Easy chocolate ganache tarts made with a nut and oatmeal crust and a rich chocolate ganache filling, topped with flaky sea salt for an individual sized elegant dessert. This chocolate lover recipe makes four 5-inch mini chocolate tarts with simple ingredients are the perfect size to serve at a dinner party and special occasions.
This Recipe is Sponsored by DeLallo. All thoughts and text are my own. Thank you for supporting the companies that help make Two Cups Flour possible.
🌿 Ingredients You'll Need
- Dark Chocolate makes a rich lightly sweet chocolate ganache and my go to choice of chocolate for chocolate tarts. Choose the best quality chocolate you can find, I suggest 70% cocoa bittersweet chocolate bars over bagged chocolate chips. This recipe can also be made with a mixture of milk and dark chocolate if you prefer.
- Whole Oats are used to form a chewy cookie-like oatmeal crust instead of a regular shortcrust dough common in mini chocolate tartlets.
- Almonds and Pecans, or a mixture of your favorite nuts to give an extra crunch and nutty flavor to the tart base. The flavor of brown sugar and toasted nuts pairs nicely with the bittersweet chocolate.
- Flaky Salt makes every dessert a little better.
- Figs or Fresh Berries add color and a fruity balance to the rich chocolate filling. Decorate each tartlet with fresh strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, or blackberries if you don't have fresh figs.
Making the Chocolate Ganache Filling
Chocolate ganache is a 1:1 mixture of dark baking chocolate and warm heavy cream. Pour the warm heavy cream, which I usually flavor with vanilla over the chopped chocolate and stir until smooth. The ganache is smooth and silky, perfect for topping desserts. This recipe adds butter to the ganache, to create a firmer consistency of a chocolate ganache tart filling.
Oatmeal Nut Cookie Crust
The crust for this tart is a combination of rolled oats, flour, almonds, and pecans. I finely chop or blitz the nuts in a food processor with the oats to resemble coarse almond meal. Flavor with cocoa powder, espresso powder to boost the chocolate notes, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla extract and almond extract. Resulting in a delicious tart shell that tastes like a chocolate oatmeal cookie.
Espresso Powder Enhances Chocolate Flavor
To create this chocolate tarts recipe, I partnered with DeLallo Foods to showcase their Instant Espresso Powder. An indispensable baking ingredient, heightening the rich chocolatey presence in baked goods without the addition of coffee flavor. I add espresso powder to all my chocolate baking recipes for that little extra umph it gives to melted chocolate and cocoa powder.
DeLallo’s Instant Espresso Powder is made from dark-roasted coffee beans that are brewed, dried and ground into a fine powder. When added to liquid the powder easily dissolves. For this recipe, I’ve added the espresso powder to the dark chocolate ganache and into the crust with the cocoa powder to enhance the chocolate notes.
Perfect and Easy Dessert
Layers of texture with a depth of flavor keep your mouth and tastebuds entertained. The soft bittersweet ganache filling paired with a chewy cookie crust, a little crunch form the nuts, and salty finish are recipe for the perfect dessert experience.
A French Chef I met in Paris told me, that its the first couple of bites where you truly enjoy eating something. Therefore, to keep the tasting experience interesting add multiple textures with flavors. This balanced tart is topped with sliced figs and/or crunchy candied nuts to assure satisfaction.
Tips for Chocolate Ganache Tarts
- Weigh the dry ingredients for best results.
- Swap the almonds and pecans for your favorite nuts using the same measurements.
- If you have a nut allergy, replace the chopped nuts with additional whole oats.
- Allow each baked tart shell to cool completely before pouring in the chocolate ganache.
- Chill the ganache filled tarts for a minimum of 2 hours before removing them from their tart trays. Cold tarts will pop out of the metal tart pans much easier.
- Serve the chocolate tarts with sliced figs, raspberries, or blackberries and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Store Leftover Chocolate Tarts
Keep any leftover tarts refigerated in an air tight container for up to 5 days of freshness. The chocolate ganache filling will eventually soften if kept at room temperature.
Chocolate Ganache Tarts
Equipment
Ingredients
Oatmeal Nut Cookie Crust
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup chopped almonds
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon Delallo espresso powder
- ¼ cup dark brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon cloves
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 1 cup bittersweet dark chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon Delallo espresso powder
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into small pieces
Toppings
- flaky sea salt
- sliced figs
- candied nuts
Instructions
Oatmeal Nut Cookie Crust
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C) and set out 4 mini tart trays (5 inches wide) with removable bottoms. This recipe can make 4 thick crust tarts or 6 thin crust tarts. I prefer using the crust ingredients to make 4 thick crust tarts.
- Blitz oatmeal and chopped nuts for 3 seconds into to coarse pieces using a blender or food processor. Small chunks are perfect to have mixed in.
- Place the chopped nuts and oats into a medium bowl and whisk together with the flour, brown sugar, cocoa powder and espresso powder. Whisk in the cinnamon and cloves to distribute.
- Pour in the melted butter, pure vanilla extract and almond extract, stir with a rubber spatula until well mixed.
- Divide the crust mixture between 4 mini tart pans (5 inches wide). Use a spoon or your finger tips to press crust into the bottom and sides of each tart pan. Transfer the tart pans to a rimmed baking sheet and bake them for 18-22 minutes until golden and fragrant.
- Carefully remove tart trays from the pan and place them on a wire rack to cool completely.
Dark Chocolate Ganache Filling
- Place chopped dark chocolate and espresso powder in a medium mixing bowl.
- Heat the heavy cream in small saucepan on medium heat until lightly bubbling. (Not a full boil). Remove cream from the heat and carefully pour it over the chopped chocolate.
- Let sit for about 2 minutes for the hot heavy cream to melt the chocolate Then, add the butter slices and whisk until smooth.
- Carefully spoon or pour the dark chocolate ganache into the cooled tart shells. If you make 4 shells instead of 6 there may be a bit of ganache left over. Save it in an air tight container in the fridge to enjoy later.
- Place the filled tart shells in the fridge for 2 hours to firm.
Top and Serve
- Remove chocolate tarts from fridge. Place a tart on an upside down juice glass with a bottom that is slightly smaller than the tart tray's removable bottom. Slowly press down until the tart ring falls around the glass. Remove the bottom of the tart pan from the cooked tart shell.
- Place the tart on a serving plate. Top with a sliced fig and sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Notes
Tips
- Weigh the dry ingredients for best results.
- Swap the almonds and pecans for your favorite nuts using the same measurements.
- Allow each baked tart shell to cool completely before pouring in the chocolate ganache.
- Chill the ganache filled tarts for a minimum of 2 hours before removing them from their tart trays. Cold tarts will pop out of the metal tart pans much easier.
- Serve the chocolate tarts with sliced figs, raspberries, or blackberries and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Cristina
Hi! I would love to make this recipe but unfortunately we are allergic to nuts/peanuts etc. Can I substitute those with something else? Your recipe sounds and looks amazing ! Thank you!