All posts tagged: τάρτα σοκολάτα

Arpi’s Chocolate Tart

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The lockdown gave rise to a new social group: mothers of kids that had to be homeschooled and kept busy within social acceptable norms. A number of tricks where utilised to keep us mothers relatively sane: memes in social media, zoom chats, cooking, alcohol. Birthdays were a challenge. We did the best we could. Our son celebrated his over zoom with his classmates. They sung happy birthday, he blew the candles of his cake.  Then, as the lockdown eased, we repeated the process with his grandfather, his godparents and then his grandmother in separate sessions. I am sure he is aware of the absurdity, but, given the presents, he plays along. As of the cakes, and given that our assembly skills are a little rusty to build the Millennium Falcon or Darth Vader, the two variations we baked was a multi coloured cake so our son could choose the colours (white, brown, red, blue ) and participate in the process, and a chocolate tart. We first had this chocolate tart from Arpi, a good friend …

Chocolate Fondant Tart

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How did the chocolate Montezuma drank taste like? After a day on the temple, did he sip his chocolate ‘all frothed up’ and plan following’s day ritual sacrifices ? Chocolate was one of the oddities the Spanish conquistadores encountered in the Court of the Aztec Emperor. Cortez loved chocolate, and reported back home to Charles V about the ‘divine drink’. Spaniards however were not convinced at first – it was probably too bitter-, but after some attempts involving wine and spices soon mixed it with sugar, vanilla and milk and chocolate took off, making its way to other Habsburg territories and beyond. Fast-forward 500 years and a completely different setting.  A dessert developed to be eaten in warm bourgeois (Salzburgian) houses of central Europe: Chocolate tart. Chocolate had been tamed for much of its european trajectory – too sweet, too much vanilla (extract) and milk. In the last decades chocolate desserts became more bitter and dark, closer to the original spirit of ‘xocolatl’. For the pastry 150g softened butter, cubed 3 Tbsp lukewarm water 250g  all purpose flour 4 egg yolks 1 pinch …