I am obsessed with dark chocolate lately. Dark chocolate chunks in my Almond Butter Cookies, a dark chocolate dip for my Crisp Polenta Fingers… Last night I took it one step further and made these oh, so decadent spicy chocolate ganache tarts, with no-bake pie crust. One delicious way to kick off the weekend!
Raw pie crust is pretty far from the traditional French way to bake, and yet I find no-bake tarts truly fascinating. Suddenly it is so easy to create a completely natural gluten free (and vegan) crust. For my spicy chocolate tarts, I simply mixed almonds with millet flakes, cocoa butter and fresh dates et voilà! A perfect moist and sugar-free crust that holds its shape after refrigeration. It could hardly be easier – apart from holding yourself to nibble on that delicious crust.
Next comes the filling: when I eat chocolate tart, I expect a rich and intense chocolate flavor. So I used a ganache, made of dark chocolate and almond cream, accented by cinnamon and ground cayenne spices. The result is an amazing truffle-like dense filling, that tastes just like heaven for any chocoholic!
- Crust
- 100 g blanched almonds
- 60 g millet flakes
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
- Pinch of salt
- 8 soft and moist dates (I use Mazafati dates)
- 2 tbsp (25g) cocoa butter
- Chocolate ganache filling
- 200 g dark chocolate 70%
- 250 ml almond cream
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of ground cayenne
- Soak the pitted dates in warm water for 10 minutes (or more if your dates are very dry).
- Grind the almonds and millet flakes into a fine but not powdery meal in the food processor (small bits of almonds can remain).
- Add the cocoa powder, salt, cinnamon and ground cayenne (start adding a pinch and add up to your taste).
- Melt the cocoa butter in bain-marie. Add to the mixture as well as the soaked dates. Process until a 'dough' forms.
- Press into tart pans until flat with edges up. Cover with plastic film and refrigerate.
- Prepare the ganache: chop the chocolate finely and place in a bowl. Heat the almond cream in a saucepan then pour it on the chocolate. Stir until melted and smooth. Pour the ganache onto the chilled pie crusts.
- Refrigerate the chocolate ganache tarts for 1h. Garnish with chocolate shavings and berries and serve chilled.
Leave a Reply