Chocolate Ganache and Fruit Tarts

Happy Canada Day! I have spent the last three days in the kitchen busily preparing for today's birthday celebration. In my family, July is a very popular month for birthdays, with the first week being especially busy. Every year, Canada Day marks the first of a long string of birthdays and this year was no exception. By now my whole family knows and expects me to prepare a dessert to mark the occasion, and usually I make one of my many cheesecakes. However, for this particular occasion I decided to scale down in size and make mini desserts...little individual sized tarts.

Just because the dessert was small, doesn't mean the effort was as well. These tarts were definitely time consuming mostly because I had to make so many. Even though it took me a while to crank out nearly fifty tarts, I can honestly say that I had fun doing it. Also, it was great to hear everyone's comments afterward and see my little tarts get gobbled up.

The technique I used to bake the tarts is known as blind baking. It ensures that the sides of the tart are able to bake without falling down, and then the last couple of minutes spent in the oven bakes the bottoms of the tarts. I first learned about this technique in the pastry class that I took, and was a little shocked and afraid of it. It calls for the use of plastic wrap in the oven, something that seems quite unnatural.

I, like everyone else in the class, didn't believe that the plastic wouldn't melt. However, the chef assured us that the plastic wrap sold here, meaning in local grocery stores such as Safeway and Costco, is food grade plastic wrap and designed to withstand high temperatures.

I can now say that I have used the technique twice, once in my pastry class and now once at home. Both times, the plastic did not melt and the rice packets easily came out of the tart shells. Best of all, I saved the little packets to use for the next time I make tarts, therefore saving the time on making them again.

Chocolate Ganache and Fruit Tarts

For the dough:

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 5-6 tbsp ice cold water

1. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, and salt together a couple of times.
2. Add the butter chunks and pulse about 10 times, or until the butter is cut into walnut size pieces.
3. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and create a well in the middle. 
4. Gradually pour the water into the well, one tablespoon at a time. Once you have poured in 4 tablespoons, start to work the mixture into a dough.
5. Continue to work the mixture, adding more water if necessary, until the dough is completely formed.
6. Chill for 30 minutes before proceeding to roll out the dough.

Note: This recipe is enough to make about 24-25 mini tarts, depending on how thick you roll out the dough. My tarts were about 1/8" thick when I rolled out the dough, but then it puffed up a little in the oven to make quite a thick shell.

To fill the tart shells:

Cut circles out of dough that are slightly larger than the tart shell itself.

Place the circle over the shell and gently press down and against the side.

Keep pressing the dough against the side until the bottom and sides are completely pressed in. Smooth the excess dough over the top of the shell and even out.

To bake the tart shells:

Preheat the oven to 425 Fahrenheit.

Gently use a fork to poke some air holes into the bottom of each tart.

Spread a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the tart and pour some uncooked rice granules inside to fill the tart.

Gently fold the excess plastic wrap into the middle and loosely wrap together.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. Remove the wrapped up rice and continue to bake for another 2-3 minutes or until the bottoms are fully baked.

For the filling:

• Fresh raspberries and blackberries (you can use others if you like I just happened to like these two)
• 250 g chocolate
• 250 g heavy cream
• 3/8 cup (3 tablespoons) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup icing sugar 

1. In a small saucepan, heat the cream over medium heat until little bubbles form around the sides. Do not bring to a boil.
2. Pour the hot cream over the chunks of chocolate and butter and stir until fully melted.
3. Depending on the type of chocolate you used (I used very dark, 72%), slowly add the sugar and mix until fully incorporated. The amount of sugar you add is really a personal preference on how sweet or bitter you want the chocolate ganache to be.