Milk Chocolate Crémeux (Creamy) Tart

 11 September 2022

Recipe from Cook's Illustrated, March 2022

I've written about a couple of chocolate tarts in this blog and neither was particularly successful or easy to make. I have also tried several chocolate cream pie recipes and have found them to be easier to make. This recent recipe promises an easier to make, thinner crust: a cookie-like pâte sucrée shell. While I was a little dubious about a milk chocolate filling I gave it a try.

To make the crust, egg and vanilla were whisked together in a measuring cup. AP flour, sugar, and salt were pulsed in a food processor to mix them. Cold butter pieces were scattered over the flour mixture and processed so there were no visible pieces of butter. The egg mixture was added slowly to the flour mixture with the processor running. The soft dough was placed between two sheets of 12x16-inch parchment then pressed and rolled out to the edges of the parchment. (The recipe specified 12x18 which is an odd size that I do not keep around. The half sheet-pan size that I have worked fine.) This was transferred to a baking sheet and placed in the freezer for 30 minutes until firm. When the dough was removed from the freezer a  9-inch metal tart ring was used cut out a circle of dough. The remaining dough was cut into 1-inch strips. The dough circle was pressed into the tart pan to form the bottom and several of the 1-inch strips were used to fashion the sides. (The remaining dough was sprinkled with sugar and baked making a very nice, cookie like,  cook's treat.) The tart shell was frozen, the excess dough was cut from the sides, it was filled with pie weights, and baked at 350°.

For the filling half-and-half, egg yolks, cocoa, and salt were whisked together in a sauce pan and cooked over medium-low heat to 170°. Off heat, chopped chocolate (Hershey bars) and vanilla were whisked into the mixture followed by melted butter. The custard was strained and poured into the cooled tart shell. After the filling had cooled the tart was placed in the refrigerator.  Total time was about 4 hours but much of that was waiting for ingredients to freeze, cool, and chill.   

We both enjoyed the crust. It is both crisp and tender with a pleasant touch of sweetness. The cook's treats were a big hit with us, too. (I've made this twice, now, and overcooked the crust the first time so this is something to watch out for.) The filling, however, was too sweet and lacked chocolate flavor even with the addition of the optional cocoa powder. The crust is worth making again but with a different filling, perhaps one of the fillings from the chocolate cream pies that we like.