Chocolate Caramel Tart
A decadent dessert with layers of dulce de leche and dark chocolate ganache, inside a flaky pastry crust.
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Equipment
- Pie Weights or Dried Beans
Ingredients
Crust
- ½ recipe All-Butter Perfect Pie Dough
- 1 egg white
Filling
- 13.4 oz (1 can) dulce de leche, or homemade soft caramel
- 6 oz dark chocolate, around 55-65% cacao
- 6 oz heavy whipping cream
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
Crust
- Prepare 1/2 recipe All-Butter Perfect Pie Dough. This recipe will make a thin, flaky pastry crust.Alternatively, for a thicker, buttery, cookie-like shortbread crust, prepare and pre-bake the shortbread crust as instructed in this Maple Tart recipe.
- Once your pie dough is ready to roll out, line a baking sheet with a piece of parchment paper. Set your tart pan with removable bottom on the baking sheet.
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough thinly, to almost 1/8 inch thick.
- Transfer the dough to the tart pan, and fit it against the bottom and up the sides of the pan, pressing gently against the sides. You don't want to stretch or pull the dough, but allow enough slack in the dough so you can fit it snugly down into the edge of the pan.
- Use a sharp knife or scissors to trim the edge of the dough, allowing about 1/2 inch overhang. Keeping this overhang will allow for shrinkage as it bakes, and then you'll finish trimming the dough even with the top of the pan after baking the crust.
- Use a fork to lightly prick all over the bottom of the crust (not pressing so hard that you poke holes through the dough to the pan). This is called "docking the dough", which allows steam to escape as the pastry bakes so that that the crust doesn't puff up.
- Preheat the oven to 400 F, and freeze the crust in the pan for 20 minutes while the oven is pre-heating.
- Spray a piece of aluminum foil lightly with non-stick spray, and fit the foil, greased side down, against the frozen crust. Fill the foil with dried beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust, covered with the foil and dried beans, for 15 minutes.
- Remove the pan from the oven, scoop the beans out of the foil, then gently peel the foil off the crust.
- Brush the egg white over the bottom and sides of the crust. Return the pan to the oven, and bake, uncovered, for an additional 12-15 minutes, just until the crust is baked through and starting to turn a pale golden brown.
- Remove from the oven. Immediately use a sharp knife to trim the edge of the crust so it's perfectly even with the top of the pan. Let cool for 10 minutes.
Filling
- If the dulce de leche is too thick, warm it in the microwave for about 90 seconds on 50% power. Obviously, do not microwave it in the metal can.
- Spread the dulce de leche evenly over the bottom of the baked pastry crust.
- Roughly chop the chocolate and scrape into a bowl. Reserve 2 tablespoons to garnish the top of the tart.
- Measure the heavy whipping cream into a saucepan, and warm gently over medium low heat, just until it's steaming and the edges are beginning to simmer. Pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate, and stir with a spatula until the chocolate is melted and you have a smooth, luxurious chocolate ganache.
- Pour the ganache over the dulce de leche. Let the tart sit at room temperature for 30 minutes, then transfer to the refrigerator. Chill for about 2 hours, until the ganache is set and firm enough to slice.
- Remove the sides of the tart pan and place the tart on a serving plate. Decorate the top of the tart with the reserved chopped chocolate and a pinch of flaky salt.
Notes
Leftover tart should be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
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