I’ve been too busy to post much this year which is not only unforgivable but quite remiss of me as I’ve been enjoying more than my fair share of really great food.

So here I am at silly o’clock in the morning banging out a blog post after the most wonderful night of baking with my niece and nephew.  We decided we were going to surprise their mum and the Dazzler with some hangover food as both have been out tonight, allowing us to takeover the kitchen and really have some fun.

We decided that we would make the cheats chocolate tart from Tom Kerridge’s cook book and some chocolate fudge cupcakes which i will blog about later but it was when it came to leftovers that things got really interesting.

You see I have made Tom’s wonderful tart several times and even purchased a loose bottomed rectangular fluted pie dish to recreate his masterpiece but each time I make it I’m left with too much of everything.

This time though I had a plan. When I bought the feted pie dish I also bought a mini muffin tin which, till now, I’ve been using to make mini quiches. But this time i thought… I have chocolate pastry, I have spare ganache and I have frozen sweet cherries in the freezer, what could possibly go wrong?

the answer was nothing.  Not only did the pastry in the mini muffin tins take less time to cook and cool, they didn’t need blind baking (just a prick with a fork) and whilst everything was cooling down the cherries defrosted too.

The result was sublime. I adore Toms Tart but it is a little rich – a little goes a LONG way – so for me these bitesize versions, cut with the fresh juicy cherry were literally heaven!!

Below I have given the recipe as taken from Tom’s cookbook. either do what I did and make the big tart too, and use up the leftovers, or go the whole hog and make the entire batch as mini’s!!

Tom Kerridges Chocolate Tart  (slightly altered to lose toppings and add cherries, which makes 1 large tart and 24 mini tarts)

Ingredients

For the pastry

• 175g plain flour
• 40g cocoa powder
• 80g icing sugar
• 140g butter, diced
• 2 medium egg yolks

For the filling

• 750g milk chocolate
• 260ml double cream
• 120ml amaretto
• frozen morello cherries, halved

To make  the pastry…

• Sift the flour, cocoa powder and icing sugar into a bowl. Add the butter and rub together using fingers until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
• Add the egg yolks and mix together until it forms a dough. Add a little cold water if the pastry feels dry.
• Wrap the dough in cling film and place in the fridge to rest for at least an hour. 

If making a large tart…

• When the pastry is rested, lightly flour a work surface and roll out the dough into a rectangle about 3mm thick.
• Lay the pastry over the tart case and gently push down to line, taking care to get the pastry right into the edges.
• Line the pastry with baking parchment and fill with baking beans or uncooked rice.
• Place the tart on a baking tray and bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes.
• Carefully remove the baking parchment and beans and place the tart back in the oven to cook for a further 10-20 minutes, or until the base looks dry.
• Remove the tart from the oven and allow to cool. Once cooled, trim the pastry to tidy up the edges.

To make mini tarts (or use up leftovers)

• Roll out the dough until about 3mm thick then cut rounds out of the pastry and line your mini muffin tin
• prick the bottom of each pastry case with a fork a couple of times
• bake in the oven for about 15 minutes or until cooked
• remove from tin and leave to cool whilst you repeat the process with the remaining dough

To make the filling…

• Break up the milk chocolate and place into a bain marie. Do not let the bowl touch the water. Once melted, remove the bowl from the heat. 
• In a pan over a medium heat, bring the double cream and amaretto to the boil.
• Pour the cream mixture over the melted chocolate, whisking everything together well.
• if making mini tarts then put a half cherry into each case
• Pour the mixture into the cooked tart case (or mini tart cases) and cool to room temperature before placing the tart in the fridge for 30 minutes, or until set.
• if making the big tart then dust with icing sugar and serve with good vanilla or cherry ice cream
• if making the minis then add another half cherry to the top of the mini tart and dust with icing sugar

These tarts in either form are seriously moreish, and to be honest I love them both, but the mini bite sized morsels with the juice surprise will always get my vote!!

Enjoy