[Recipe] Brown butter hazelnut tart with mandarin orange custard and cardamon spiced chocolate

It's the time of the year where you see red everywhere and hear the familiar Chinese New Year music playing all over Singapore. It's the time of the year where mandarin oranges are abundant and probably the only fruit stocked up at home. So rather than eating them as it is, why not make a dessert out of it? :)

And brown butter... oh brown butter is probably one of the smell I would love to wake up to every morning. I actually thought I burnt the butter and was about to throw it away.. but it was just too painful to discard 400g of butter, so while I was contemplating, the butter cooled and something miraculous happened. Instead of the original bitter smell from the burnt butter, it turned into something fragrant, hazelnut-ty and absolutely mouth watering. That's when it hit me, pair it with hazelnut.

And so, that's how i decided to add the almost-burnt-but-turned-out-to-be-the-best-thing-i-had butter to the tart and added some hazelnut to it. Turns out to be the best decision ever. At the 15minutes mark during baking, that fragrance... so overwhelming that I couldn't believe why I hadn't done it before...

Mandarin orange is like a little cousin to oranges, slightly more to the sweet side while preserving the orangey tangy taste. It paired well with brown butter and hazelnut (like what wouldn't!) and even more so with cardamon spiced chocolate. I was feeling really adventurous and dipped half of the mandarin orange pieces into the spiced melted chocolate with a sprinkle of fleur de sel. This combination just brings mandarin oranges to the next level. Sweet, juicy, chocolatey, salty with a slight bite from the chocolate coating.... Now i understand why fruit fondue is easily one of the most popular during parties/buffets (apart from that velvety chocolate fountain that never fails to wow...).

Be a little adventurous, try this out, I can assure you that you'll not regret :)

Brown butter hazelnut tart with mandarin orange custard and cardamon spiced chocolate

Ingredients

For the tart

200g flour

50g toasted hazelnut flour

100g icing sugar

60g unsalted butter, softened

40g brown butter

1 pinch of salt

1 egg yolk

For the mandarin orange curd

8g mandarin orange zest

50g sugar

80g eggs

25g lemon juice

40g mandarin orange juice

130g butter

Cardamon spiced chocolate

1 cardamon pod, seeds grounded

60g chocolate

A generous pinch of Fleur de sel

And some mandarin orange pieces

Instructions

The day before......

For the tart

1. Cream butter and brown butter until you get a creamy consistency

2. Add in the icing sugar and cream till incorporated

3. Add in the egg yolk and mix well

4. Fold in the flour and hazelnut flour in 2 batches

5. Mix till just incorporated, do not overmix

6. Cling wrap and leave it in the fridge overnight

For the mandarin orange curd

1. Rub the sugar with the orange zest and set aside

2. Whisk the sugar and the egg, lemon and orange juice together over a bain marie and keep whisking slowly until the mixture turns thick (you should be able to leave a "trail" of line when you swipe your finger against the back of the spoon)

3. Add in the butter, mix well

4. Cling wrap and leave it in the fridge to set

The next day........

1. Take out the dough and shape it into your tart mold/line your tart rings

2. Leave it in the fridge to chill for about 3-4 hours or freezer for 30minutes

3. Preheat oven to 160oC

4. Blind bake the tarts for around 15mins, remove the beads, (optional- egg wash the tart. I didn't because I knew i'll be able to finish them within 24hours. If you intend to keep them longer, egg wash will be recommended to keep the tart "crispy") and continue to bake for about 10-12minutes or until the tart turn golden brown

5. Take the tarts out and cool

6. While waiting, temper the chocolate and stir in the grounded cardamon

7. Dip the oranges into the chocolate and sprinkle Fleur de sel over them and leave it in the fridge to set (Do not be tempted to eat up all the coated oranges and save some for decoration later!!!)

8. Save some chocolate for the drizzle on the tart later

9. When the tarts are cooled, fill them up with the mandarin orange curd

10. Drizzle some chocolate over them and put in the fridge to set

11. Place a piece of chocolate coated mandarin orange on top and enjoy :)

Hope y'all will like this tart as much as I do! And wishing you a very blessed chinese new year :D

#Snack #tart