Shelly's Recipe

Chocolate Mousse Tart with Chocolate Chip Cookie Crust

Category: Tarts

For the choc chip cookie tart dough:
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla essence
1/4 tsp salt
125g (4.5 oz/just over 1 stick) butter, room temperature
3 egg yolks
10.6oz/ about 2.5 cups) purpose flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk or dark chocolate chips, or more if you prefer

With a hand or stand mixer, combine brown sugar, vanilla extract, salt and butter on medium speed. Mix only until ingredients are thoroughly combined, but by no means light and fluffy. Add in the yolks, one at a time then reduce speed to low. Add in the flour and chocolate chips all at once and mix until homogenous, add more chips if you wish. Form the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate about 15 minutes to make the it easier to handle. You can refrigerate the dough for up to a week or freeze for several months. Before rolling, set the dough out and let it slowly come to room temperature over a few hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease a 22-24 cm loose bottomed tart tin. Dust the counter with a very, very light coat of flour. Roll to 1/3" thickness. Carefully set dough over the tart shell and use your thumbs to press the dough into the corners of the pan. Press the overhanging dough against the edges of the tart pan to trim off the excess and leave the dough flush with the edges.

Dock tart lightly with a fork. The dough is extremely forgiving and can be rerolled two or three times, you should be able to press any cracks together to mend them or fill any defects with leftover dough by pressing it gently together. Bake for 20-25 minutes. After 10 minutes or so, check on the tart. If it has formed an air bubble; use a skewer to gently poke a small hole in the bubble to deflate it. Continue baking until the tart is golden brown and firm and dry to the touch. (It is better to slightly overbake than underbake to prevent any raw taste.) Cool in tin for about 10 minutes, then carefully remove from tin and cool completely on a wire rack. Shell can be stored in an airtight container overnight.

For the chocolate mousse filling:
(Note the amounts below will yield leftover mousse if you only fill your tart to be level with the edges. You can either pile the mousse filling a bit higher or set the extra mousse in a separate bowl. Who would ever complain about having a bit more mousse?!)

8 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
4 tbsp butter
3 large eggs, separated
1/4 cup superfine sugar
about 1.5 cups cold thickened/heavy cream
Extra chocolate chips to top

In a large heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring. Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth. Return to the heat and add the yolks, one at a time, whisking after the addition of each. Remove from the heat and set aside. In a clean bowl, beat the egg whites until soft peaks start to form. Gradually add only half (1/8th cup) of the sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. In a separate bowl, beat the cream until it becomes frothy. Add the remaining sugar (1/8th cup) and continue beating until it holds soft peaks.

Fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until no white specks appear. Using only half of the whipped cream, gradually fold in until smooth. Spoon the mousse into the pre-baked tart shell and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Refrigerate until well chilled.

To serve, spoon the remaining whipped cream on top and garnish with extra chocolate chips. Cut into wedges and serve. Leftover tart can be stored in an airtight container (even with the extra cream on top) in the fridge for up to two days.