Honeycomb, Chocolate Pie and Mist

Winter Mists

It is the begining of December and it looks like the winter may finally be here with the gorgeous misty fog that has been lingering all weekend. The photo above was taken at sunset on the first Sunday of December at about 4pm. The mists which had lingered all weekend had lent a moody atmosphere, and a sense that after all of the mild weather the winter was finally arriving.

The day before, when shrouded in the miasma that pervades most of Sherlock Holmes novels, I prepared some treats to take to a friends as we were going for dinner and staying the night, and taking desert was my contribution. I had already decided on a recipe from Rachel Allen's 'Home Cooking', which I had borrrowed from the library and had been slowly devouring. I decided to make a Chocolate, Hazelnut and Caramel Tart, and some of Nigella's Hokey Pokey honeycomb as well. The honeycombe, and the pie-in-progress are pictured below - see the link for the Hokey Pokey recipe - it is so incredibally easy you will wonder why you don't make it more often. Only one warning - I perhaps had mine in too deep a dish for the time I left it to set, so despite being able to smash it into pieces, it didn't maintain the brittle consistency that makes it so irresistible, but became sticky and gooey again when sealed in a tin for transportation. However, it was still chewily delicious.
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/hokey-pokey-36

What a gorgeous way to start winter.



Nigella Lawson's Hokey Pokey and the Caramel and Hazelnut layer of Rachel Allen's tart



Chocolate, Hazelnut and Caramel Tart

For the pastry

I bought Ready-rolled shortcrust pastry, although there are instructions to make it from scratch.

For the caramel layer

50 g butter

75 ml cream

100 g light brown sugar

150 g roasted Hazelnuts, coarsely chopped

For the chocolate layer

200 ml double cream
200 g dark chocolate

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C/gas 4.
2. Line the tart case with the pastry. Bake blind by lining the pastry with greaseproof/parchment paper when cold. Fill with baking beans, or dried pulses (you can use these over and over), and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry feels dry to the touch.
3. Remove the paper and beans, brush with a little left-over beaten egg and return to the oven for 2 minutes. Take out of the oven, and set pastry aside in the tin while you prepare the filling. (This can easily be made a day in advance, and covered until you need it.)
4. To make the hazelnut caramel layer: place the butter, cream and brown sugar in a pan, bring to the boil and simmer for 8 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat, add the hazelnuts and allow to cool.
6. Spread the cooled mixture over the cooked tart shell.
7. To make the chocolate layer: place the cream and chocolate in a pan on a very low heat, stirring until the chocolate is melted.
8. Remove from the heat, pour into a bowl and allow to cool, to almost room temperature.
9. Spread the mixture carefully over the hazelnut caramel in the pastry case. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour, until the chocolate layer is set.

The lushly gorgeous Chocolate, Hazelnut and Caramel Tart