Chocolate chestnut tart - our riff on Mont Blanc
Use a 9” standard pie pan (spring form pan would probably work equally well) Preheat oven to 375
Crust:
- 10 graham crackers
- 7 Tbs melted butter
- Half an egg white (reserve the yolk for the chocolate filling)
- Two pinches salt (skip if using salted butter)
Put the graham crackers in a food processor, breaking them up a little and pulse until they are crumbs. Drizzle butter, egg white, and salt over them and pulse until evenly blended. Should be like a damp scuptable sand. Pat it into the pie pan. Don’t worry much about going up the sides, it will slump down to the bottom when baked and that is ok. Parbake it about 10 minutes or until appears set and beginning to brown slightly.
Chocolate pudding filling:
- 1 Tbs corn starch
- 2.5 Tbs sugar
- 1.5 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 1 Egg yolk
- 1.5 cups whole milk (a blend of lactose free whole milk and almond/coconut half&half worked well)
- 2 oz bittersweet chocolate chips
- ½ tsp vanilla
Mix the corn starch, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium sauce pan until blended. Drizzle in a little milk and whisk to prevent lumps. Whisk in the egg yolk while the mixture is still cool. Then slowly drizzle some more in, while starting to heat the mixture. Finish pouring all the milk in and continue whisking until it boils for one minute. Turn off heat and add the chocolate chips and vanilla, whisking until melted in and smooth. Pour immediately into the barbaked crust. It is thick enough it won’t flow to the edge, spread it around like a frosting until it covers the crust evenly.
Chestnut cream:
- 1 to 1.25 lb Fresh chestnuts
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 oz almond paste
Score an X in the flat side of the chestnuts and boil them in plain water 10 minutes. Remove from the water and while still warm, peel the shells and the papery layer entirely off them. Put the cleaned chestnuts in a saucepan and ad ⅓ cup sugar, ¾ cup water, and about 1 tsp vanilla. Cover and boil until the chestnuts are tender, about 30 minutes. If the water evaporates, add a little more to keep the chestnuts mostly submerged. Fish out the chestnuts and place in a food processor, reserve the liquid. Pulse them until powdery. Add the almond paste and drizzle in the reserved cooking liquid about ¼ cup at a time, running he food processor, until the mixture is soft and smooth enough to pipe, but still holds its shape. Might need even more than the cooking liquid, ok to use water or milk or milk substitute. Put the mixture into a piping bag with a broad star tip and pipe over the chocolate layer of the pie.
Top with shaved chocolate bits if desired. Chill before slicing, keep any leftovers refrigerated.