Chocolate Christmas Tart

Top a delicious chocolate tart infused with salted caramel tea with a pretty Christmas tree design. This beautiful tart will add a touch of elegance to your Christmas dessert table.

One of my best friends is stopping by for lunch this week and I'm going to serve her a festive Chocolate Christmas Tart infused with salted caramel tea.

She is a huge tea fan. She collects tea cups and teapots and drinks tea every day. So, I thought it would be a fun challenge to come up with a delicious tea-infused dessert.

One of her favorite tea flavors is salted caramel. I knew it would be perfect in a chocolate tart.

I love chocolate tarts and it's been a while since I made one. When I made this, I tried a few new things being I wanted my tart to have a real punch of caramel flavor.

I started by steeping Salted Caramel Tea in the heavy whipping cream I used to make the chocolate filling. While I was making this I wanted to be sure I used the right amount of tea, so I took a sip of the hot cream. I was blown away by the caramel flavor. I could have downed an entire glass of it. It was perfectly flavored with subtle notes of black tea and I knew it would taste great in the chocolate filling.

Next, I used a brown sugar crust. I actually took my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe, made a few little tweaks including using dark brown sugar, and created my crust out of it. It took a bit of effort to make sure the crust kept its shape, but wow, does it really punch up the caramel flavor of this chocolate tart? It's even chewy, so when you take a bite, the chocolate melts in your mouth and so does the crust. It's really like eating a caramel topped with chocolate.

It's really amazing. I'm sure my friend will love it as much as I do.

Chocolate Christmas Tart 
         Infused with Salted Caramel Tea

Ingredients: 

Crust-

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar (white sugar)

1 large egg

¾ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 ⅓ cup all purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda
Filling-
1 ¼ cups heavy whipping cream
3 Bigelow Salted Caramel Tea Bags
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
4 ounces milk chocolate
2 tablespoons sugar
¼ tsp. salt
2 large eggs

Star Tree Decoration-
4 ounces white modeling chocolate
optional: gold luster dust

Supplies:
9-inch tart pan
silicone baking mat
fondant rolling pin
star plunger cutters
small star cookie cutter

Instructions:

Cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Add egg, and vanilla and beat until fully incorporated. Mix flour, salt, and baking soda together then stir it into the wet ingredients just until incorporated.

Lightly spray the tart pan with baking spray. Use a paper towel to wipe it out, leaving just a very thin layer of the spray.

Pat the dough into the bottom of the tart pan. Freeze for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cover cookie crust with some non-stick tin foil and cover with pie weights or beans. I put a layer of tin foil over the cookie and wrapped it around the bottom of the pan.

Then I added my pie weights which were wrapped in another few layers of tin foil. They are really easy to remove being they are in their own little tin foil pouch. I can easily lift them off the tart crust. I actually store them this way so when I need them they are ready to pop into a pan.

Bake the crust for 30 minutes.

Take the cookie crust out of the oven, remove foil and weights, and return to oven for 6-8 more minutes until golden brown.

Remove the cookie crust from the oven, and turn oven temperature down to 325 degrees. Immediately trim off the top edge of the cookie, by running a sharp knife around the top edge of the tart pan. I did this to make a nicer-looking edge, and so the top wouldn't get too brown.

Use the bottom of a glass and press down around the bottom of the crust to flatten it, slightly.

Heat cream in a small saucepan over medium heat just until bubbles form around the edge of the pan. Place 3 Bigelow  Salted Caramel Tea Bags in hot cream. Steep for 10 minutes.

When the tea has steeped, remove the tea bags and squeeze out liquid into the pan. Reheat the cream just until bubbles form. Turn off or remove from heat.

Add chopped chocolate, sugar, and salt and stir until melted.

Whisk the eggs and add a spoonful of the hot chocolate. Then add to the pan and stir to combine.

Pour filling into the crust. Bake for 20 minutes. Then start watching it. The edges should look set and glossy.

You want to bake it until about 3 inches in the center still jiggles. I found mine needed another 5 minutes. The surface will crack if you overbake it, so watch it those last 5 minutes. It will continue to cook once removed from the oven.

Cool completely for about an hour then chill for at least an hour and up to three days in the refrigerator.

Roll out white modeling chocolate on a silicone baking mat using a fondant roller. This is the best way to roll out modeling chocolate. It won't stick and you don't have to use corn starch which would look messy later when you put it on top of the chocolate tart.

Cut lots of tiny and small stars using plunger cutters and mini cookie cutters.

Just before serving, arrange the stars on the tart forming a Christmas tree.

If you want, you can brush one of the larger stars with gold luster dust to put on top of the tree.

If you have to refrigerate the decorated tart, just know that you may get some condensation droplets on your modeling chocolate stars. It won't hurt anything, it will just look a bit wet.

This style of tart could be made using any flavor of tea. Bigelow has some really wonderful flavors for the holiday including Pumpkin Spice, Vanilla Chai, Constant Comment, and Peppermint Tea. Any of these would taste great in this tart. You can change the crust to complement any of the flavors.

If you’d like to have the ultimate guide to working with Candy Clay (modeling chocolate) be sure to get your printed or e-book copy of Candy Clay Creations. This 102-page book is filled with tips and tricks for making and working with candy clay along with 17 step-by-step tutorials for decorating cupcakes, cookies, and more using candy clay. It’s a fantastic resource for anyone who wants to make festively decorated treats.

Be sure to check out all my fun Christmas Recipes!

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