Strawberry and dark chocolate ganache tart

Continuing on the strawberry and chocolate theme.... I made my FIRST EVER sweet tart dough aka pate sucree. It was for a chocolate ganache with strawberry tart. See the recipe here.

I don't have a big enough food processor so I used my trusty dough blender to cut the butter into the flour. This is MUCH better then using your fingers. Since it was about 90 degrees in my kitchen, I put the dough back in the fridge every 5 minutes or so to make sure the butter didn't melt.


I used Trader Joe's 70-something% cocoa and I have to say.... it wasn't that good. I'm going to stick with Valrhona or maybe try a semi-sweet chocolate. The strawberries were VERY sweet so it didn't go too well with the bitter chocolate (to me at least). I think next time I'll also slice the strawberries, it was kinda hard to eat.


I also didn't do the glaze since I was going to eat it right away. All in all, it was a good pate sucree recipe. It was flaky, slightly sweet with a hint of salt. I had problems putting the dough in the tart pan, I think I have to practice. You can see how it's uneven in this photo. I think the trick is to roll it out on a flat surface and then smush it up the sides instead of dumping the dough in the middle and trying to smush the dough across the bottom AND up the sides. I'm feeling more confidant working with dough though! I'm going to try some different recipes and see if there is a better one. While this one was good, it wasn't mindblowing.

Chocolate covered strawberries

Mmm chocolate covered strawberries. I don't really have a recipe for this, I just sort of wing it. Basically you need milk/dark/semisweet chocolate, white chocolate (if you choose to do the drizzley design), a few tablespoons of cream and strawberries! (And you can omit the cream actually, it just makes the chocolate a bit smoother and easier to dip the strawberries into)



For the milk/dark/semi-sweet chocolate (it's up to your taste, I like dark), I think it's easier to do it with chips. If you get a big bar, you have to chop it up into small, even pieces and it's really labor intensive. Either way, melt it in SMALL batches! You can either do it in a double boiler (get a small pot and put 1-2 inches of water in it, bring it up to a simmer and place another pot or bowl on top. Don't let the top pot/bowl touch the water! Place the chocolate in the top pot/bowl and stir until everything melts) or in the microwave.

Personally I like the microwave because it's easier. Just put 1/2 a cup - 1 cup of chocolate in a small bowl and blast it in the microwave in 15 SECOND intervals. Stir the chocolate after each blast. Keep microwaving it until the chocolate melts. You want to do this a few seconds at a time so the chocolate doesn't burn or melt unevenly (hence the stirring). If you have some cream or half and half handy, throw some in as well. It makes it smoother and it's easier to dip strawberries in it. Add more liquid if you'd like a thin chocolate shell.


The most important part of making chocolate covered strawberries is making sure your strawberries are DRY. One tiny drop of water will make your chocolate seize and it will turn into an ugly mess. Trust me. Water does not mix well with chocolate.


So this is my process: I make an assembly line of sorts. I wash and dry my strawberries with a paper towel to make sure ALL THE WATER is gone. Then next to that is the chocolate and then next to that is a sheet of wax paper where the finished product goes.

If you decide to do some fancy white chocolate designs, it's the same process you did for the milk/dark/semi-sweet, either the microwave or the double boiler. You can either dip a spoon in and shake it over the strawberries or put the melted white chocolate into a sealed zip loc bag, cut off one of the corners and pipe the chocolate onto the strawberries.

When all the strawberries are dipped and decorated, you can either let them harden outside (if it's cool and not too humid) or in the fridge. BUT KEEP IN MIND: these do not keep that long. After a day the strawberries will begin to sweat and strawberry juice will start leaking out of them and it doesn't look pretty.