Wednesday, October 3, 2007

moroccan party part three

This wasn't exactly Moroccan, but I thought it fit the theme because it's kinda French and thus represented colonialism. (Actually, I didn't have any Moroccan dessert recipes, so....)

Chocolate Raspberry Tart

Crust:
1 c. all purpose flour
2 tbsp. sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
5 tbsp. plus 1 tsp. unsalted butter
1 chilled egg yolk
2 tsp. ice water

1/ In a bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt.
2/ Using a pastry blender (or two knives), cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is crumbly.
3/ Stir together the egg yolk and the water.
4/ Add egg mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together.
5/ If dough is too dry, sprinkle additional ice water (1 tsp. at a time) until it is moist enough to hold together.
6/ Shape dough into a disk, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
7/ Lightly flour a work surface.
8/ Using a floured rolling pin, roll the dough into an 11-inch circle.
9/ Transfer the dough to a 9-inch tart pan.
10/ Press against the sides of the pan, making sure there are no air bubbles. Fold over the edges to make a double layer and trim excess by pressing against tart pan.
11/ Prick bottom of dough with a fork.
12/ Cover loosely with plastic wrap and freeze for 30 minutes.
13/ Put a rack in the bottom 1/3 of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
14/ Line crust with foil and pie weights.
15/ Bake for 10 minutes, remove pie weights and foil, bake for about 10 minutes more (until golden).
16/ Transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Filling:

1/2 c. unsalted butter
7 oz. chocolate, chopped (I used a mix of Ghiradelli semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate)
1/3 c. heavy whipping cream
1 1/2 c. fresh raspberries (about 2 small containers)

1/ Melt butter over low heat in a small saucepan.
2/ Remove the pan from the heat.
3/ Add chocolates and let stand for 1 minute.
4/ Whisk until smooth.
5/ Add the cream and whisk until well combined.
6/ Pour filling into the pie shell.
7/ Arrange the raspberries upright in concentric circles to cover the filling.
8/ Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours until the filling is firm.

This is supposed to serve 6 to 8, but I cut it into 12 pieces and personally thought that 1/2 piece was about all I needed (it's very rich). So, by that math, you could serve 24.

Anybody have any good Moroccan desserts?

3 comments:

Elizabeth said...

You say colonial, I say imperialist. For shame!!

HEB said...

I'm confused-- it's been a while since a UofC political history course for me-- what are the different connotations to colonial and imperialist? Aren't they both pretty darn negative?

Elizabeth said...

I feel like imperialist comes with more of a top-down, "we know better than you, you dirty savages" attitude. Then again, I wasn't a political scientist myself.