Gluten Free Chocolate Lemon Tart...Plus A CocoaPlanet Golden Ticket Giveaway!

   For years I never knew that chocolate and lemon went together. I've always been a chocolate orange, or chocolate strawberry kind of person. Boy was I wrong. Working with the people at CocoaPlanet Chocolate I've learned a lot about what one can do with some really good chocolate, and the options are many. I've put somethings together with chocolate that I never thought of doing before, but was I late to the party on lemon.

   We were sitting around a few weeks ago and talking about some cool desserts that might be good on the CocoaPlanet menu. I was thinking lemon and Anne McKibben owner of CocoaPlanet and chocolate maker said  "how about something chocolate?"

   "Chocolate, check!"

    "And of course lemon..."

   "Say what! Lemon?!!" I was immediately intrigued about trying this combo, and then Anne said, "And make the crust chocolate too!"

   "Hmmmm, chocolate, chocolate, and lemon."  Why the hell not?! We'll just go to hell in an ultra large hand basket in that case.

   I have had a huge lemon crop this year, so finding delicious Meyers was no problem and I sure enough had all the chocolate I needed. As to the gluten free crust I turned to the Queen of Chocolate Crusts, my friend Alice Medrich . Alice, has a recipe for a killer-diller chocolate crust that anyone who's on a gluten free diet should know about. This tart is easy to make and keeps well in the fridge.

   At the end of the recipe is a total Chocolate Giveaway , so stick around and enter.

Chocolate Lemon Tart

 

Here's What You Need:

 

 Alices' Crust
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs Teff Flour
3 Tbs white rice flour
1/4 cup sugar
3 Tbs unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tbs unsalted butter slightly soft and chunked up
2 Tbs cream cheese
1 and 1/2 tsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg yolk mixed with a pinch of salt, and 1 tsp of water for the egg wash

Here's What To Do:
Put the teff flour, cocoa powder, rice flour, sugar, and salt into a food processor. Pulse to blend
Add in the butter chunks, cream cheese,water, and vanilla.
Pulse until it forms a soft dough

Transfer the dough to a 10 or  11 inch greased tart pan.
Press the dough into the tart pan and up the sides....
Alice's trick (and now mine) for working dough, is to place a piece of plastic wrap over the bottom and sides of the dough, place a paper towel over that and press the dough flat and even with a straight sided, flat bottomed cup.
Get rid of the paper towel but leave the plastic wrap in place.
Put the tart pan into the fridge for at least 2 hours, overnight is best. It can also be refrigerated for 2 days before you use it.

When the crust has chilled, preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
Remove the plastic wrap from the tart crust. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and  bake for about 35 minutes.
Check the crust after 15 minutes and if you see it puffing up on the bottom press it down carefully with the back of a fork.
Bake the crust until it is a slightly deeper shade of brown and the crust has pulled away from the sides of the tart pan.
Take it out of the oven and set it aside to cool.

  The Filling: Chocolate Ganache

Here's What You Need:
6 oz CocaPlanet Deep Dark Truffle Chocolate, chopped
6 oz whipping cream

Here's What To Do:
Heat the cream until it's nearly at the boil, but NOT boiling.
Pour it over the bowl of chopped chocolate .

Let it sit for about 5 minutes.
After 5 minutes when the chocolate is melted, whisk it into the cream.

Let it cool down at room temperature.
When it has cooled enough so you can still pour it, pour it into the bottom of the tart.

Place it into the fridge to chill until the chocolate ganache is set.

The Lemon Filling

Here's What You Need:
1 cup of sugar
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup of lemon juice
4 oz of cold unsalted butter cut into small pieces
1 Tbs lemon zest

Here's What To Do:
Mix the egg yolks with the sugar in a small pot.
When you have a thick mixture, add in the lemon juice. Put the whole thing over a medium flame and whisk constantly until it starts to thicken.

You want to KEEP WHISKING so that your lemon curd does not turn into curdled lemon scrambled eggs.
When it has thickened, take the pan off the heat, whisk in the butter pieces...

...and the lemon zest.

Set the lemon curd in the fridge to chill and firm a bit.
When it has chilled for a while, and your chocolate ganache layer is firm, pour the lemon curd over it.

Spread it out evenly, and place it in the fridge until it's ready to serve.

Cut it up and have a ball!!!

This is great with a bit of unsweetened whipped cream, it's not a command but just sayin' ...it doesn't hurt.

So, there's the tart and here's The Giveaway

I have 3 CocoaPlanet Golden Tickets to give away.

Each ticket is good for two people for a tasting and a tour...so if you are planning on coming to Sonoma and you'd like a set of these tickets follow me and CocoaPlanet on Twitter @kathygori  
Leave me a comment here telling me you've done so.

I'll be announcing the winner Next Fri July 21st. So if you're planning on getting up to lovely wine country please enter!!!!