tin (7cm in diameter and 3cm deep) with a double layer of clingfilm. Spoon the chocolate-orange mixture into the holes, leave to cool slightly then top with a pastry disc. Transfer to the fridge and leave for at least 2 hours to set.
To make the negroni cream, lightly whisk the double cream in a bowl until soft peaks form. Add the gin, vermouth and Campari and whisk again until the cream forms stiff peaks.
To serve, lift out the tarts with the help of the clingfilm.
