Benoit Castel’s French Mendiant Tart (chocolate and nuts)

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Tart shell

1. Let's start with the Creamed Sweetened Short Pastry (1 ⅓ Cup or 400 g). The recipe is HERE

2.  I told you that the final weight is 1 ⅓ Cup or 400 g, but plan to make more for convenience (to roll out and to remove the center of the second square)

3.  Benoit Castel tells us to wrap this airtight and store in the fridge for at least 4 hours

Food Wrap

4. Then, Benoit Castel tells us to roll out the dough (I do this between 2 silicone mats), 0.11" (or 1/8" or 0.3 cm) thick

5.  Give it a rest in the fridge for 15 minutes

Wooden Rolling PinRolling Pin with Removable RingsSilicone Baking Mat

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The edge pattern

One important aspect of this tart is to create those fluted sides, here's two options:

● For the first option (which I am using), we can take a fluted square pan, and use it as a huge cookie cutter

To purchase online, see HERE. Or: To purchase online, see HERE

● Second option, using a fluted pasta wheel. To purchase online, see HERE

Nonstick Tart Pan, Removable Bottom, 8″Square Tart Pan 9″

Ravioli Wheel

6. Take the shortcrust dough out of the fridge

7. Then you need to make TWO fluted squares (Yes, I said 2), using either the fluted square pan as I did, or a fluted pasta wheel

8.  Freeze to make the dough hard again

9.  Take the excess dough around the squares. As we froze the dough, this will make this operation easy and the sides of the squares should be perfectly shaped

10. Here we go : we now have 2 fluted squares

11. On one of the 2 squares, we are going to remove the "center", this will create a frame that we will use on top of the first square

12. One one of the 2 squares, cut a smaller square, leaving roughly 0.78" (or 25/32" or 2 cm) off the edges. In my case, my square measured 7.87" (or 7 7/8" or 20 cm) x 7.87" (or 7 7/8" or 20 cm), so leaving 0.78" (or 25/32" or 2 cm) on each side, I cut a square measuring 6.29" (or 6 19/64" or 16 cm) x 6.29" (or 6 19/64" or 16 cm)

13. Then remove the "center square" (you may freeze to make this easier)

14. We now have one square and one frame that we need to assemble

15.  Let's freeze this a few minutes to make the next steps easier

16. Lighly moist the edges of the square and place the frame on top of the square. The water will "glue" the 2 doughs

17.  Benoit Castel tells us to store this in the fridge for 1 hour (I advise 2 hours). This resting time will "stabilize" the tart shell before we blind bake it

18.  Bake in preheated oven at 360 °F / 180 °C (you may want to prick the dough before), for about 14 minutes. Benoit Castel says 20 minutes, but I find it too long if you want the crust to stay soft

19.  This operation of baking a shortcrust pastry by itself with nothing in it is known as "Blind Baking". I have a complete post about this technique, HERE

Perforated Baking Mat

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The Chocolate Ganache

20. Making ganache is so easy. First, place the Dark Chocolate ( 3 oz or 87 g) in a large mixing bowl. I must insist though, do buy a good quality brand. If you can, buy a professional brand like VALRHONA or CACAO BARRY. Those high quality professional chocolates can be purchased online, or in speciality stores

21. I discovered that my local supermarket Pavilion's in Los Angeles sells Valrhona chocolate for instance, my favorite chocolate brand for pastries

Pavilion's
1213 S Fair Oaks Ave
South Pasadena, CA 91030
USA

22.  Pour the Cream (½ Cup or 100 g) and the Honey (1 teaspoon or 10 g) into a saucepan and bring to a boil

23. Then pour onto the bowl with chocolate, and wait for 1 minute, without stirring

Stainless Steel Mixing BowlLarge Mixing Bowls, Stainless Steel

24. After 1 minute start stirring

25. And add cold dice Butter (1 Tablespoon or 20 g), and stir

26.  Use COLD butter so to thicken the ganache faster

Polyglass SpatulaDeBuyer WhiskKitchenAid Whisk

27. You may mix the ganache with an immersion blender to grind the lumps, or use a sieve or a strainer

Immersion Multi-Purpose Hand BlenderImmersion Hand Blender Bamix

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Assembling

28. We can now pour the ganache onto the tart shell

29. Spread and even out with an offset Icing Spatula or a spoon

Wilton Offset Spatula

30. Then, add the nuts. You may take pretty much any nuts and dried fruit you like

31. I chose those : Pecan Nuts, Almonds, Hazelnuts, Pine Nuts, Pistachios, Dried Raisins, Candied Orange Peels, Sesame Seeds

32. A typical "French Mendiant" has walnuts, almonds, dried raisins, but you may take it a level up and americanize this with cranberries, pecans, and dried apricots. Wherever you live on this beautiful planet of ours, you can customize this tart with local fruit and nuts