An Unpretentious Chocolate Tart

While I was flipping through a pile of pages ripped out from various cooking magazines over the years, I stumbled upon a recipe for chocolate tart. I was drawn to it because first and foremost, chocolate was involved, and second, it contained only four ingredients. Instead of a whole pie, I made four individual tarts. I used 70 percent dark chocolate but you could easily substitute semi-sweet. I wouldn't recommend anything over 70 percent though. My husband even commented that he thought the filling had a slightly bitter taste - and that's from a lover of the darkest chocolate bars. I enjoyed the strong flavor but agreed that it could have benefited from a tad more sweetness. To achieve that, use sweeter chocolate, add a little sugar or your sweetener of choice, or leave it as is and apply a sweet topping. I'm thinking whipped cream infused with maple syrup or an ice cream flavor such as caramel praline or toffee crunch, etc.

Silky Chocolate Tart

From the September 2006 issue of Sunset Magazine

1c heavy whipping cream

7 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 egg yolk

1 prebaked pastry shell (9") or your favorite homemade pie dough

1. Preheat oven to 325F. In a small saucepan, bring cream to a simmer [but don't boil]. Remove from heat and add chocolate. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Let sit 5 minutes. Stir in egg yolk until thoroughly combined.

2. Pour into pastry shell and bake until center of tart is just starting to firm up, about 25 minutes. Let cool to room temperature before serving.

My notes: I made my own pie dough, used individual tart pans, and baked about 20 minutes.