Nigel Slater’s kitchen diary: sweet tarts for cold days

Photographs Jonathan Lovekin

I rarely cook with chocolate, but when I do, the recipe will invariably include nuts, often almonds or hazelnuts. Sometimes I will make an almond praline to crush to a sweet shrapnel and stir into dark chocolate mousse, but amaretti bashed to crumbs with a pestle and mortar work splendidly, too. The best are the crisp sort – not the soft, cakey variety – their biscuity texture offering a contrast to that of the soft mousse. They are easy to crush with a rolling pin and you can control the texture more easily than when using a food processor whose blades will turn the little biscuits to dust in seconds.

There is a slight change of appetite as the weather cools, more sweet things, more treats, appreciated all the more when we have walked home in the wet. There are still late raspberries and blackberries around, swollen by the wet weather, and there was a temptation to serve a bowl of them with the tarts. The wine-like richness of raspberries and their faint note of acidity is always welcome with the darker chocolate desserts. I have been known to scatter a handful or two in a brownie mixture (an idea not as odd as it sounds).

I spent some of the week in the Yorkshire Dales, umbrella in hand, dodging torrential showers. Despite the temptation to spend the entire time being mothered at Bettys Tea Rooms, I managed enough walking to ensure I could barely keep my eyes open on the train back to London. Home to proper autumn cooking, first a chicken broth with butterbeans and cabbage, and then a thick yellow dal given an earthy sweetness with beetroot and onions fried to the colour of autumn leaves.

Makes 6 tarts. Ready in 2 hours.

Two distinct tasks here, making the pastry and baking the tart cases, then making the mousse. Lightly butter or oil the tart cases so the pastry crusts are easy to remove from the tins after baking. I use a purpose-made “cake release” product for this, available in cookware shops – it works best of all. You can make the tart cases the day before and store them carefully in an airtight tin.

For the pastry:
plain flour 180g
butter 90g
icing sugar 1 heaped tbsp
egg yolk 1
iced water a little

For the filling:
dark chocolate (70%) 180g
crisp amaretti 80g
eggs 6

To finish:
crisp amaretti 3
single or double cream to serve

You will also need 6 loose-bottomed deep-sided tart tins, approximately 8-9cm across the base.

Put the flour into the bowl of a food processor, cut the butter into chunks and add to the flour, then process to fine crumbs. Mix in the icing sugar and egg yolk followed by a couple of tablespoons of the iced water until the mixture will come together into a firm dough.

Remove the dough from the bowl on to a flour-dusted pastry board or work surface and shape into a ball. Wrap in baking parchment and set aside to rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.

Divide the chilled dough into 6 equal pieces. Oil or butter 6 individual tart cases. Roll out a piece of pastry and use it to line a tart case, gently push the pastry into the tart cases, ushering it carefully into the corners and sealing any tears as you go. Now repeat with the others. I find it easiest to do this one at a time. Place them on a baking sheet.

Line each of the pastry cases with foil or parchment, filled with baking beans. Leave to chill in the fridge for 20 minutes. Heat the oven to 190C/gas mark 5, then, when it is hot enough, bake the pastry cases for 20 minutes. Lift out the parcels of baking beans and return the pastry shells to the oven for 5 minutes until pale gold in colour and dry to the touch.

Remove the tart cases from the baking sheet and leave to cool a little before attempting to remove them from the tins. (They are especially fragile when warm.)

Make the filling. Put a saucepan of water on to boil. Find a heatproof bowl that will sit snugly into it without touching the water. Break the chocolate into pieces, then put it into the bowl with 4 tbsp of water. Turn the heat down and let the chocolate melt without stirring.

Crush the amaretti to coarse crumbs with a rolling pin. When the chocolate is liquid, remove from the heat and stir gently and briefly to bring the water and chocolate together.

Separate the egg yolks and whites. Once the chocolate has cooled down a little (but is still warm), stir in the egg yolks, taking care not to overmix. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the melted chocolate with a large metal spoon, making sure there are no streaks of egg white. Stir in the crushed amaretti.

Carefully remove the pastry cases from their tins and place on plates. Spoon the mousse filling into the pastry cases and leave in the fridge to set for about 30 minutes. Crush the whole amaretti and sprinkle over the surface. Offer a jug of cream as you serve them.