Kumquat Bitter Orange Tartlets in a Chocolate Crust
A combination of sweet, sour and chocolate that is irresistible in a dessert. I prefer making tartlets to one larger tart. Regardless, this dessert is a great way to finish a meal. As a bonus, you can keep the bitter orange curd in a jar in the fridge for up to a month.
Equipment
Ingredients
Pastry Ingredients:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour or 00 flour
- 3 tbsp cocoa powder good-quality
- ½ cup caster sugar or raw
- 8 1/2 tbsp cold butter cubed
- 1 large egg beaten
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch fleur de sel
Bitter Orange Curd Ingredients:
- 2 bitter oranges
- 2 sweet oranges
- 7 ½ tbsp butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 4 large eggs well-beaten
- kumquats sliced with pips removed, for decoration
Instructions
- Prepare the Pastry:
- Sift the flour and cocoa into a large bowl, then mix in the baking powder and salt. Add the egg and butter cubes, cutting them into the dry mixture with a spatula or pastry scraper. Don’t use your hands as it’ll warm it too much. You want it to be rough, chunky crumbs.
- Bring the dough into a ball and knead briefly until smooth. Wrap in cling film and let rest for an hour in the fridge.
- Dust your surface with a blend of flour and cocoa powder. Roll out the chilled dough to ¼ inch (½+ cm) thickness. Cut out circles and place them into your tartlet pans, rolling over the edges or trimming with a knife. Now prick the bases a few times with a fork and pop back in the fridge while you prepare the filling.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F/180°C. Line the insides of the tartlets with parchment paper circles and put some baking beads (or dried rice or beans) on top. Blind bake them for 15 minutes, remove the baking beads and paper, and bake for another 10 minutes. (You can leave them for 25 minutes, but I find they’re best this way.)
- Take them out of the oven and set aside to cool completely.
- Prepare the Bitter Orange Curd:
- Zest one sweet and one bitter orange, then juice them all. Place the juice, zest and sugar in a saucepan, mix in the eggs and heat a bain marie, stirring constantly, for about 20 minutes or until it gets thick. Take off the heat, place parchment paper over the top to prevent skin from forming, let cool slightly while you cut your kumquats, and place your pastry shells on your workplace.
- Fill each pastry case with the curd and place three (3) kumquat slices. Cool in the fridge for a few hours until properly set, then serve.
Notes
You can store the bitter orange curd in a jar in the fridge for up to a month.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!