It begins with a chocolate shortbread crust, which I was reluctant to make, fearing this would be just too much chocolate. In fact, I only made two smaller tarts,  a half recipe,   thinking I might even give one to my neighbor. But, that didn’t happen. These were just too good to give away, making this my very favorite Dorie Greenspan recipe so far. I will make this again and again.

The good news is that it is easy, and can be done in steps. You can make the pastry crust ahead and freeze it, and make the pastry cream up to three days in advance. 

Experimenting with agave nectar, Cutting some calories

I used the chocolate I had on hand, (unsweetened) and melted it with agave nectar, approximately 1 T per ounce, and then added more agave once melted, tasting along the way.  This is something I am continuing to experiment with. Next time I will experiment with the chocolate pastry cream. I’m sure agave will also work.

I also used a dark cocoa to make the pastry crust, thinking it would be too dark, but it was perfect. I wouldn’t change a thing.

When making the pastry cream, I substituted skim milk for whole milk, and forgot to add the butter at the end. We didn’t notice. I’m sure the butter brings that complete silkiness,  but, cutting the calories in a rich dessert without cutting “delicious” makes me happy.

Find out more about Dorie at her blog, and order her books through Amazon on my sidebar. The recipe can be found in this book, Baking: From My Home to Yours. Visit Kim of Scrumptious Photography to get the recipe for this week. Come back next week for Tiramisu Cake chosen by Megan of My Baking Adventures. Visit these sites to see how others made this same recipe.

Recipe

Filling

2 cups whole Milk (I used skim)

4 large egg yolks

6 T sugar

3 T cornstarch, sifted

1/4 t salt

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 1/2 T unsalted butter, cut into pieces (I forgot the butter)

1 9” Chocolate Shortbread Tart

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey’s dark)

1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

1/4 t salt

9 T cold butter (1 stick plus 1 T) unsalted, cut into small pieces

1 large egg yolk

Whipped Topping

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 1/2 T confectioner’s sugar

1/4 t vanilla

Key Words: Tuesdays with Dorie Greenspan, Chocolate Cream Tart

Spinach Tiger Entry 45 Tuesdays with Dorie, Chocolate Pie, Dessert

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