Caramel Chocolate Tart with Macademia Nuts and Vanilla Ice Cream

Ingredients

Ingredients for Tart Pastry

5 T butter
1/2 cup confectionerrs sugar
1 cup flour
2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
2 medium-(small) sized egg yolk

Caramel Sauce

1 tsp water
1/2 cup sugar
1 T butter
1/4 cup heavy cream

Chocolate Ganache

4 oz. dark chocolate
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 t corn syrup
1/2 t of coffee extract

For the ice cream

2 vanilla beans
1 1/4 cups sugar
6 egg yolks
1 3/4 cups milk
2 cups heavy cream

Directions

For the Tart Pastry

Cream together with fingers butter and confectioners sugar. Add the egg yolks and work them in using a whisk. Add the flour and cocoa and mix quickly Be careful not to overwork the mixture.

Divide the mixture into 4 balls and roll out to a flat surface. Place each in plastic wrap and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours. Transfer rolls to a lightly floured surface and roll out each dough to 1/8 inch thickness. It may be easier to roll out the dough between two pieces of parchement or wax paper. Cut circles using a 4 1/4" round. Line the 3 1/4 x 1/2 inch pastry tarts shells (Matfer shells are ideal here). Place the tart shells on top of some parchement paper. Lightly poke a fork several times into the tart bottom. Place in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350F. Line each tart shell bottom with baking paper and place some rice or beans on top. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove the paper and beans and bake another 8 minutes or until the tart begins to turn golden brown.

For the Caramel Sauce

Melt sugar with 1 tsp water till sugar begins to turn golden brown. Add butter and whisk till mixed in. Take pan off heat and add the cream very slowly to prevent splattering.

For the Chocolate Ganache

This is a recipe for Medium-Textured Ganache or the Master Ganache which uses a ratio of 1 : 1 chocolate to cream. Make the ganache by pouring about half of the hot cream over the chocolate and letting it sit for 30 seconds to melt the chocolate. Then slowly whisk until smooth and homogenous. Do not add all of the hot cream to the cold chocolate at once, it may cause the fat in the chocolate to separate. If the ganache separates, it is very easy to fix. Simply add a small amount of cold cream and whisk well. This will bring the ganache back together.

For the Vanilla Ice Cream

Split the vanilla beans and scrape out the beans with the flat part of a knife in a small bowl. Keep the empty beans. Sprinkle some sugar over the vanilla mixture and mix together to separate all the beans. Add the remaining sugar and egg yolks and whisk the mixture till light in color.

Heat the milk in a saucepan and add the empty vanilla beans. Bring to a boil. Pour the boiling milk into the egg mixture constantly whisking the mixture vigorously. Return the mixture to the pan and thicken it over low heat constantly stirring with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the spoon. Be careful at this point not to heat to far or the egg will start to solidify. Pass the mixture through a sieve to remove empty vanilla beans and any other solids. Add mixture to ice cream maker and freeze according to manufacturing instructions.

Assembling the Tart

Pour 1 tsp of caramel sauce into each tart and sprinkle with some crush Macadamia Nuts. Put the tarts in the freezer for a few minutes to set.

Add the chocolate ganache and let set at room temperature for a couple of hours to set.

NOTE: You can make small cookies with left over dough. Chop in some macadamia nuts for a variation. Put a scoop of ice cream on top of each cookie.