Mini Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Ganache Tarts with Hazelnut Brittle and Almonds

I’m addicted to kitchen gadgets. Worst part is, I may use it once, then completely forget about it and never use it again. My brother got me a silicone macaron pan for my birthday a few years ago, and I had all these plans of making fancy jam filled macarons. Those plans never went through and the pan has been accumulating dust. I decided I had to FINALLY use it, but I wasn’t really in the mood for making macarons. I kept looking at the pan and realized they would be perfect for making tiny little tarts.

The filling for this tart is a really decadent chocolate ganache. The combination of dark chocolate with hazelnut brittle and white chocolate and almonds is just my idea, milk chocolate with peanut brittle is also AMAZING, as would be white chocolate topped with fruit. The dough for this recipe makes 1 regular sized large tart; if you’re just making one tart stick to one specific chocolate and double the ganache ingredients. If you’re normal and don’t have a silicone macaron pan, use a cupcake pan or a mini cupcake pan.

Mini Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Ganache Tarts with Hazelnut Brittle and Almonds

Ingredients

For the ganache

7 ounces of dark chocolate

7 ounces of white chocolate

1/2 cup of heavy cream

4 Tbs. butter

For the tart pastry

1/2 cup of butter (1 stick), chilled and cut into cubes

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the topping

1 cup sugar

2 ounces of chopped hazelnuts

Slivered almonds

Directions

1. First make the pastry by combining the butter and sugar in the food processor. Process and then add the egg, then flour until a dough forms. Kneed on a floured surface and wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. (If you don’t have a food processor, I’ve found that you can still make the dough with an egg beater)

2. Preheat the oven 375 . Roll out the pastry to 1/8 inch thickness and cut out small disks. (A shot glass worked perfectly for me) Bake the tarts for 12 minutes or until golden.

3. While the tarts are making, make the hazelnut brittle. Add 1 cup of sugar to a dry wide frying pan over medium high heat for 3-4 minutes. The sugar should begin to turn a deep golden color. Do not stir the sugar. Dissolve all the sugar by swirling the mixture in the pan. Once you achieve the desired caramel color, (a deep golden/light brown) add the chopped hazelnuts. Pour the mixture onto a prepared baking sheet and spread out the mixture evenly and thinly. Allow the mixture to cool and harden.

5. Make the ganache. Let a pot of water come to a gentle boil. In a heatproof bowl, combine the dark chocolate, 1/4 cup of cream, and 2 Tbs of butter. Stir to combine once melted completely. Repeat the process with the white chocolate.

6. Spoon the ganache into the tarts. Top the dark chocolate ganache with chopped hazelnut brittle. Top the white chocolate ganache with slivered almonds. Chill the tarts in the fridge until ready to eat.