Hey, so another post from me and this one is sooo worth it. Definitely by far the best thing I’ve baked; taste- and look-wise!

These are tasty, chocolatey tarts baked from Gordon’s recipe (yes we are on first name terms!!) and they are very easy to make.

Ingredients:

For the pastry:

125g butter

90g caster sugar

1 egg

250g plain flour

For the filling:

150g of plain/dark chocolate (Gordon uses 400g)

5 tbsps of double cream (Gordon uses 8)

40g of butter (Gordon used 60g)

and 2 tbsps of caster sugar (or a little more if you want it sweeter – I used 3)

plus some butter for greasing the tart tins (or Gordon uses oil)

(additionally buy some Carnation caramel (dulce de leche) to layer under the chocolate for a sweet twist!)

To make: 1. Combine the butter and sugar (either by hand or by food processor) until just well mixed and then add the egg. Pour in the flour until it starts to look like dough. Pop it out onto a floured surface and knead for a bit (but not too long). Then roll into a ball, wrap in clingfilm and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes. Don’t worry too much if it doesn’t quite keep its shape – mine started to deflate a little but turned out ok! 2. Take out the pastry and put onto a well floured surface so that it will be easy to peel off. Mine stuck a little I was fairly liberal with the flour – use as little as possible. Roll until the thickness of about a quarter of a centimetre and the get some small tart/flan tins (about 4 inches in diameter) and cut circles around them a bit bigger than the edge. Then lift off and place into the (greased) tin without breaking. Leave some overhang, this can be cut off later. Try to keep them all the same thickness otherwise they will need different cooking times. I made six, but mine were fairly thick, which is why I didn’t need as much chocolate. So if you make thinner ones and hence more, maybe increase the filling ingredients. Prick the bottom of the pastry and pop back in the fridge for 20 minutes.

3. Preheat the oven to 190C and start to make the filling. Chuck all the ingredients into a bowl over simmering water and wait until they have all melted and combine. Leave to the side.

4. Once the oven has got to temperature, pop the pastries in. The time suggested was 12 minutes – as some of mine were thicker than others I just went by eye. Expect the rim of the pastries (and the middle but not so much) to be a golden brown.

5. After baking, leave the pastries to cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, spoon in the chocolate (tip: make it spread out evenly by dropping the tins from a small height a few times.). If you’re using the caramel as well then put a thin layer on the bottom first then chocolate on top. Then put back in the fridge for 20 minutes, until the chocolate has hardened.

6. ENJOY!!