Gü Chocolate Cookbook. Gü

       CHOCOLATE SWEETCRUST PASTRY

      Here’s our recipe for a classic light and crisp pastry, but with chocolate added – of course! You will find that the pastry is used in various recipes throughout the book, which is why we’ve given you a choice of quantities here. The instructions also describe how to ‘blind bake’ a pastry case. This means to pre-cook a tart pastry base to give it a good start before you add a wet filling, so it will be nice and crisp once baked with its filling inside.

       SMALL QUANTITY

       MAKES 24 MINI TARTLET CASES

      75g plain flour

      pinch of salt

      50g unsalted butter, softened

      1 lightly heaped tsp cocoa powder

      25g icing sugar

      1 egg yolk

       EQUIPMENT

      24-cup mini tartlet tin

       LARGE QUANTITY

       MAKES 1 × 26CM ROUND TART CASE OR 1 × 20CM ROUND TART CASE WITH SOME SPARE TO MAKE MINI TARTLETS

      150g plain flour

      pinch of salt

      100g unsalted butter, softened

      1 lightly heaped tbsp cocoa powder

      100g icing sugar

      1 egg

       EQUIPMENT

      26cm or 20cm round fluted tart tin, depending on the main recipe requirement

      1. Sift half of the flour into a large mixing bowl, then add the salt and butter and blend together well with a spatula until smooth.

      2. Sift the cocoa powder, icing sugar and remaining flour over the butter mixture and rub them in with your fingertips until it forms even-sized breadcrumbs.

      3. Beat the egg lightly in a jug and mix this into the flour and butter mix with a fork until it just binds together and forms a dough. (Be very careful not to overmix as the pastry will become tough.)

      4. Wrap the pastry in cling film and place in the fridge for 2–3 hours before rolling out.

      5. Each of our tart recipes calls for a tart case that is baked blind. To do this, preheat the oven to 170°C/Gas mark 3. Butter the tart tin and cut out a circle of baking parchment that is 10cm larger than the diameter of the tin.

      6. Dust a work surface with flour and unwrap the chilled pastry. Roll it out thinly and use it to line the tart tin. Lightly prick the base all over with a fork. Tightly crumple the baking parchment in your hand (to make it easier to fit inside the pastry case), then flatten it and use it to line the pastry case. Fill the base with baking beans.

      7. Place the tart tin on a baking sheet and put it in the oven for 10–15 minutes until there is no or a very little wet patch left. Remove the baking sheet and tart tin from the oven, and carefully lift out the paper filled with beans. Then return the baking sheet and tart tin to the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes or until the pastry case is nearly cooked and feels dry.

      GÜ TIP To make everything as easy possible, use butter that has been standing at room temperature; your beating arm won’t complain nearly as much.

      GÜ TIP Roll out pastry between sheets of baking parchment as it makes this job so much easier and won’t stick to your work surface.

      GÜ TIP Another way to prevent the pastry from becoming too soggy once a filling is added, is to brush the cooked pastry with a thin layer of melted chocolate. This works on all tarts that do not require baking once the filling has been poured in, such as the Raspberry Ganache Tart.