Love Dorie

I must start an exercise program immediately. Since not tasting what I bake is definitely not an option ! And with Dorie Greenspan's recipes how can you go wrong. I made the Chocolate Coconut Creme Pie from pgs 352-353. And I used her pate sable dough as the base,pg 444. The only adaptation I made was for the chocolate creme filling, instead of 2 cups of whole milk, I used 2 cups of Half & Half. It made it a little bit richer. And warning to those of you who haven't tried this recipe, SMALL SLICES ! Unless of course you want to overdose on the most incredible combination of chocolate creme,coconut and shortbread. Just know you have been warned. Heading over to my treadmill to work off the slice I had this morning. Yes the breakfast of champions-Dorie's Desserts !

Happy Ground Hog Day

Well Phil didn't see his shadow but I did see mine so I'm celebrating the coming of Spring ! But just in case we really do have 6 more weeks of winter I think I need something fabulous to get me through those 6 weeks and I know just the thing. Chocolate Caramel Tarts with sea salt. I discovered them on the blog There's a Newf in My Soup and found the original recipe at Saveur. So heading out to the grocery store for some fresh eggs and the most decadent dark chocolate I can find at my Thriftway ! You can find the recipe here: http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/Chocolate-Caramel-Tart

I adapted the recipe a bit by using mini muffin tins. After mixing the dough I formed it into a loose ball and refrigerated it for 15 minutes. I then took a cookie scoop and scooped the dough into little mounds. I took each mound and cut it in half. I took those halves and quickly rounded them into small balls with my hands and gently flattened them like tiny pizzas,placing them into each muffin tin. I then pressed them into the muffin mold. These were then refrigerated for 30 minutes.

This resulted in even sized tart shells for the creamy caramel filling with ganache! I used Green & Black's Organic Cocoa Powder and their dark chocolate for the ganache. The picture was taken just before I sprinkled them with my secret stash of sea salt brought back from Paris. These definitely took the chill off the rain and grey skies this morning ! Enjoy