Chocolate Bourbon Caramel Tart with Pecans
Serves 8
1 9-10” blind-baked tart shell, cooled (recipe below)
Chocolate Caramel
4 oz good-quality milk chocolate, chopped or chips
1 T honey or agave
2 T bourbon
2⁄3 c sugar
3 T light corn syrup
1 c heavy cream
2 c chopped pecans, plus 1 half pecan for garnish
Ganache
3 oz good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped or chips
1⁄3 c heavy cream
Place the milk chocolate, honey, and bourbon in a heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
Heat sugar and corn syrup over medium heat in a heavy-bottom medium saucepan, stirring to melt the sugar. Stop stirring, increase heat slightly, and boil mixture until it turns a golden caramel color. Lower the heat and carefully add the heavy cream. The mixture will boil vigorously so use care. Stir over medium heat until any remaining caramel bits have melted and the caramel is smooth. Pour caramel over the milk chocolate/homey/bourbon mixture. Let sit to melt the chocolate, then gently stir to smooth. Fold in pecans. Refrigerate until set, about 3 hours or overnight.
Place bittersweet chocolate in a small bowl. Heat the cream to just before the boil and pour over the chocolate. Let it sit briefly to melt, then gently stir to smooth. Pour the warm ganache over the tart, smoothing with an offset spatula. Garnish with a pecan half. Refrigerate to firm the ganache quickly, or if you prefer it softer, leave out at room temperature. Completed tart can be refrigerated for a day.
Tart Dough
Make this dough ahead of time, wrap in plastic and refrigerate up to 2 days, or freeze for 2
months. I always make a double recipe and freeze one.
1 1⁄2 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1 T sugar (optional)
1⁄2 t kosher salt
1 stick + 3 T unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
About 1⁄3 c ice water
Place flour, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour. You can also use a food processor, but be careful not to over process.
Sprinkle ice water, a little at a time, over the mixture, stirring to work in the water. You want the dough to hold together, but not be too wet. Transfer to a floured work surface and gather the dough together to form a ball. Flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
Flour your work surface. Roll out the dough to a 12” diameter circle about 1⁄4” thick. Fit the dough into a 9 or 10” removable bottom tart pan. Press dough into the bottom and sides of the pan. Prick/dock the bottom of the tart shell with a fork, then freeze for at least 15 minutes as you preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Remove tart shell from the freezer and place on a sheet pan. Line tart shell with a sheet of parchment and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake 20 minutes, then remove pie weights, and bake about 10 minutes more.