Sweet & Savory

My First Tart Dough

My first forays into baking were with cookies, when I was still in junior high. Since then, I have not only improved on my cookie-baking skill, but I've also added biscotti, muffins, cakes, tortes, and even breads to my baking repertoire. One thing which I had yet to experiment with, was tarts. J has done many tarts already, both sweet and savory. But, this will have been my first.

I was in one of those gotta-have-chocolate moods, but I felt guilty for having just chocolate. Fortunately, when one's favorite ingredient is chocolate, one often finds certain combinations of chocolate with other ingredients to be irresistable as well (and not quite so guilt-laden). Take for example, hazelnuts. Those aromatic round filberts have always been such a perfect match for chocolate that I've sometimes wondered if the hazelnut and the cacao trees (if hazelnuts did indeed grow on trees) were maybe somehow related.

Feeling adventurous, I thumbed through some cookbooks to get an idea for the solution to my craving. I finally stopped on page one hundred and sixty-nine of Donna Hay's Modern Classics 2 and feasted my eyes on the perfect-looking chocolate tart displayed in the upper-right quarter of that page. The recipe called for "1 quantity hazelnut sweet shortcrust pastry (page 157)". Perfect!

I turned to said page and promptly began my preparations for the tart dough, despite my previously stated lack of experience with tarts and the resulting anxiety. The recipe called for the addition of half a cup of hazelnut meal to a standard recipe of sweet shortcrust pastry, so I set to grinding some roasted hazelnuts in the food processor. In my enthusiasm, I overestimated half a cup and made about double that quantity of ground hazelnuts. As such, I ended up modifying Donna's original recipe due to my overzealousness (I didn't think it should be considered a mistake, since there is never such a thing as too much hazelnut, in my opinion). Plus, the end result turned out just fine.

So, here is my version of Hazelnut Sweet Shortcrust Pastry. I decided to include less flour to compensate for the addition of extra ground hazelnuts, which really made the whole crust that much more a hazelnut crust than a regular shortcrust with hazelnuts.

Hazelnut Sweet Shortcrust Pastry
adapted from Modern Classics 2
by Donna Hay

• 1 cup roasted, peeled, and ground hazelnuts
• 1½ cups plain (all-purpose) flour
• 3 tablespoons caster (superfine) sugar
• 150 g (5 oz) cold butter, chopped
• 3 tablespoons iced water

Process the ground hazelnuts, flour, sugar and butter in a food processor until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, add the iced water in a slow trickle to form a smooth dough and process until just combined. Knead the dough lightly, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

If chilled overnight, be sure to give the dough about 20 minutes to warm up before trying to use the dough the next day (speaking from personal experience).

Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface until ¼ inch thick. Place in a 9" square fluted tart tin with a removable bottom. Line the tart dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights and/or uncooked rice. Bake for 10 minutes, remove the weights/rice and bake for another 10 minutes or until the pastry is golden.

Fill as desired and bake as directed.

Check back tomorrow - when I finish baking my chocolate tart!