Easy Chocolate Ganache

Chocolate Ganache Tart with Fresh Strawberries

1 Sweet Tart Dough (adapted from Fanny Farmer-recipe below)
8 oz good dark chocolate
8 oz Heavy Cream
2 baskets fresh strawberries, rinsed, stem end cut flat

Tart Pan with removable bottom

Once the tart shell is cooked and cooled, heat the cream in a heavy bottomed pot, just until it gets very hot; do not boil. Put the chocolate in a bowl and pour the hot cream over it. Whisk until all the chocolate is melted. Yield is approximately 2 cups.

Pour the chocolate into the baked tart shell and chill in the refrigerator for about 1/2 an hour until it is almost firm. Place the strawberries across the top of the tart. Cover with glaze if you want, especially if you are making a day in advance. I did not use glaze because I knew we’d be eating it within a few hours. The glaze keeps the fruit looking fresh and moist and keeps it from drying out in the refrigerator. An easy glaze can be made out of melted and strained apricot jam.

Sweet Tart Dough -baked shell
(adapted from the Fanny Farmer Baking Book -large enough for a 10″ tart pan with removeable bottom)

1.5 cups all purpose flour
2 Tbsp Sugar
12 Tbsp Butter (1 1/2 sticks, cut into 1″ pieces)

1 egg yolk

2 Tbsp cold water
1/4 tsp. salt (only use if you are using unsalted butter)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Directions for making in food processor (this is how I did it).
Fit bowl with metal blade. Add flour, sugar and butter to bowl (add salt if butter is unsalted). Put on the lid and process in short bursts, about 10 times to break up the butter into the flour. Mix the egg yolk and water in a small bowl and with the processor on, pour the egg/water mix through the tube in the lid into the bowl. Keep mixing until the dough forms into a ball inside the bowl. Remove and form into a small cake.

If you don’t have a food processor and want to make it by hand, that works too. Just follow the same steps you would for pie dough; cut the butter into the flour and sugar, working it through by hand until it becomes like coarse meal or breadcrumbs. Mix in the egg/water mixture with a fork until it’s incorporated and the dough comes together in a soft ball.

At this point you can press the dough into the tart pan, or do what I did which is roll it out on a lightly floured surface. Once it was rolled out, I put it in the pan and pressed the dough into the edges, pulling off any excess.
Because the filling for this recipe is not cooked in the tart shell, the crust needs to be fully baked by itself. To keep the center of the crust from puffing up and cracking during baking, you’ll want to weigh it down.

Cut a piece of parchment paper or foil to fit the bottom of the tart pan. Tip; fold a square in 1/2 and then 1/2 again to make a smaller square. Cut from edge to edge in a semi-circle equal to 1/2 the diameter of your pan. Unfold and voila! You have a perfect circle to fit.

Pierce the bottom of the dough with a fork and put the paper on top.
Weigh down with pie weights or beans.
Bake for 8 minutes or until the edges of the crust begin to color. Remove from oven, and carefully remove the paper and beans. Put the tart back in the oven and bake until crisp and golden, about another 8 minutes. Remove and let cool. Fill.

via Former Chef