Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart

This dark chocolate salted caramel tart screams Happy Valentine’s Day, at least for me. While my husband doesn’t eat chocolate, I haven’t had trouble sharing this tasty treat with the other Valentines in my life..

Seriously… this is a crunchy chocolate crust, filled with an ooey gooey sweet caramel, topped with a slightly bitter chocolate ganache and dusted with salt. Amazing. There are several steps to this recipe, which each require cool time, but it is definitely worth the effort! Read through the entire recipe to make certain you have plenty of time prior to serving. While the cool times may be several hours, each step only takes a few minutes to complete.

Try this… your loved ones will thank you!

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… I had every intention of making a special treat for my lovely non-chocolate eating, Allen. Unfortunately, I couldn’t seem to make it happen this week, so not only am I a *wannabe* foodie tonight, I am also a *wannabe* sweet wife. There is always next year, right? (shame)

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Tart
Adapted from Saveur

Crust
10 Tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup powdered sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ cup dark cocoa powder
1 ½ cup of flour
½ tsp kosher flake salt

Caramel
1 ½ cups sugar
⅓ cup water
3 Tbsp corn syrup
¼ tsp salt
½ cup cream
6 Tbsp unsalted butter

Chocolate Ganache
½ cup heavy whipping cream
4 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped

Bake the Crust
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium mixing bowl, cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the egg yolks and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated.

Add the cocoa powder, flour and flake salt and beat on low speed until combined.

Press the crust evenly in the bottom and up the side of a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Chill the unbaked dough in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes, depending on your patience. Use a fork and poke the bottom of the crust.

Bake the chilled crust for 15 minutes and let cool.

Make the Caramel
In a medium saucepan, over medium high heat, stir together sugar, water, corn syrup and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and continue heat, without stirring, until the mixture turns golden brown and a candy thermometer reads 350 degrees. Make sure the candy thermometer does not sit on the bottom or side of the pan. Quickly stir in the cream and salted butter.

Pour the caramel into the chocolate crust and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2-3 hours.

Make the Chocolate Ganache
In a small saucepan, bring the cream to a simmer. As soon as the cream begins to simmer, remove from the heat, and pour over the chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Allow the cream to melt the chocolate and stir the mixture until smooth and creamy. Pour the chocolate ganache over the chilled caramel.

Let the tart cool until the chocolate sets.

Dust the tart with kosher flake salt and serve slightly chilled.

Caramel Popcorn

Italians eat lentils in celebration of the New Year.  The small round legumes resemble small coins and symbolize wealth and prosperity.  The more lentils you eat, the more wealth and prosperity you will experience in the coming year.  I love lentils, I love tradition, and I will share my favorite tasty lentil soup recipe on the first day of the New Year.

Today, however, I celebrate the end of 2012 and initiate an amazing new tradition… caramel popcorn.  I hereby decree I will consume these crispy, crunchy, clusters of golden goodness each New Year’s Eve to symbolize my sweet successes of the past year and the golden opportunities that await in the year ahead.

Try this.  You will not be disappointed.  You can be good next year!

Confession of a *wannabe* foodie… This caramel popcorn is highly addictive.  It may be more addictive than Cheetos.  Consider yourself warned.

CARAMEL POPCORN
Ingredients
adapted from allrecipes

½ cup unpopped popcorn (18-20 cups popped corn)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups dark brown sugar
½ cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon baking soda

PREP:
Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit.

Pop popcorn in an air popper or Whirly Pop and transfer to a very large bowl.

In a large saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter, brown sugar, corn syrup and salt.  While stirring constantly, bring the mixture to boil, and be sure the melted butter is fully incorporated into the sugar mixture.  Once the mixture reaches a boil, stop stirring and let it boil, untouched, for approximately 4 minutes.

Remove the mixture from the heat and briskly stir in the baking soda and vanilla.  The caramel will transform in color and consistency from dark and syrupy to light and somewhat fluffy.  Pour half of the mixture over the popcorn and stir.  Pour the remaining half of the mixture over the popcorn and mix thoroughly until all the popcorn is completely coated.

Divide the popcorn into 2 9×13 inch glass pans. Bake the popcorn in the preheated oven at 15 minute intervals for 1 hour.  After each 15 minute interval, stir the caramel corn.

After the caramel corn cooks for 1 hour, remove both pans from the oven and stir frequently as it cools.  Transfer the caramel corn to a large clean bowl to continue cooling.  Make sure you stir the caramel corn frequently as it cools to prevent it from clumping.