Chocolate Caramel Sea Salt Tartlets

Guns! Brandy! Pie! Thanksgiving this year totally exceeded my expectations and got progressively more delicious and fun with each hour of the day. No one got punched, I didn’t kill any birds, the food was some of the best Thanksgiving fare I’ve ever had, and the desserts were off the wall. Sandwiched between it all was some chill time in front of the boob-tube and a bewitching soundtrack of lady crooners, amplified by mine and Emily’s homebrew, spiked cider, and endless mugs of coffee brandy. 

After a morning marathon of besotted cooking and an utterly indulgent brunch, we soldiered on to prepare the main Thanksgiving feast. Or rather, Jen and Dave soldiered on, while I diddled away with the desserts and cajoled Jen’s sous chefs into shooting cat-food targets with me out back. Then, with twenty entrees and two football games under our belts, we finally collapsed around the dinner table to gobble up twelve hours of work and toast to our hard-won, most excellent farming season.
  
I always worry that my desserts will be a letdown, and sometimes they are (last year’s cranberry frangipane tart, for instance). But this year, mercifully, all three desserts totally ruled. Not everyone had the stomach for pie at the end of the night, but Dave, Daniel, and I somehow managed to slowly shovel down sampler plates of the sweet potato buttermilk pie, apple cranberry pie, and these chocolate caramel sea salt tartlets. With whipped cream, no less! It was a heroic end to a delirious day from which I am still recovering. It hasn't stopped me from scarfing down the leftovers though, and it shouldn’t stop you from planning some holiday baking. Start with these! They were delicious insanity, especially with a bit of ground coffee sprinkled on top, and they would definitely be a welcome addition to any upcoming holiday tables you might be setting.
Hope you enjoyed a beautiful Thanksgiving!

Chocolate Caramel Tartlets
Recipe adapted from Claudia Fleming's The Last Course
 
Fleming uses a chocolate tart dough in her recipe. I substituted my favorite sweet tart dough because chocolate tart doughs (that aren't made with crushed cookies, that is) always seem a bit "blah" to me. Her original also calls for mini muffin tins or two-inch tart pans to make 24 mini tarts, but alas we don't have any. Were I to make this again--and I will!--I'd do it with a full-size ten-inch pan anyway.

For Tart Dough
9 tablespoons very cold butter (I prefer salted)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1 large egg

Caramel Filling
1/2 cup water
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup (you can use Lyle’s Golden Syrup if you’d rather!)
1/2 cup (one stick) salted butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons creme fraiche

Chocolate Ganache
1/2 cup heavy cream
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Large-grain sea salt, for garnish
Coarsely crushed coffee beans, for garnish (optional)

1.  Make tart dough: Cube butter into one-inch pieces and chill in freezer while you ready everything else. In the bowl of a food processor, mix flour, sugar, and salt. Sprinkle butter over top, and pulse about 10 to 15 times until butter is between the size of peas and oatmeal. Use a fork to break up egg in a small bowl, and pour a bit at a time through the feed tube, pulsing once after each addition. When the egg is all in, pulse the dough for ten seconds at a time until it comes together. Right before you get to this point, the mixer will change sounds and essentially start grumbling at you. Dump dough onto sheet of plastic wrap, lightly push together, and chill for at least one hour, preferably longer.

2.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. For four-inch tartlets, divide dough into six equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough hunks one by one to six-inch circles and fit them into tart pans, pressing along the bottom and up to sides to ensure an even fit. Roll your rolling pin across the top to cut the dough and make smooth edges. Prick the bottoms all over with the tines of a fork and firm up in freezer for 30 minutes. Butter the shiny side of six pieces of aluminum foil, press into bottom and up sides of tart dough, then bake tartlets for 20 minutes. Remove foil and bake until golden, about ten minutes more. Tart can also be made in a ten-inch tart pan.

3.  Prepare filling: Place water, sugar, and corn syrup in a large saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, swirling the pan occasionally, until you have a dark amber caramel, 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from heat and immediately and carefully (!!!) whisk in the butter, cream, and creme fraiche. Continue whisking until mixture is smooth. Divide the caramel among tart pans while still warm, filling them almost to the top. Let cool until caramel is set, about 45 minutes. You can also make the caramel up to five days ahead of time and refrigerate it; just reheat it until pourable.

4.  Make ganache: In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil over medium heat. Meanwhile, place your chopped chocolate in a bowl. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for two minutes, then whisk vigorously until smooth. Immediately pour chocolate over the tarts. Allow to set for about two hours, then top with big grains of salt and coarsely ground coffee when ready to serve. Our tarts kept covered at room temperature for four days.