Turkey Day Hits: "Jack Daniels" Coffee-Chocolate Tart

The thought of doing another butterscotch or apple pie did not sound too inspiring for me this year, so I decided to try something completely different from an inexpensive cookbook my sister gave me last year. I never would have thought this cheap book could produce such a rich recipe. I had to work with Jack Daniels rather than an Irish whiskey or Scotch for lack of expenses at the time. In addition, I decided to use lard for the crust which was much easier to work with as opposed to shortening. In any case, the dessert was a savory ending to our all-day eating festival. This tart is very rich so I recommend serving small portions.

Irish Coffee-Chocolate Tart

Crust

1 ½ cups all purpose flour + extra for rolling

2 T confectioners’ sugar

Pinch of salt

5 T or 2/3 stick unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces

2 ½ T lard (the recipe in book calls for vegetable shortening), chilled and cut into small pieces

Approximately 4 T ice water

- Put flour, confectioners’ sugar, and salt into a food processor or mixer and blend. Add butter and shortening. Pulse several times until mixture resembles a coarse meal.

- Slowly add water and mix until moist clumps appear.

- Remove dough, gather into ball, and flatten it into a disk. Wrap with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for 30 min or up to a day before using.

- Roll dough out on lightly floured work surface into 12-inch round. Transfer to a 9-inch tart pan.

- Trim any overhanging dough to 1 inch and fold the overhanging dough in, pressing itself in to form thick sides. Prick bottom of crust all over with the tines of fork.

- Cover and free for 30 min.

- Preheat oven 400 degrees F. Bake crust until golden brown, piercing bottom with fork as it bubbles for 30-35 min. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool to room temperature.

Filling

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1 ½ cups heavy or whipping cream, divided

4 large egg yolks

4 oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped + 1 oz for garnish (optional)

2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped

1 T powdered instant coffee

5 T whiskey, divided (the recipe calls for Irish but is optional)

- In medium heat-proof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (should not be touching), whisk together granulated sugar, ½ cup of cream, and egg yolks together. Whisk constantly until the sugar has dissolved and small bubbles form around edge of bowl for about 3-4 min.

- Remove from heat and stir in 4 oz of semisweet chocolate, all the unsweetened chocolate, coffee, and 4 T of whiskey. Whisk until mixture is smooth and shiny. Cool it to room temperature.

- With electric mixer on med-high speed, whip remaining 1 cup of cream in medium bowl until soft peaks form. Do not over whip.

- Add remaining 1 T whiskey and beat until cream is firm.

- Fold half of the whipped cream into chocolate mixture, not blending it completely to create marble effect.

- Spread filling evenly in the cooled tart shell and swirl with knife to marble it a little more. Refrigerate filling until firm, anywhere from 2 – 6 hours. Cover and refrigerate remaining whipped cream separately for serving.

- Serve each slice with a dollop of reserved whipped cream and a shaving of chocolate (optional).

Makes 8 – 10 servings.

From:

Rosbottom, Betty. (2006). Coffee Scrumptious Drinks and Treats. San Francisco: Chronicle Books.