October’s theme, being Noga’s birthday month, is chocolate! When I opened this recipe and saw how easy it is, I started to wonder why I give Noga such torturous recipes (the original September for her was a Smith Island Cake).
Jamie Oliver’s recipe for a chocolate tart with salt flakes benefited from the work-from-home situation: I started the shortcrust pastry (with this recipe) during lunch and let it sit until I was wrapped up for the day and ready to face it. Too bad that by that time, it has gone rock-solid, and I didn’t have the foresight to shape it into a disc before cooling it.
After some banging, mashing, more banging, and rolling, I finally formed the tart base that I let chill in the fridge once again.
I usually burn my pie or tart crust due to the subjective instruction of “until brown,” so this time, I followed Jamie’s times (10-15 blind bake and then an additional 15) and was satisfied.
The hard part was waiting for the chocolate center to cool and set. I jiggled it many times before I decided to speed up the process with a few minutes in the freezer.
I love salt (probably to an unhealthy degree), and I love that you can salt this desert even more after slicing a piece. It’s not a sweet dessert (has only about 2 teaspoons of sugar), but the dark chocolate makes it so rich. My lived-out boyfriend loved it and couldn’t wait for it to set some more so he can get another piece. I wonder if adding a layer of caramel would make this a millionaire shortbread…
Next “month’s” theme is “Geek”, which would be an adventure through time to what we defined as “Geek” back in 2016. I remember which recipe I gave Noga back before the vegan twist, and it very much aligned with all things 2016. I wonder if she did the same. We’ll find out soon!
The Great Yearly Bake-Off 