Even though we’re Jewish, it’s impossible to ignore all of the Halloween in the air! That means tons of candy and treats for the kids. For my kid, it’s homemade candy; so if you want to make a special homemade treat, give this recipe a try! And if you can find the correct sized tart pan, buy one for me. I’ll pay you back.
When I saw the photo of this candy/dessert in my friend Daniella’s Bon Appetit Desserts book, I KNEW I had to buy the book right away. And I did, thanks to the Amazon app on my iPhone. Then I bookmarked way too many desserts and put this one off for a little while. I’m glad I came back to it. It was actually quite easy, and I had all the ingredients in my pantry except for the sweetened condensed milk. That’s easy to find in the supermarket. Oh, golden syrup is great. If you don’t have it, you can use corn syrup, but I don’t like to use corn syrup. I find Lyle’s golden syrup in the regular supermarket, but if you can’t find it, try Amazon.
This dessert was so yummy! It was like a caramel candy, but with a bonus because of the tart crust (that egg yolk takes it up a notch and makes it even more creamy and delicious than a regular pie or tart dough) and the salted chocolate. Use good chocolate for this, because the flavor really shines through.
Also, because I used a smaller tart pan than the recipe called for, the slices were very thick. I cut them super thin, because just one small slice was enough richness for everyone.
Can you tell I like my new book?
I actually made two versions of this candy, since I had two tart pans. One with a hard caramel, to be more like a candy bar. I’m only sharing the soft caramel recipe with you because we liked it better (and the hard one caused some dental problems).
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
- 1 tablespoon ice water
- 1 egg yolk
For the Caramel:
- 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2 tablespoons golden syrup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
For the Chocolate Glaze:
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate
- 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- Flaky sea salt
Directions:
1. Make the crust: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 12 x 8 1/4 x 1 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom (Okay, so I couldn’t find this size. I used a long rectangular one and it came out just fine. The pieces were a little thicker, so I cut them smaller. If you have a round tart pan, I’m sure you can use that and just slice into wedges).
3. Blend flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a food processor.
4. Add butter and pulse until coarse meal forms.
5. Add ice water and egg yolk and blend until moist clumps form.
6. Press dough into bottom (not sides!) of the pan.
7. Pierce dough all over with a fork.
8. Bake until golden, about 22 minutes. Check on it periodically and pierce with fork if bubbles form.
9. Make caramel: Whisk all ingredients in a saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, butter melts, and mixture boils.
10. Attach a thermometer and boil gently, whisking constantly, until a mixture reaches 225 degrees.
11. Pour caramel evenly over crust and spread to the edges.
12. Let cool for 15 minutes.
13. Make chocolate: melt chocolate in a heat proof bowl over a pot with an inch of simmering water (double boiler), stirring occasionally until smooth.
14. Spread over warm caramel.
15. Sprinkle with sea salt.
16. Refrigerate at least one hour, until chocolate is set.
17. Cut into strips and serve cold.
