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baking Dorie

Tuesdays With Dorie: Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart

Look! I did this week’s Dorie recipe! (I didn’t manage to do the Daring Bakers vols-au-vent, which made me very, very sad; I had a brilliant idea for what to fill them with. But I did make the tart, although I didn’t actually get to eat it.)

chocolate torte 2

But I made it, and that’s what counts.

I sent it off with Husband and Sons to have dinner with friends. I stayed home. I like staying home.

Honestly, I don’t have much to say about this one. We’re smack in the middle of college application season here, and #1 Son decided last Tuesday, quite unexpectedly, to apply early decision to a school that was not previously his first choice; the deadline is in three weeks. Things are a bit chaotic at the moment.

I made the tart exactly as Dorie says to make the tart. Everything worked the way Dorie said it would work. There were no problems.

I didn’t like the ganache, though. Too much. Too dark, too rich, too much.

#1 Son: Way too chocolatey. You can’t taste anything beyond the overwhelming miasma of chocolate tar. But it’s good — I like it! [Later] I scraped all the chocolate off and still couldn’t taste any caramel.

#2 Son: The tart crust is really good, but the chocolate’s a little overpowering. I can’t actually taste anything but the chocolate.

Assorted other people found it “yummy” and said “the chocolate is really delicious, not too heavy but not too light either, just the perfect weight” and “the caramel and the crust are awesome; the chocolate’s a little overwhelming” and “I like the caramel, and the crust is great. I could do with less chocolate, but that’s not me. I’m not a big chocolate fan” and “the chocolate is extraordinarily rich” (and she didn’t sound as if she thought that was a good thing.)

There was also a suggestion (from a man who works in the amazing bakery run by his son and daughter-in-law, Sweet Life in Vineland, New Jersey, and so knows what he’s talking about!) that it might have worked better to chop the peanuts a little finer. I did chop them, but apparently not enough.

Several people (including me, when I finally got a tiny sliver of leftover) scraped off most of the ganache, finding that what was left was the perfect foil to the caramel and nuts.

Last but not least however, is my main man and guest photographer (happy anniversary, Tim!):

Husband: Everybody else was crazy. The chocolate was in great proportion to the crunchy underbits, both flavor and texture.

So there you have it. Read all the other TWD bloggers‘ opinions, and then try it yourself (buy the book or visit Carla at Chocolate Moosey to get the recipe). But don’t say I didn’t warn you about the ganache.

chocolate torte 1

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