Fennel And Ginger Chocolate Tarts
These fennel and ginger chocolate tarts have a crisp pastry base filled with a sweet and fudgy chocolate ganache. Subtle notes of anise combine with the warming ginger in a surprisingly delicious way. A lovely dessert recipe to delight your dinner guests.
This month the wonderful Dom of Belleau Kitchen has teamed up with Karen of Lavender and Lovage and Kate of What Kate Baked. The plan is to combine his Random Recipes challenge with Karen and Kate’s Tea Time Treats.
This is a grand plan as far as I’m concerned. I’ve been away on holiday for the first part of September so I have even less time than usual to fit these challenges in. Two combined into one suits me perfectly.
The idea is to pick a book that you think most represents tea time treats and then pick a random recipe from it.
Following Dom’s lead, I took the two baking books that had British in the title from my bookshelves: British Baking by Peyton and Byrne and The Great British Bake Off by Linda Collister. CT did his usual trick and randomly selected one of them. GBBO it happened to be and page 189 was the number he picked, giving me Fennel and Ginger Chocolate Tarts.
Fennel And Ginger Chocolate Tarts
I was intrigued by the idea of incorporating fennel and slightly concerned it might overpower the tarts, but very willing to give it a try. The pastry part of it, I was less thrilled about: I have yet to grow into enjoying pastry making.
As is my wont, I changed a few things. I swapped some of the flour for wholemeal spelt flour to give a smidgen of nuttiness to the pastry. I ground the fennel rather than using whole seeds, used crystallised ginger and simplified the method.
The tarts proved to be very popular with CT, who claimed they were the best thing I’d made in a while. Not he hastened to add, that he hadn’t enjoyed everything else.
I’m particularly pleased with the pastry cases, which are firm and crisp without being hard or solid. As they have no added sugar, they’re a good foil for the sweet fudgy filling, which really is rather mouth-watering.
The filling is easy to make and sets to a nice firm yet smooth and soft consistency. Thankfully, the fennel is subtle but still discernible against the warmth of the ginger and the two flavours together give an interesting but welcome synergy.
Other Recipes For Chocolate Tarts You Might Like
- Apricot frangipane tart with chocolate crust
- Chocolate goat’s cheese tarts
- Chocolate tarts with lime curd & mascarpone
- Double apple tarts with white chocolate
- Fig tarts with white chocolate & mascarpone
- Rich chocolate tarts
Keep in Touch
Thank you for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you make these crisp and fudgy fennel and ginger chocolate tarts, please let me know how it went in the comments. I would also appreciate it if you could rate the recipe. Do you have any recommendations or advice for making these cakes? If you post pictures of your creations on social media, please use the hashtag #tinandthyme so I can see them.
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Choclette x
Fennel & Chocolate Tarts. PIN IT.
Fennel And Ginger Chocolate Tarts
Ingredients
Pastry
- 30 g wholemeal spelt flour
- 150 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- 100 g unsalted butter fridge cold
- 1 egg yolk
- 1½ tbsp cold water
Chocolate Filling
- ¼ tsp fennel seeds
- 20 g crystallised ginger
- 100 g unsalted butter
- 100 g soft brown sugar
- 100 g double cream (heavy cream)
- 100 g dark chocolate (I used Green & Black’s 85%)
Instructions
Pastry
- Weigh the flours and pour into a large mixing bowl.30 g wholemeal spelt flour, 150 g plain flour (all purpose flour)
- Throw in the butter and cut into small pieces with a knife.100 g unsalted butter
- Rub the butter and flour between your finger tips until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Add the egg yolk and water.1 egg yolk, 1½ tbsp cold water
- Stir with a round bladed knife until mixed, then bring the dough together with your hands to form a ball.
- Place the dough in a plastic bag and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
- Roll the pastry out to about 2 mm and cut into rounds to fill eight 10 cm tart tins.
- Prick the bottoms with a fork and bake at 180℃ (160℃ fan, 350℉, Gas 4) for 10 minutes or until lightly golden.
Chocolate Filling
- Grind the fennel seeds into a powder with a pestle & mortar.¼ tsp fennel seeds
- Chop the crystallised ginger into slithers.20 g crystallised ginger
- Melt the butter and sugar together in medium sized pan over a gently heat. Once melted, simmer for 3 minutes then add the cream.100 g unsalted butter, 100 g soft brown sugar, 100 g double cream (heavy cream)
- Continue to simmer for a further 4 minutes.
- Break the chocolate into small pieces and add to the pan. Stir until smooth.100 g dark chocolate
- Stir in the fennel and ginger.
- Pour the ganache into the pastry cases and leave to set.
- Serve with raspberries.
These look great! I bet the fennel adds a nice touch! We have a wild fennel plant that I need to use more often.
Thanks Debi, it’s not obvious, but fennel does go very well with chocolate.
Fennel is quite unusual to see in a tart – excellent idea.
Another superb recipe idea. Perfect for a chocolate lover like me. Thanks so much.
What an intriguing flavour combination – sounds really delicious and looks beautiful – very sophisticated.
I am surprised by your not being too sure about pastry making and hope you come round to it more. To me, there is nothing like it. I am a bit obsessive about it though! I do have tons of fennel seeds in my garden and I am curious about the taste of it with chocolate. I guess in the right quantities it could be absolutely gorgeous, particularly as I love a good ganache. I need to get picking my fennel seeds now 🙂
These sound just that bit different but in a good way. They do look lovely. I share lack of excitement on the pastry making front. It’s good when it works but….
Interesting flavours and ones that I like! Thanks so much for entering into Tea Time Treats with Dom’s Random Recipes this month….Karen
Very interesting choice of flavours! It must have been difficult to get the balance right with those. Sounds delicious.
They look beautiful and sound delicious. I love the ginger part and I am convinced about the fennel. I wonder if Mr OC would be as convinced though….
They look great – I particularly like the sound of that tart filling and the consistency you describe. I’m not sure I’m keen on fennel, but ginger, yes please! James Martin had a chocolate cake recipe with a fennel bulb in it if you want to explore the combination further and if you google there’s also a recipe by him for baked chocolate mousse cake with candied fennel. I’m not trying to promote JM, but my brain remembers peculiar things, and the fact that he had done a fennel/choc combo is one of the facts it deems worthy of brain-space…..
That last photo of the cut one is heavenly!
They look so good, who ever thought of putting fennel and chocolate together?? Clever little so and so that they are, perfect for a little something with the afternoon cuppa I imagine.
cute lil tarts…:)
That sounds quite unusal but I’d love to try it. Would never have thought of putting fennel and chocolate together. The tarts look delicious.
What gorgeous little tarts! I love the combination of ginger and chocolate and I’ll bet that pinch of fennel adds even more warmth.
looks wonderful lovely post
these look great love the spices you added
How unusual and yet I can imagine it working! your photo looks just lovely. I have come across quite a few american recipes that call for cutting butter into pastry with two knifes or pastry cutters – which is what your recipe sounds like – but I always think rubbing it in with fingertips is far easier
Wow, what an amazing combination. And I am very impressed that you have homegrown fennel seeds.I was fearful of pastry until quite recently, but have decided it’s just like all cooking, you need to give yourself time to enjoy it rather than seeing it as a chore. (That’s not meant to sound so Pollyanna-ish, I promise). I’m supposed to be making a cake for our neighbours this afternoon, I wonder if I could put fennel in it…
I made some fennel chocolate brownies last year and I have to say the combination is exceptionally pleasing so I can fully understand CTs pleasure. It’s a mature taste but one that reminds me of aniseed and liquorice which has every place alongside chocolate. Your little tarts look wonderful and I’m so glad you found the time for us thus month. I have totally run out of time but I did have a cocktail tonight and thought of you! (Does this count as an entry?) thanks for taking part and thanks for referring to me as wonderful. A boy can’t hear that enough… xxx
When I saw the title I thought it would be fennel bulb! But this sounds much better.
They look totally lovely deliciously yummy I want one like!
CT’s comment is hilarious and sounds so like my husband – ha ha! I love the sound of these tarts, a really interesting combination.
OMG fennel?? Sounds yummy! I’ll give it a go.
Happy Saturday night
They look sensational. I would never in a hundred years thought to put fennel in a chocolate tart.