Chocolate Tartelettes

Tartelettes au Chocolat, originally uploaded by ParsecTraveller.
These tartelettes will satisfy any chocolate lover, as they have both dark and white chocolate in them. I made them last night and was surprised at just how easy they were to put together.

The buttery crust of pâte brisée goes well with the dark chocolate ganache, and makes for a delicious dessert that is sure to please.
The recipe is posted below:
Chocolate Tartelettes
Makes six 4.4-inch tartelettes.
Pâte brisée:
Recipe adapted from Paulette Buteux's La Cuisine Toute Simple, 1973.
- 200 g flour
- pinch of salt
- 100 g butter
- 2 or 3 tablespoons of cold water
- 1-2 tablespoons sugar*
*I added some sugar to the dough to make it a little sweeter, since it is after all a dessert.
Sift the flour into a bowl, throw in the pinch of salt, and make the flour into a mountain-shaped pile. Preheat the oven to about 400° F.

Cut the butter into small pieces and put them in the center of the flour mound. Add the 2-3 tablespoons of cold water, and knead rapidly (or use an electric mixer). Work the dough just until it is smooth, does not stick, and is firm enough to be rolled out.

Roll the dough out until it is about 1/5th of an inch thick. Drape the dough over your buttered tartelette molds and press into the corners. Gently press the bottom of a measuring cup onto the dough to ensure that it evenly covers each tartelette mold. Use a fork to poke holes in the crusts so that they do not puff up in the oven.

Bake the tartelettes in the preheated oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the edges of the crusts are starting to turn golden brown. Be careful not to let the crusts burn!
Dark chocolate ganache:
- 10-12 ounces of dark chocolate (62-70% cocoa content), chopped
- 3/4 cup of heavy cream
Heat the cream in a saucepan until it comes to a boil. Add the chocolate and let sit for about 1-2 minutes. After waiting the 1-2 minutes, whisk the chocolate-cream mixture together until smooth.
White chocolate ganache:
- 4 ounces of white chocolate
- 1/4 cup of heavy cream
Follow the same instructions for the dark chocolate ganache above, but let it thicken for about 10 minutes after whisking. Transfer the ganache to a piping bag (or a Ziploc bag with the tip cut off).

Assembly:
Carefully remove the crusts from the tartelette pans. Fill the crusts with dark chocolate ganache until there is about 1/4 of an inch left between the chocolate and the top of the crust. Pipe the white chocolate ganache onto the dark chocolate in your choice of design. Refrigerate the tartelettes until the ganache has become fairly solid.

When ready to serve, remove the tartelettes from the refrigerator and let stand for about 20 minutes at room temperature so that they soften a little.

Ben Rinnes (2)

Before the season moves too far on, I should continue with the account of the ascent of Ben Rinnes which my husband and daughter did between Christmas and New Year. It's not a grand mountain, and it doesn't require ropes or anything much other than enough puff and reasonable leg-power (tho like any Scottish hill mist can descend frighteningly quickly out of a blue sky, and there are crags which you could fall off, so it shouldn't be taken lightly). But it's the local big hill of my home village, and a reference point for weather predictions and the progress of the seasons. 'Snow on the Ben' is a sure sign that winter is coming. 'Snow still on the Ben' is just as sure a sign that we're having (another) cold spring.
Here it is then, all brown heather and white hoar frost on the north-facing side, on a gift of a day just before New Year.

Temporary Lake

Thanks to the heavy rain from a couple of days ago, new "lakes" have popped up in areas that are normally dry. This field is a perfect example. While this is normally a somewhat wet field, it almost never has standing water in it. Right now, though, it looks like a lake. I was pleasantly surprised the other evening when I drove by this location and found the 'new lake' with the amazing cloud reflections!

Duckspeak 101

"Stay away from my nest."
-----
Last Friday's Ark is here.

A Screened Porch

I want a screened porch. I NEED a screened porch. We have so many bugs down here in Georgia that you can't really do any relaxing or entertaining outside unless it's behind screenwire.
I took these photos on Fripp Island a few weeks ago. I think the way they incorporated the porches onto the houses by walkways and different staircases is ingenuous. The blue house is mine. I could add a porch off this little porch but would have to do away with it.
There are three porches attached to our house, but unfortunately, I only made them six feet deep; way too small to screen in. I want a room. I thought I could make a space to drive my car into with a screened room on top. That'd be double use of the space.
So what do you think? Are these cool, and would they work on my house?

Photographs from Home - for Jonny & Mingming

Locked out the church for Francesca's christening.

All photographs are courtesy of Owl - thanks Ian.



Francesca demonstrating her horsemanship skills...



...and having a wonderful time.
OK, that's done. I can get rid of the hat now, Harry!

Ward Creek Falls

Ward Creek drops over a cliff near Lake Tahoe.