Chocolate Crust

ml1103_hal09_doma2.jpg
Photo: Steve Baxter
Yield:
1 10-inch tart shell

This chocolate crust makes a 10-inch shell for the pumpkin chocolate tart.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

  • ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar

  • ¼ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

  • ½ teaspoon salt

  • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves

  • ½ cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

  • 1 large egg

  • 4 ounces best-quality semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Directions

  1. Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl. Add butter; with an electric mixer on low speed, mix until butter is the size of small peas, about 5 minutes. Add egg; mix until ingredients form a dough. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate at least 1 hour (or up to 2 days).

  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out dough to just thicker than 1/8 inch. Brush off excess flour; transfer dough to a 10-inch tart pan with a removable bottom. Press dough into bottom and up sides of pan; trim excess flush with edge. Lightly prick bottom of dough all over with a fork. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes (or up to 1 day).

  3. Bake shell until firm, about 15 minutes. Remove from oven; immediately sprinkle chocolate evenly over bottom of shell, and smooth with an offset spatula.

Related Articles