Chocolate Mousse,Salted Caramel Ganache, Peanut and Banana Caramel Tarts

Happy Anniversary & a very very delayed post!

This post was due for May 30! Too late!! Hmph! Better late than never right ;) It was my parent's 27th wedding anniversary on May 30 and this is what I made for them! I fell in love with this recipe the moment I saw on Aran's blog! She is so talented and my tarts don't even look half pretty as hers! :)

It's very rare to find portion -sized baking tins here...but luckily I managed to find some 'Patties' shaping tin. And they had a loose bottom so I knew I could definately manage with it! Sooner or later I'll be known as the 'Substitution Queen' LOL! :D

And it's even more rare to find fresh cream...but found that as well. So everything fell in place and I went ahead making this for my most fav people on this planet!! :)

Warning: It's takes time to get the whole thing assembled! So make sure you plan it out real smart :)

Chocolate Tart Dough
Adapted from Johnny Iuzzini's "Dessert Fourplay" and re- adapted from Aran's blog
Note: you will only need part of the dough. Freeze the rest.

140 grams cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
150 grams sugar
pinch salt
1 egg
1 egg white
310 grams flour
50 grams cocoa powder
4 grams baking powder

• Cream the butter, sugar and salt until light.
• Mix the egg white and egg together and add it to the butter. Mix and scrape bowl well.
• Add the sifted flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix until combined.
• Divide the dough into two balls, flatten them into disks, wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple of hours before rolling.
• Roll the dough into 1/8" thickness and fill 3" ring molds with it. Refrigerate the filled molds for at least an hour before blind baking.

Salted Peanut and Banana Caramel

100 grams sugar
40 grams glucose( I used liquid glucose)
50 grams butter
200 grams ripe bananas, mashed
50 grams salted peanuts, chopped

• Make a dry caramel with the glucose and the sugar. Add the softened butter and whisk until it melts. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the mashed bananas. Transfer to a clean bowl and let this caramel cool.
• We will add the salted peanuts when the banana caramel has cooled and right when we assemble the tarts.

Salted Caramel Ganache

25 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped
50 grams unsweetened chocolate, chopped
75 grams milk chocolate, chopped
200 grams heavy cream
50 grams butter
10 grams glucose ( I used liquid glucose)
105 grams sugar
large pinch of sea salt

• Place the three types of chocolate in a large bowl. Place a large strainer over the bowl and reserve.
• In a small pan, heat the heavy cream and butter and keep it warm.
• In a separate tall pan, make a dry caramel with the glucose and sugar. Add the warm heavy cream and butter mixture slowly and whisk. The caramel will bubble up so stand away from the pan slightly and add it in stages if necessary. Whisk until all incorporated.
• Pour this caramel over the chopped chocolate through the fine sieve. Add the sea salt and whisk until ganache is formed.
• Be careful not to over whisk this ganache because it has a tendency to "break" if handled too much.

Chocolate Mousse

2 egg yolks
55 grams simple syrup ( which is nothing but equal proportion syrup)
100 grams bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled
205 grams heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks

• Place the egg yolks and the simple syrup in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk them together. Place this bowl over a double boiler and whisk the ingredients until light and foamy and thick. About 3-4 minutes.
• Remove the bowl from the double boiler and place it in the machine. Whip the eggs until the bottom of the bowl feels cool to the touch.
• Add the melted and cooled chocolate to the egg yolk mixture and whisk until combined. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl well.
• Fold in the soft peak whipped cream and mix gently until all incorporated.

Assembling the Tarts

• Blind bake the tart shells at 350F.
• When tart shells are cooled, spoon a bit of the banana caramel into them. Top with the chopped peanuts.
• Pour a thin layer of the salted caramel ganache into the tarts to cover the bottom layer. Refrigerate for a few minutes to set.
• Place the chocolate mousse in a pastry bag fitted with a number 5 tip and pipe it on top of the set ganache.
• Dust the tarts with a bit of cocoa powder, sprinkle with chopped peanuts and decorate with chocolate shavings.
• They are best served slightly at room temperature so the ganache has a chance to soften a bit, so pull them out of the refrigerator about 20 minutes before serving.

They came out beautiful ! I loved the mousse, it worked like a charm! BUT for some reason I caramelised the sugar a bit too much which resulted in a slightly bitter taste for the filling and I din't like it! :(

But my parent's din't even seem to notice it! :) So why should I be sad??? Afterall I made it for them :)

-Ria