Considering the number of times that I've made this tart - or a version of it - over the years, I'm a little surprised that it's taken me this long to share it with you.
Whilst I wouldn't go quite so far as calling it my signature dessert, it's what I used to bake for almost every dinner party and social occasion. We've celebrated several new years with this tart and more birthdays than I care to think about.
The two fairly obvious reasons for this are that, firstly, it's and easy and reliable recipe that can be prepared in advance and, secondly but most importantly, that it always seems to go down very well.
I've tinkered with the ingredients over the years, as you tend to do with recipes that you know and trust. I've settled on a version with olive oil rather than butter for a slightly richer and more complex flavor and tweaked the amount of sugar until I have something that is just right for my palette. You can add nuts - either ground up as a replacement for the flour or stirred through the filling before baking. A little cream or ice cream is a wonderful addition as is a scattering of fresh raspberries.
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Smoked sea salt and olive oil chocolate tart Adapted from Brownies by Linda Collister Yield: Serves 8
I always think that it looks like there's quite a lot of sugar in this recipe and there is. This is mainly because the filling is, essentially, a chocolate brownie. I've cut it down a little from the original so it doesn't taste too sweet and it works well with a plain shortcrust pastry (ie pastry without any added sugar). Smoked sea salt is somewhat of an acquired taste. I like to use it sparingly because I think it's nice just to have that slight hint of smoke rather than feeling like you've inhaled the fumes from a barbecue. You could always use plain old sea salt; it's equally delicious but just has a slightly different flavour profile .
Ingredients
- Pastry for a 18cm square tin (whatever kind you like)
- 3 eggs
- 260g (2 cups) light brown muscovado sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
- 135ml (1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon) extra virgin olive oil
- 50g (1/2 cup less 2 tablespoons) white spelt flour
- 50g (2/3 cup) cocoa powder
- A pinch of smoked sea salt
Cooking Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180C/350F (fan).
- Roll out your pastry and line a 23cm square tin or circular tart pan and lightly prick with a fork. Cover with a piece of parchment paper and fill with baking beans. Blind bake for about 9 minutes before removing the paper and baking beans and baking for a further 7 minutes until the crust is lightly browned and dry to the touch.
- Set aside to cool while you make the filling.
- Beat the eggs in the bowl of stand mixer for about 5 minutes until light and frothy. Add the sugar and vanilla bean paste and beat for another few minutes. Drizzle in the olive oil and continue to beat until combined. Finally, fold in the flour, cocoa powder and salt.
- Pour the filling into the pastry and bake for about 30 minutes until set in the middle.
- Allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.