Salted Sour Cream Caramel Chocolate Tart

Few words needed here.

A stylish Salted Sour Cream Caramel Chocolate Tart.

This recipe for sweet tart pastry (pâte sucrée in French) is my favourite. Two egg yolks make it rich and incredibly tender. It browns up stunningly. You can see it in all its golden glory...

The filling just below that glossy chocolate is salty, sweet and enriched with sour cream. Boiling the caramel for a few minutes after adding the cream thickens it so that it doesn't ooze out everywhere once you take a slice.

I'm all for oozing, but when it means the caramel goes onto your plate and not into your mouth then it's NOT OK.

I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do. Hard to go wrong with caramel and chocolate.
Have a great weekend friends! xo

Salted Caramel Chocolate Tart

Makes about 8 servings

For the pastry:

1 ½ cups (215g) all-purpose flour

¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup (113g) very cold unsalted butter, cut into

½-inch cubes

2 large egg yolks

3 tablespoon (45ml) ice cold water

For caramel layer:

⅔ cup (150ml) 35% whipping cream

¾ cup (150g) granulated sugar

¼ cup (60ml) light corn syrup

2 tablespoon (30ml) water

2 tbsp (30ml) full fat sour cream

1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter

¼ teaspoon sea salt

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the topping:

1  ½ oz (42g) dark chocolate (64% cocoa), finely chopped

2 tbsp (30ml) 35% whipping cream

1 tablespoon (15ml) honey

2 teaspoon warm water

To make the pastry, whisk together flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Add cold butter and toss to coat. Using your fingertips, rub butter into flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. The butter should be well dispersed so that there is no dusty flour left in the bowl, but there should still be some larger oat flake-sized pieces remaining. Whisk egg yolks with water in a small bowl and drizzle into flour mixture while gently tossing with a fork. Continue to mix dough until dry ingredients are moistened and it holds together in clumps but does not yet form a ball. Turn the crumbly dough out onto a clean work surface and gather it together in a ball with your hands slightly cupped, turning it frequently and pressing in loose bits until it is cohesive. Shape into a disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Let pastry sit at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling. On a lightly floured work surface or between two pieces of parchment paper, roll out dough into a round with just over ⅛-inch thickness and fit it into an 8-inch round fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Fold overhang dough over the edges and press firmly to create a thicker edge crust. Pull away excess dough that gets pushed up over the edge to keep it level with the sides of the pan, or roll your rolling pin over the pan to cut the excess dough right off. Refrigerate until dough is very firm, at least 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Line the tart shell with aluminum foil and fill with pie weights. Bake until it pulls away from the sides and edges are golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the caramel layer, heat cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until it barely simmers, but don't let it boil.

In the meantime, combine sugar, corn syrup and water in a heavy-bottomed 2-quart saucepan with tall sides and place it over medium heat without stirring until the sugar is dissolved and mixture begins to boil. Continue to boil, swirling the pan occasionally, until the mixture changes to a light golden color. Reduce heat to control the colouring and continue to cook until the foam subsides and it turns amber. Remove pan from heat and very carefully stir the warm cream into the caramel - be careful as the mixture will bubble up violently, so pour slowly and stir constantly. Whisk in butter and sour cream until smooth. Return pan to medium heat and cook, stirring constantly, for 5-6 minutes until thickened. Remove pan from heat, immediately stir in vanilla extract and salt and pour into cooled pastry crust without scraping bottom of pan. Let stand at room temperature undisturbed until completely cooled and set, about 4 hours. 

To make chocolate glaze, bring cream and honey to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Once boiling, remove from heat and add chocolate. Swirl the pan to bring all chocolate in contact with cream and let stand for a minute to let the heat melt the chocolate. Stir until smooth and glossy. Stir in warm water until combined and shiny. Pour over cooled caramel layer, and then tilt and rotate the tart so the glaze can coat the surface evenly. Do not use a spoon or spatula to spread it out so that you get a streak-free shine. Let stand at room temperature to set slightly, about 10 minutes. Slice with a hot, dry knife and serve at room temperature.