NPR News

Chocolate Mole Tart

NPR | By Jamie Oliver

Published November 17, 2010 at 11:46 AM EST

Serves 10-12

1 x sweet pastry recipe (see below)
Optional: 1 blood orange, peeled and sliced into rounds, to serve
Optional: creme fraiche, to serve

For the filling

Heaping 3/4 cup hazelnuts
1 x 4-oz bars good-quality bittersweet chocolate (70 percent cocoa solids), bashed up
Sea salt
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, chopped into cubes
1 cup superfine sugar
3 large eggs, preferably free-range or organic
4-5 tablespoons dulce de leche or caramel sauce

For the spicy dusting

1 level teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 whole cloves
1 level teaspoon coriander seeds
1 dried red chile
Zest of 1/2 orange
4 heaping teaspoons unsweetened
Cocoa powder
2 heaping teaspoons confectioners' sugar
A few pinches of sea salt

Bake the following sweet pastry recipe, leaving your oven on at 350 degrees Farenheit when you take your tart crust out to cool.

Sweet Pastry

Makes generous 1lb.

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
9 tablespoons good-quality unsalted cold butter, cut into small cubes
Optional: 1 orange
Optional: 1 vanilla bean, halved and seeds scraped out
1 large egg, preferably free-range or organic, beaten
A splash of milk

You can make your pastry like this by hand, or pulse it in a food processor. From a height, sift your flour and confectioners' sugar into a large mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, gently work the cubes of butter into the flour and sugar until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. If using orange or vanilla for extra flavor, either finely grate in the zest of your orange or add the seeds from the vanilla pod and mix again.

Add the egg and milk to the mixture and gently work it together using your hands until you have a ball of dough. Remember not to work the pastry too much at this stage or it will become elastic and chewy, not crumbly and short.

Sprinkle a little flour over the dough and on a clean worktop, and pat the ball into a flat round about 1inch thick. Sprinkle over a little more flour, then wrap the dough in plastic wrap and pop it into the refrigerator to rest for at least 30 minutes. Get yourself a 9 1/2-inch nonstick loose-bottomed tart or quiche pan (approx. 1 1/4 inch deep) and, using a splash of vegetable oil on a paper towel, lightly oil the inside.

Dust a clean surface and a rolling pin with flour, then carefully roll out your pastry, turning it every so often, until it's just under 1/4 inch thick. Carefully roll your pastry around the rolling pin, then unroll it carefully over your oiled pan. Ease the pastry into the pan, making sure you push it into all the sides. Trim off any excess by running a knife along the top of the pie crust, then prick the base of the pie crust all over with a fork and pop it into the freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

Get yourself a large square piece of parchment paper, scrunch it up, then unwrap it and use it to line your pie crust, pushing it right into the sides. Fill your pie crust right up to the top with rice, and bake blind for 10 minutes in your preheated oven. Take the crust out, carefully remove the rice and parchment paper (you can save the rice to use for blind baking another time), then return the crust to the oven to cook for a further 10 minutes, until it's firm and almost cookie-like. Let cool.

Spread the hazelnuts out on a sheet pan and place in your hot oven for 6 to 8 minutes, until golden. Remove from the oven and leave to cool, but leave the oven on.

Heat 1 inch of water in a pan over a low heat and put a large heatproof glass bowl over the top of it, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the water. Put your bashed-up chocolate into the bowl with a pinch of salt. When it starts to melt, add the butter and give it the occasional gentle stir. Keep the heat low or the chocolate will split. Turn the heat off once everything is smooth and melted.

Pour 5 tablespoons of cold water into a clean pan on a low heat with 3/4 cup of the sugar and whisk gently. When all the sugar has dissolved and you have a smooth syrup, set aside.

You want the eggs to get really fluffy, so put them into the bowl of an electric mixer or use an electric hand mixer and add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar. Mix for about 4 minutes, until pale and frothy. At this point, slowly pour in your warm sugar syrup, mixing as you go. Turn the mixer off, pour in the melted chocolate, then mix again for 10 seconds, no longer.

Use the back of a spoon to spread the dulce de leche around the entire base of the cooled tart crust until evenly coated. Bash up your roasted hazelnuts and sprinkle them all over the dulce de leche. Pour over the chocolate filling mixture, using a spoon to even it out. Put the tart on a sheet pan and bake in the hot oven for 17 minutes, until the chocolate has set around the edges but is quite wobbly in the middle (have faith!). Put to one side and let it cool for 2 hours (if you can bear it!) -- the filling will settle a little as it cools.

When ready to serve, use a pestle and mortar to bash all the spicy dusting ingredients together until fine. Sieve this over the tart for the finishing touch and serve with a dollop of creme fraiche. You won't believe what's happening in your mouth. Store any leftover chocolate dust in the refrigerator and use it to jazz up the ice-cream or hot chocolate.