Chocolate & Nougatine Tartlets

Before starting this Chocolate and Nougatine Tartlet recipe, organise the necessary ingredients for the almond rich shortcrust pastry. Prepare the pastry the day before and store overnight in the fridge.

For the almond rich shortcrust pastry: (make the day before) Place the flour in the stand mixer recipient.

Add the almond powder...

... icing sugar...

.. and the soft butter cut into chunks (remove from the fridge 30 minutes before).

Cut the vanilla pod in half lengthwise...

... and scrape the seeds out with a utility knife. Add the seeds to the stand mixer recipient.

Add the egg yolks and a pinch of salt (or fleur de sel).

Knead on low speed with the flat beater to avoid flour spatter.

Stop the mixer when the ingredients have a grainy consistency. At this stage, the pastry is not homogeneous enough, with whole bits of butter.

Detach the butter on the flat beater.

Resume mixing at medium speed...

... until the ingredients form a block.

Scrape the sides of the bowl and gather the ingredients into a homogeneous ball. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate overnight.

For the pastry case: Roll out the almond rich shortcrust pastry with a rolling pin to a thickness of 2 or 3 mm.

Using the Mozaïk rounded oval rings, cut the pastry into 6 oval shapes.

With the rest of the pastry, cut strips to a width of 3 cm. I used a 5-wheel expendable dough cutter for an easier operation. You can also do this with a graduated ruler and a knife.

The result should look like this.

Arrange the oval pastry shapes on a Silpat baking mat, placed on top of a baking sheet.

Place the stainless steel rings over the pastry oval shapes. There's no need to grease the rings.

Line the sides of each ring with a pastry strip. Ease it with your fingers so it perfectly lines the sides of the ring.

Overlap both ends of the strips and cut with a knife so they join perfectly.

The bottom and sides should join perfectly and the angle should be 90°C. Slide the knife along the rim of the ring to remove the pastry excess.

Repeat the operation...

... with all 6 tartlets.

Bake in a fan-assisted oven preheated at 170°C (gas 3) between 12 and 15 minutes.

When cooked, remove from the oven...

... and set aside to cool.

Release the stainless steel rings...

... and set aside.

For the chocolate ganache: Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Bring the whipping cream to a boil in a saucepan.

When the cream starts boiling, pour it over the dark chocolate pistoles.

Combine well with a whisk until homogeneous.

Add the diced butter...

... and whisk until completely incorporated. Reserve in fridge, giving the preparation a whisk at regular intervals until thick.

For the chocolate Chantilly cream: (prepare ahead): Organise all the necessary ingredients.

Pour the whipping cream in a saucepan. Add the glucose syrup. If you find the glucose syrup too thick to handle, melt in the microwave for a few seconds.

Bring the cream and glucose to a boil. The glucose is used to smooth the consistency of the Chantilly cream.

In the meantime, place the dark chocolate pistoles in a mixing bowl.

Add the milk chocolate.

When the preparation starts boiling, let cool down to 80°C then pour over the chocolate pistoles. They should be immersed in the cream.

Wait for about one minute before stirring; the chocolate will start to melt in the hot cream, then combine with a whisk...

... until homogeneous.

Place cling film on the surface of the cream...

... and refrigerate for at least 4 or 5 hours.

For the filling: For this recipe, I chose a ready-to-use filling preparation called Cara Nougatine.

Cara Nougatine contains caramel-flavoured white chocolate, caramelized almonds and a hint of salt.

You can melt it in the microwave for a few seconds...

... until soft and easier to work.

Scoop the Cara Nougatine into a piping bag. The use of a nozzle is not necessary.

Cut the tip of the bag to create a hole with a diameter of about 0.5 cm.

Fill the pastry cases with the Cara Nougatine preparation.

Even the surface with a small spatula, going from the centre outwards. Reserve in the fridge.

Remove the ganache from the fridge and whisk. If the ganache is too compact, melt in the microwave for 7 or 8 seconds until smooth.

Remove the chocolate Chantilly cream out of the fridge.

Transfer the preparation in the stand mixer bowl.

Combine with the whisk...

... until you get a whipped cream texture.

Transfer the chocolate ganache in a piping bag fitted with a plain nozzle Ø 8.5 mm.

Fill a second piping bag with chocolate Chantilly cream and fit with a petit four nozzle Ø 18mm.

Pipe the chocolate Chantilly cream on top of the filling...

... into 4 swirls.

Continue with small drops of chocolate ganache...

... until the whole surface is covered.

Repeat the same operation with all tartlets.

Finish with a white chocolate disc over each tart and a few milk chocolate pearls.

Decorate all tartlets.

Reserve in the fridge. Remove from the fridge 30 minutes before serving.