Maybe I should have left the word “French” off of the title of this recipe. When we think of French desserts, we often think of decadent, beautiful, multi-layered pastries that you just wish you had the time or talent to make. Please believe me when I say you can just take that thought right out of your head! This French Chocolate Tart with Brown Butter Crust is one of those magnificent-looking desserts that just happens to be oh-so easy to make!
This gorgeous tart, homemade crust to toppings, has only 8 ingredients! (Ok, I didn’t include salt or water, because, really, who doesn’t have those?) And, believe it or not, active time spent on the crust is barely 5 minutes. Really. It is the best crust, too – golden, crispy, crunchy, flaky, somewhere between a traditional flaky pie crust and a cookie crust. You don’t have to roll it out, nor do you have to cut butter into flour. Does it get any better? This recipe is apparently somewhat famous – it is from Paule Caillat of the Promenades Gourmandes Cooking School. I found the French Chocolate Tart recipe with this amazing crust on one of my new favorite recipe websites The Cafe Sucre Farine, a beautifully delicious site.
Apparently many famous chefs and food writers use this recipe, including the author of my favorite French cooking book, David Lebovitz, who wrote My Paris Kitchen, which was the source for some of my favorite recipes, including Chicken with Mustard, Salted Butter Caramel-Chocolate Mousse, and my favorite Roasted Root Vegetables. The recipe involves mixing together a few (unlikely) ingredients in a bowl, putting them into the oven for 15-20 minutes, adding flour, mixing and patting it into a pan and baking. Easy Peasy!
And that filling! Smooth, rich, dense, chocolate – not too sweet, just perfect! And top it with some fresh fruit and a sprinkling of confectioner’s sugar – not necessary, but nice.
You can make this in a pan with a removeable bottom, like a tart pan or a springform pan, or if you don’t have one, just make it in a 9″ round cake pan or 8″ square pan. Cut it into squares if you like.
A perfect dessert for that romantic Valentine’s Day you are planning! Or a nice family dinner! Or if you are just dreaming of Paris. Enjoy!
Chocolate Tart with Brown Butter Crust
I found this recipe on The Cafe Sucre Farine, a beautiful recipe website! The brown butter crust is a famous recipe from Paula Caillat, of the Promenades Gourmandes Cooking School. It is absolutely to die for – and believe it or not, it doesn’t require rolling the dough, or cutting butter into flour! So easy!...
- Yield: 1 - 9" pie or tart
- Category: Chocolate, Desserts and Sweets, Pie, Recipe
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 3 oz (6 Tbsp) butter
- 1 tbsp. Vegetable oil (or other mild-tasting oil)
- 3 tbsp. Water
- 1 tbsp. Sugar
- 1/8 tsp. Salt
- 1 Slightly rounded cup AP flour (5 oz. or 150 g)
For the Filling:
- 1 c Heavy Cream
- 8 1/2 oz Fine dark Chocolate (70-72 pct cacao), chopped (250 g)
- 1 oz (2 Tbsp) butter
Optional for topping:
- Fresh berries, confectioners' sugar, whipped cream
Instructions
- First make the crust. Preheat oven to 410F. Cut the butter into small pieces. Into an oven-proof dish (such as a Pyrex bowl), put the butter, oil, water, sugar and salt. Place into the preheated oven, removing when the butter is melted, mixture is bubbly and started to turn golden brown. This will take around 15 minutes. In my oven, it took 18 minutes. Be careful, as it will be spattering a bit, and the dish will be HOT. Once you remove the butter mixture, lower oven temp to 375F.
- Being careful with the hot bowl, pour the flour into the butter mixture. Stir with a heatproof spatula until the dough forms a ball. Dump the ball of dough into your tart pan or springform pan. Let cool a bit, then form the crust by pressing it across the bottom and up the sides. (Chris from thecafesucrefarina.com recommends making the sides first, then patting out the bottom.) Pierce the crust all over, including the sides, with a fork. Bake 15 minutes until it is golden brown. Cool completely.
- Once crust is cooled, heat the heavy cream in a small saucepan. Place chopped chocolate pieces in a medium bowl. Once the cream reaches the boiling point (bubbles just forming around the edges of the pan), pour the hot cream over the chopped chocolate. Wait about 30 seconds, then stir until chocolate is incorporated. Add the butter, and stir until it is fully incorporated as well, then pour mixture into the cooled crust. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before topping with fruit, confectioners' sugar or whipped cream.
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Chocolate Tarte Brown Butter Crust
Brow Butter is my new love and so it is not a surprise that I am loving this dessert. Brown butter and chocolate is a gorgeous combination!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you are enjoying it, and I agree, there aren’t too many things that wouldn’t be better with browned butter!
that rich ganache filling sounds amazing! and i think the french moniker works well here (: while there’s things like kouign amanns and croquembouches, there’s also sables and palmiers (okay, if you make the puff pastry from scratch then it’s a bit intense, but they’re pretty easy with frozen, store-bought puff pastry). french doesn’t always mean impossible and fancy (;
So true. I’m definitely a kouign amann girl myself. But not sure I could ever make it at home. Like you, I think many French dishes are surprisingly simple, the magic is in the quality of ingredients and proportions.
I love chocolate tart! And this looks heavenly!! So inviting!
Thank you so much!