There is a favorite blogger of ours who you see with frequency on our Instagram feed, gathered around our table for family meals, and in our weekly meal plans because we turn to her amazing delicious recipes all the time (with her banana bread and chocolate chip cookies being household favorites).
Yeah, Nicole of Merit + Fork is kind of absolutely a member of our family. And thus it is only appropriate for her to share posts on the site with consistency, no different from any other member of the family!
Prepping for the holidays without a new dessert recipe from Nicole would just be wrong, so we begged her to come on the site to share a treat for our upcoming feasts. And she delivered! Here today to share one EPIC TART that will wow all who enjoy, is our dear friend Nicole – enjoy!
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When I first started developing recipes for the blog about 2 years ago, a chocolate tart was always on my radar. It was one of my dad’s favorite childhood desserts next to lemon meringue pie. Since I was attached to his hip as a kid, whatever my Daddy-O liked is what I liked and, naturally, I always loved going to the grocery store with my pops. It was one of my favorite things to do.
While grocery shopping, he would frequently mention this ONE chocolate pie in particular that his mom aka my adorable grandmom used to serve. I can recall searching high and low over the years, buying & trying several brands of chocolate pies from the freezers & refrigerators of various conventional grocery stores. Unfortunately, they were almost always chocolate pudding pies. Not cool, bro. Anybody can make some instant pudding and dump it into a pie crust with artificial “whipped topping”, but, ain’t nobody got time fo’ dat mess!
We eventually forfeited our quest in seeking a store-bought replica of The Almighty Chocolate Pie. I don’t think we ever had a chance of finding one exactly like what my dad so-fondly remembered. You just can’t compare a modern-day, frozen, processed grocery store pie to the freshly baked, hand-made, slightly firm, silky smooth & creamy chocolate pie from your childhood. Especially when all of my grandmom’s desserts taste like pure magic – truly a hard act to beat. (Step yo’ game up, Sara Lee & Marie Callender! Pies gettin’ whooped by a tiny Czech granny!)
‘Twas on that day, defeated by our 109th chocolatepuddingpie, betwixt the freezer & refrigerator aisle of my local Safeway, that I vowed to one day bake a chocolate-silk-style tart that doth pass my dad’s approval… it only took me 15+ years to finally get around to it!
As cheesy as it may sound, the rosemary-infused cream + sea salt in here really take an extraordinary dessert to extra-extra-extraordinary. The rosemary is not overpowering at all and the entire tart/pie/whatever you want to call it, is insanely simple to make from start to finish. (I served this to a few people without mentioning the rosemary until afterwards and they all still loved it!) Feel free to use the chocolate of your choice. Heck, you could even leave the rosemary & half of the sea salt out and simply make a classic chocolate pie/tart! YUM. Or remove the rosemary + half of the sea salt and replace it with orange zest, or a few drops of peppermint oil! The possibilities for this tart are endless, now, go and ENJOY!!!
Ingredients
- 10.5 oz chocolate of choice, roughly chopped (I use Equal Exchange semi-sweet chocolate chips, but, feel free to use a paleo-approved chocolate like Pure7 or Eating Evolved)
- 1-1/2 cups canned coconut milk, full fat chilled
- 2 eggs, thoroughly beaten
- 1 tbsp ghee (get at OSPS) OR coconut oil
- 1 tbsp maple syrup OR honey
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 3 - 4 to 5-inch sprigs of fresh rosemary (two for cream, one for garnish)
- 1 - par-baked pie/tart crust
- 1-1/2 cup Almond Flour
- ½ cup tapioca flour
- 3 tbsp lard, frozen
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp water
- ½ tsp sweetener of choice
- ½ tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Prepare pie crust by pulsing all ingredients in food processor until ball of dough forms. Roll out dough between sheets of parchment paper to fit your 9-inch pie pan.
- Carefully place dough into greased pie pan. Gently use a fork or fingers to decorate/crimp edges.
- Bake at 325 for 12 minutes then set aside to cool. Prepare filling while baking the crust.
- Add coconut milk and 2 sprigs of rosemary to medium saucepan.
- Heat milk + herbs over med high until it begins to bubble, then, turn heat down to low and simmer for around 10 minutes.
- Once milk has infused, remove rosemary sprigs and discard. Strain out any loose rosemary leaves.
- Remove saucepan from heat and immediately whisk in chocolate, ghee/oil, sweetener, vanilla & sea salt until smooth.
- Quickly whisk in thoroughly beaten eggs to chocolate mixture until well-blended and smooth.
- Pour filling into cooled, half-baked tart shell/pie crust and bake at 325 for 20-25 mins until filling is set around edges. Remove immediately if bubbles start to form.
- Once removed from oven, cut the last remaining rosemary sprig in half and gently arrange it on the center of the pie as a garnish (opt). Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely, then refrigerate lightly covered, not airtight, for 4-8 hours.
- *Optional: Before serving, top single slices with a sprinkle of coarse sea salt, a dollop of coconut whipped cream, and a small sprig-of-rosemary garnish.
[author] [author_image timthumb=’on’]http://paleoparents.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Nicole-hazel-bio-page.jpg[/author_image] [author_info]Nicole is half of the duo behind Merit + Fork, a blog that inspires readers to live their best lives through clean eating, creativity and healthy living. Nicole is the “resident foodie” with a passion for developing new and unique paleo/primal/raw/vegan recipes using ordinary and accessible ingredients. Connect with Merit + Fork: Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram[/author_info] [/author]
