This wonderful tart is adapted from pastry chef extraordinaire Nora Tang. To make the raspberry variation, see below.
Press In Pastry
2 cups (8 oz.) all purpose flour
⅓ cup sugar
Scant ½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla
6 oz. unsalted butter, melted
Chocolate Chantilly Filling
6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (50 to 55%)
2 cups (16 oz.) whipping cream
To make pastry, mix flour, sugar and salt in electric mixer to combine. Add melted butter and vanilla and mix until combined. If too soft to work with, refrigerate until it firms up.
MAKE AHEAD: Pastry can be refrigerated for several days and brought to room temperature until easy to work with. It can also be frozen.
Preheat oven to 350°. Press pastry into the bottom and up the sides of an 11-inch tart pan. You will not use it all. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until deep golden brown. If it puffs up as it bakes, press down gently with a metal measuring cup. Cool completely before filling.
MAKE AHEAD: May be covered with foil and held at room temperature overnight.
To make filling, melt chocolate in a medium size metal bowl set in a skillet of boiling water. It must be very hot.
In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, whip the cream until it is fluffy. It should be so soft that you barely see the whisk lines when you mix it. Quickly whisk about 1/3 of the cream into the hot chocolate. With a rubber spatula, gently fold in the rest of the very soft cream until no streaks of cream remain. Do not overmix or it will become grainy. Spread into tart shell. Refrigerate until serving.
MAKE AHEAD: Completed tart may be refrigerated overnight.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.
Variation: To make Chocolate Raspberry Chantilly Tart, spread baked pastry with 3 tablespoons seedless raspberry preserves. Arrange 1 1/2 pints fresh raspberries over preserves. Spread Chocolate Chantilly over berries to cover. Top with remaining raspberries.
